Do you love to Scrapbook? Or have wanted to but just don't know where to start. Here are some tips and ideas that I hope you will find helpful. Make your scrapbook pages fun, attractive, and informative. Keep in mind that scrap booking is not something that goes fast.  A lot of thought must go into every page. It is very time consuming and can be costly. But it doesn't have to be. It's well worth the money and effort.

After you have gone through all your photo's, treasures and keepsakes that you've collected over the years. When you are sitting down to start a page, first think about who and what you want that page to consist of.  It could be your child's first field trip, or cub scouts program, a Birthday Party, Anniversary, Wedding page, Graduation, New Baby, Grand Parents, Family Reunion's etc.

Pick out the paper you would like to use. Color, designs, textures, patterns can all be intermixed on your pages. Card stock paper is a must. It comes in great colors and is a great way to frame your photo's. It gives some stability to your photos and pages

You can also purchase many scrap book layout pages. They can be purchased at craft stores or can be purchased and downloaded off the internet.

Putting a border around your photos helps to bring them to life. 

Keep in mind how many pages you want your book to have. You will have an idea once you have sorted through all your photo's & keepsakes. Then make a list of the items you think you will need. Here is a list of items below that I came up with from things that I have used on my pages.   You of course don't need all the things that are listed below, but many will be helpful.

 As you start to gather things you will find that you probably have all sorts of things to help you make your pages right in your home.

Most of the items I have listed above can be purchased at your local craft stores. There are many new products on the market to aid you with your scrap booking. There are tons of places on the internet to purchase your supplies. Shop around

There are many scrap book stores that if you buy your paper from them they will let you use their die cut machines for free. They usually have a wide variety to choose from. I have found that some of your tiny scrapbook stores have the most variety. They may be a little more expensive but if your using their die cuts and don't have to purchase them yourself you are still saving money.

Make sure your embellishments are not to thick. 1/4 inch is what I recommend.

Clear page sheets will help to protect your pages.

When printing your photos make sure you use acid free paper.

Take some of your special photo's make 3 or 4 copy's of them and cut out different areas that you would like in 3-D format. Use the sticky dots to place on the original photos and keep stacking them until you get the effect you like.  It really brings your pages alive. Here I have made an animation to show you the effects of 3-D. This would be 4 photos and the light house cut out of 3 of them, then add the foam dots for each layer.

Journaling is very important for whom ever will be receiving the scrap book. Make it personal in your own hand writing or use printed lettering off one of your computer programs or sticker letters to write what you want to say on your pages. All are nice but your own hand writing is so much more personal. Tell a little about each photo your putting on your page. Maybe the age of your child, the location of where you were when the photo was taken, if it's a sports game, list the scores, who won, what your child's shirt number was, the name of the team or school attended. Put your journaling on a separate piece of paper first so you can get the layout you want. It will save a lot of mistakes and time, the size text you will need on your page.

Draw light lines to guide you or use a light-box with a piece of lined paper underneath.  On a sunny day I have used the window many times. I tape the edges down so that if I need to take a break because of a lot of detail I don't have to try and match everything up again.  I have also used a turned on lamp on the lampshade for smaller quick tracing. You can also do your journaling on a computer or typewriter and cut out the text to attach to your layout. It is much more personal in your own handwriting.

If it's a birthday party, list what your child received for gifts, who attended the party, the funny things and games that were played at the party. Who your child's best friend was that was at the party.

Below are some examples from a book I made for my husband of emails that we wrote back and forth to each other. I printed all of my content because there was so much I would never have been able to write it all by hand. (He Loved It!)