You can scrapbook about your brother’s bachelor party, your niece’s summer wedding, a grandchild’s christening, the prom or even the time you went to the Bahamas. It is also a lot better than just having a photo album.

You, like me, might find that photo albums are a bit boring. That is, once you have seen a nice scrapbook. What is great about scrapbooking is that it is not just for pictures.

You can include:

• journals
• invitations
• drawings
• ultrasound
• pictures
• cards

You can decorate the layout by layering the pictures with card stock and stickers.

Using ribbons, stamps, and charms to decorate them are a fun way to add a nice touch. That is what makes them so interesting and fun to look at.

I find that scrapbooking is a great way to pass some time. If you enjoy scrapbooking as much as I do, you know how easy it is to lose track of the time.

When you scrapbook, you have personal time for yourself. Scrapbooking is great because at times you will pass by a photo that will put a smile on your face after a hard day.

When you scrapbook, you get to reminisce. Scrapbooking is a calming addiction. Although it might be a little frustrating at times because not a single idea will not come to mind, it is still a nice way of relieving stress.

You might know that even if at times you have no ideas at all, you will have a time where you will have so many great ideas in mind. When you have those “idea overloads” write them down. I find that a great way of keeping track of ideas until you actually do have pictures for them.

After all, being addicted to scrapbooking is a great way of putting all of those 4×6’s, 5×3.5, 8×11’s that you keep in those boxes that are hidden in your closet to great use.

So let’s get your creative juices flowing and feed your scrapbook addiction!

We love our scrapbook mates but consider for a moment – how much more you could get done if you go there with a mission?

Mission – Not Impossible

I challenge you to go to scrapbooking workshops by yourself. Just go and do your best to sit with someone who seems quiet. When you don’t know anyone, imagine what you could get done.

Now you just may be the type of person who can chit chat and crop till you drop. You may also be the one in the group that gets the most done. But do you set your goals before you start?

We all know a Chatty Patty, heck maybe you’re one yourself. Just keep trying new things, this way you will figure out quickly what needs to take place for you to get the most done.

Sitting with someone who chats the whole way through the crop may be hindering your ability to get your work done. So definitely consider going on your own. You may just surprise yourself.

But, how much are you spending on your hobby?

• Are you buying extra items that you plan on using later?
• What are your plans?
• Goals?
• How many projects are you currently working on?

Jumping from project to project can distract you from your main purpose, and that’s to complete your albums.

Setting up and executing a plan to reach your goals is important I mean, actually focus on the task at hand. What steps will it take you to get your end result?

Scrapbooking is a lot of fun but let’s be serious for a moment. Your grandchildren are going to cherish all those memories you wrote down for them to read. This is far more valuable than anything. You are leaving a legacy for future generations.

Are you proud of your albums? Of course you are, so why not set some goals to get more albums completed.

So let’s talk about what time you devote to your albums. Are you going to workshops where you have nothing to do but work on your albums? Or are you sitting at home with supplies everywhere and your children running around.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing bad about scrapbooking at home, just make sure it’s effective.

Start by making a schedule of the time you will dedicate to your scrapbooking. Which workshops will you attend? How many hours will you set aside for scrapbooking at home? You should have a planner that has all events, appointments, and day-to-day tasks that you need done. If you don’t have a plan in place you won’t know where you want to go.

Don’t be afraid to schedule in time for your hobby. This is not only a time to unwind for yourself, you will also feel great about what you accomplished.

By focusing on your goals, and the steps you need to take to reach those goals you will be extremely focused and will get lots done in your album.

You should also take time to educate yourself on new techniques. Learn at least one new thing at each workshop, write it down and apply it for your future pages. Read magazines and learn what others have done.

Clean up your workspace after you’re done for the day. Keep your layouts that you’re working on in a separate album box. If you’re blessed to have your own hobby room, don’t just let that be your ticket to not putting anything away. If you leave you projects lying around everywhere, you will quickly get overwhelmed.

Remember the #1 goal for you is to get your albums complete.

So start writing down your plans. Here are some guidelines for you to follow:

Carry only necessary items for your specific layouts you will work on Decide whom you will attend with. You may want to go on your own so you can get more done.

Set goals for how many pages you want finished by the end of the workshop At home, wait until you have the opportunity to work un-disturbed

So if someone, like you, were to ask me for advice so that you can start scrapbooking on the smooth side… I would tell you the couple of things that would have done me some good to have known when I started.

Scrapbooking, Are you up for it?

• Are you organized?
• Do you like pictures?
• Do you like taking pictures?
• Do you like making layouts?
• Do you like journaling?
• Are you patient?
• Are you creative?
• Do you have the time?
• Do you have the space?

What Kind Of Pictures Do You Have?

• Parties
• Weddings
• Birthdays
• Vacations
• Family

What style do you like? Do You Know How To Match the Pictures?

• Dark colors
• Light colors
• Types of cutters
• Types of pages
• Page designs

If you have done and figured out all of those… It is time to start scrapbooking! Scrapbooking for beginners is frustrating & it is totally understandable.

At times, there are just no ideas that come to mind. But the beauty of it all is that there is no “wrong” way to scrapbook, it’s your album.

There are classes available that you will find helpful because they have some scrapbooking supplies that you might not have, which means you have a chance of trying the product out first before you buy it.

While attending classes you also get a chance to see other people’s scrapbooks and this might help you create your own. If I knew this… it would have saved me a lot of money. But since you know this, start saving!

Scrapbooking is a great way of preserving memories. You will never regret starting. It might be time consuming but it is extremely rewarding in the end.

Goal Setting For Scrapbooking

Always set goals that are reachable and make small baby step goals – reach them and make more.

Remember you are only human you may forget so write them down. If you don’t reach your goal pick out what you did well and how you can improve on it next time. Don’t overwhelm yourself with the big picture; focus only on small attainable goals.

Write our specific goals at the beginning of each year. These goals could include:

• Amount of albums
• Budget
• Specific Albums You Will Complete
• Baby – 1 7×7 for each set of grandparents
• Pregnancy – 1 for baby, 1 for yourself
• Vacation – 1 for yourself – 1 7×7 for each child
• Christmas – 1 12×12

These are your big goals for the year. Write out steps you need to take to reach each goal.

Your goals should also have deadlines. You want to make yourself accountable to what you are doing. If you don’t set an end date for each goal, then don’t expect to meet it.

Have patience with yourself, keep going when you don’t feel inspired. Just change the scenery, read a book, & get ideas from different sources.

Examples of Goal Setting

Goal 1 – Baby Album – 1 7×7 for each set of grandparents. Each month I will sit down and commit to a 2-page layout in each album. Plus, I will do the borders for next month’s layouts.

Goal 2 – Pregnancy Album – 1 12×12 Each month I will sit down and commit to a 2-page layout. I will take pictures of all major events like hearing the baby’s heartbeat for the first time.

Wrap It Up

After you write out all of your goals, keep the sheet handy in your scrapbooking workspace and cross off each goal as you complete it.

Imagine sitting down and looking at all of your beautifully completed albums. Tea in hand you relax because you have finally finished exactly what you set out to do. Here are some ways to help keep you on track with your goals:

• Better Photos: Work on taking better photographs. Plan out the story of your day. Get pictures of the place you’re going, keep in mind what you want to show in your albums.
• Details: Pay attention to details. Watch out for other people in the background that you don’t know.
• Get Close: Think to yourself, “What am I taking a picture of?” when you look through your viewfinder. If you’re getting a full body shot of your baby, then don’t cut out part of her foot or hand.
• Rarely Crop: Do your best to take photos that you won’t need to crop later. Cropping can be fun, but it can be time consuming.
• Enhancements: Don’t spend tons of time adding enhancements like stickers and die-cuts. Not only does this take time but it also distracts away from your pictures. Don’t let the “extras” distract, they should only enhance. Keep it simple and you will enjoy looking at your pages.

While you wait, you can get ready! You must remember that your little one’s scrapbook does not exactly have to start once he or she is born.

If you had your baby shower while you are still expecting you can start on it. You can have your baby shower pictures in your little one’s scrapbook; this will start you into the habit of scrapbooking before the baby is born.

When the little angels arrive, besides feeling overjoyed, you will have a rush of ideas for your scrapbook. At times these “idea over-loads” can turn the ideas into mush and you cannot separate them.

Here are some simple keywords and ideas that might help you out:

Baby Shower

• Your invitation
• Guests
• Presents
• Cards
• Cake

Hospital

• Visitors
• Nurse
• Doctor
• Flowers given
• Guests
• Visitors

The “Firsts”

• Day home
• Holidays
• Christmas
• New Years
• Easter
• Crawling
• Walking
• Hair cut
• Bath
• Using the pacifier
• Birthday
• Professional photo
• Close-Ups

Facial Features

• Hand
• Foot
• Cheeks
• Face
• Lips
• Ears

Take a picture each month and keep list of events for that month until he or she is one year old.

Items to decorate that are baby related

• Punches
• Stickers
• Charms
• Ribbons
• Punch-outs
• Quotes
• Definitions
• Innocent
• Angel
• Joy
• Happiness
• Journaling

You might also want to take pictures of his or her different looks. Some of these looks are when he or she is smiling, laughing or when he or she is tired or just had woken up.

• You can also take pictures when they are sleeping just because they look so cute when they do!
• You might also want to make a family tree which includes pictures and notes from each member.
• You want this scrapbook to show the emotions you felt while creating it.
• You want this scrapbook to be able to put a smile on your face when you look back at it.

When creating a baby scrapbook about your little one, it is like you are pausing a time in his or her life so you want to make sure that you catch it perfectly.

Before you begin, make sure you have the necessary supplies:

• Scissors and a Paper Trimmer
• Adhesives (such as two-sided tape and photo safe glue)
• Sheet and Album protectors
• Archival pens and Markers

These items are the basic supplies that will make your scrapbooking experience a lot easier.

You will also want to have Decorative Accessories on hand such as:

• Colored or textured paper
• Stickers
• Unique Material and Fabric (to complement your pages)
• Eyelets
• Acrylic Paints

You should choose in advance the photos and items you want to include in your scrapbook.  Save the pictures and memorabilia you are not going to use in a safe place in case you want to add to your scrapbook at a later time.

After choosing your photos, determine what it is about the particular pictures that you want to remember.  You can add colorful text and captions to the photos once you have placed them in your scrapbook to tell others what the picture signifies.

You may need to crop or resize your photos in order to place them in your scrapbook an effective manner. Keep in mind that years from now others will view your scrapbook pages.

Make a note of dates and places alongside your photos to help you tell your story in the years to come.  Scrapbooking should be fun.  There is no right or wrong way to make your scrapbook.  Your scrapbook pages should be a unique and individual as you are.

Recording your life’s events is probably all that you will treasure as the years go by, and going through family albums, scrapbooks, and journals makes you feel like you have lived and have something to show for it.

Scrapbooking

Entering records in scrapbooks has been a practice that started as early as grade school for many young girls. We all have had our share of scrapbooking in school where we kept records of good and bad happenings.

As we grow older (especially women), we don’t change much with regard to keeping records of occasions, anniversaries, and other such events, thus scrapbooking has come back to life with each person choosing their own personal scrapbooking technique.

Scrapbooking Technique

It is important that we make and maintain a scrapbooking technique in order to have our ideas put down just the way we want others to see them when going through the scrapbook.

Everyone has a different way of writing and recording memories; however, if you want others to understand your scrapbooking technique then you must try and maintain a pattern. You can either write guidelines in the beginning of the book or make the pattern obvious as you begin viewing it.

Some Helpful Tips

* Try and enter records in the scrapbook date wise so they will have a flow.
* Get as much detail as possible on the occasion without making it tiresome or hard to follow.
* Write a few lines about what you felt that day and about the occasion.

If you have no idea how to get or maintain a scrapbook there are many ideas available online to help your scrapbooking technique represent you and your personality; after all, that is what you want others to remember when they read your scrapbook.

Cherish your memories and take the time to record them; before you know it, you will be going through your scrapbooks criticizing your own scrapbooking technique if you cannot follow the very entries you made before.

Enjoy the present – cherish the memories, as they are what will be remembered tomorrow. So, stop a moment and take time to create a memorable scrapbook.

Steps To Successful Scrapbooking

1. Commit – Remember all the reasons you started scrapbooking. Set mini-goals and achieve them. Set a goal for every year and work towards it by also committing to your budget.
2. Learn – talk to others, read magazines, browse websites to learn about new resources. You may find that perfect paper for your next project.

3. Stretch – Give yourself a push. Don’t get so comfortable with your “get togethers” that you’re spending more time eating than completing layouts.

4. Confidence – Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed. Stay focused on your goals and you will gain more confidence in yourself. As you gain more knowledge from reading, you will use those ideas to your advantage.
5. Happy – Be happy with what you accomplish. You won’t get everything finished in one night so celebrate! You worked hard, so give yourself a nice pat on the back.

6. Scrappers Block – Don’t let any “scrappers block” get in your way. Go back to the beginning, sell off old supplies. Take a break for a couple of days, maybe just for an hour. Try creating smaller aspects to your page instead of the page as a whole. Working on borders and titles is a smaller task you can focus on.

7. Organize – If you haven’t used something in the last 6 months, trade it away or sell it off. Make room for supplies you need for the project you’re currently working on.
8. Enjoy – Relax and read over your pages. Invite your children to look at it with you. Listen to some soft music and look back at all you’ve accomplished.