How to Begin Your Scrapbook

Get your kids involved in scrapbooking.

No more excuses; it's time to finally start scrapbooking and preserving those memories. Don't overthink it; don't stress about messing up or making the book look bad. A scrapbook is a reflection of you, so let your personality show through.

Things You'll Need

• Pictures
• Scrapbook
• Cutting tools
• Tape runner
• Writing supplies

Instructions

1. Choose the theme of your album such as a continuous book of your everyday life, a specific event or a certain topic.

2. Gather your photos. Find all the photos you are going to want in your album. If your book is going to be a continuous work, gathering all your pictures won't be as necessary as it is for a more focused album.

3. Collect all the supplies you need. The few essential items are a straight-edge cutter (this gives cleaner, smoother lines than scissors), a tape runner (strong double-sided tape), pens and paper. Punches, stickers, fancy cutters and any other embellishing items are optional.

4. Lay out your pages. This will give you a better idea of how much free space you have to work with, and how much you may need to crop your photos. One event does not have to be on only one page. If you have 30 pictures from one day, it's okay to spread them out to the following pages. If you do this, keep some continuity throughout the entirety of the event, like the same paper or same color scheme.

5. Decide where you want to begin. You don't have to start with the first page. Instead, start with a page you will really enjoy or have an immediate idea for.

6. Find page ideas. Look at magazines and books for ideas for your scrapbook.

7. Pick out some time during the day dedicated to scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is an ongoing project that does not need t be completed in one day.