When you get started in scrapbooking, it can start to seem very big. There are so many options to choose from for every decision involved in making a scrapbook. There are thousands of products, philosophies, and opinions. While all these options are what make your scrapbook so special and unique, they can also make getting started a daunting task. If you want to sort through all the mess and find your voice, you can find help from millions of people online who are just like you and who have been where you are right now.

Whether it’s scrapbooking or any other sort of art, looking at the work of professionals can get me very down. Sure, you can find inspiration, but you can also find a lot of frustration because you’re just not good enough to repeat their results. Online, you can see the layouts of thousands of scrapbookers from professionals and people who just started. This way you can get inspiration and support without feeling down about your own work.

In addition to seeing others’ designs, you can also share your own with the world. Showing scrapbooks to your friends is great, but if they don’t scrapbook themselves, they may not be able to give you helpful insights and opinions on your designs. Plus, you only have so many friends to help you out. If you find the right website, you can find thousands of people to give you honest and helpful opinions to get you on your way to successful scrapbooking.

Online, there’s a good change you can find someone who’s used a specific product and can give you an honest opinion. This is great for knowing which products to buy and saves you money by knowing what to avoid. I will also help protect your memories from faulty products that could destroy it years down the road.

Be careful about who you’re getting your product information from. If you talk to someone regularly and they’ve voiced opinions on all kinds of products, you can likely trust what you say. The problem is that many product reviews are written by the manufacturers to boost sales, not by the consumers. Once you’re comfortable with the internet, you should learn to spot these phonies pretty easily. Remember that if a product seems to good to be true, try your best to find a second opinion.

Probably the best part about meeting other scrapbookers online is that you can make friends with people who share the same interests as you. And once you get to talking, you’ll probably find they share other interests as well. Whether they’re from your neighborhood or across the globe, they can still become trusted lifelong friends.

by Dawn Stegall

Distressing is a popular trend now in scrapbooking. Whether you like shabby chic or want to go for a more aged/weathered/heritage style, distressing your papers will give you the look you desire. Here are five fun ways to add distressing to your scrapbook pages.

1. Distress by wadding/crumpling your paper. Simply wad up your paper into a ball. You may want to experiment with how much or tightly you wad your paper. Now unfold your paper and flatten with your hands. (You may need to wad again if you haven’t achieved the results you were hoping for). Besides using your hands to flatten out your paper, you may choose to use a brayer or even a warm iron.

2. Achieve a weathered look by sanding with a fine sandpaper, emery board or sanding block (I found some sanding blocks for nails at the dollar store). Gently sand your cardstock/paper where you want it distressed. Continue to sand and alter the surface until you reach your desired look. You can sand the edges or gently sand the entire surface for a more weathered look. Another method is to fold your paper and sand on the fold. When you reopen the paper it leaves a prominent line as in an old document. Do you have some older papers or stickers lying around with a nice slick and shiny surface? Take these outdated products, sand them to remove the shine and give them a whole new look.

3. Easily tear or roll your paper for a vintage look. Tearing away from you or towards you provide different results. Cardstock with a white core will have a white edge shown through. Experiment and find what you like best. If you find your cardstock difficult to tear, try wetting lightly with a paint brush or Qtip first. You can further age the torn edges with ink or chalk. Roll the edges for a fun look as well.
Scrape or use a wire brush to achieve a distressed look.

4. Scrape the edges of your cardstock carefully until you reach the desired look. Check for specialty scrapers made just for paper. A wire brush can be gently brushed over your paper to weather it. Try random brush strokes, or lines and even plaids. Have fun experimenting.

5. Now that you have wadded, crumpled and sanded, add some color back to your paper. You can use chalks, ink, metallic rub-ons or stains. Using your fingertips, Qtips, sponges, tissue or whatever else you want apply using a circular motion until the desired result is reached. You can also apply ink directly to your paper. My favorite technique is to ink the edges by directly brushing ink pad to edge of paper. Stains made especially for scrapbooking can easily be found now including walnut ink, stains, washes, etc. You can also use items found around the house such as coffee, tea and Kool-Aid.

Are you ready to try a distressed look in your next scrapbook layout? Crumple, wad, sand, tear, roll, scrape, ink, chalk and stain to your hearts content. Which technique will you try first? Have fun distressing your next layout!

Need answers to more of your scrapbooking questions? Dawn Stegall povides 102 of them at http://102ScrapbookingIdeas.com.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

by Audrey Okaneko

What better gift than a brag book for grandma and grandpa? Over the years, I know that my parents have always appreciated photos that have been shared with them of all of their grandchildren.

As parents, we love attending plays, dance recitals, choral performances and graduations, whether from preschool, elementary school or high school. Grandparents are not always in town or available to attend these events. They too enjoy sharing in the pride of these days.

I believe 6×6 albums work great to create these brag books. Often a dozen photos are all you need to complete an album.

So what themes can you use for these brag books?

If you have a toddler, here are some thought starters for albums:

• A day at preschool

• A day at swim lessons

• A day at the park

• A trip to the zoo

For elementary age children often the children are involved in one of many activities:

• Soccer games

• Baseball games

• Ballet lessons

• Gymnastics

Snap some photos. Again, just a dozen will do of your children participating in any of these activities. Both of my kids attended elementary schools that had many photo opportunities. The kids did class presentations. They performed with the music teacher once a year. They did some type of play or presentation once a year. They had a jog a thon once a year. We had just tons and tons of school activities where photos could be taken.

When the kids are high school age, often they too are involved in either chorus or theater or band or sports. I know one mom who created one large album from each football year her son participated in. A mini album from one game would be wonderful. Again, there are so many opportunities for a dozen photos to put into a brag book.

I’ve also always included a school photo in the scrapbooks. Usually a wallet sized photo on the front page of the scrapbook with the year the photo was taken is a great addition to the scrapbook.

Mini albums do not have room for many embellishments, but you can certainly add stickers and a few diecuts to dress up the pages of your brag book.

Try creating a brag book and see if grandma and grandpa’s faces don’t light up with joy!!

Audrey Okaneko has been scrapbooking for several years. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com

Article Source: WAHM Articles

A quick online search for “scrapbooking scissors” will give you a picture of how many different types of scissors and cutting tools there are for scrapbookers. Knowing the basics of these tools will help you know which scissors are the best choice for your needs. This can help you save time by not struggling with the wrong scissors, and save you money because you won’t buy anything you won’t use.

Exacto knife. Sure exacto knives aren’t exactly scissors, but they can be helpful when it comes to setting up your layouts. Exacto knives are useful for cutting thicker materials with more precision than scissors and getting sharp corners for shapes and lettering. Just be sure you have a cutting pad to protect your surfaces.

Edgers. We’ve all seen pinking shears and know they can add a fun touch to your scrapbooks, but now edgers do so much more. You can make waves, scallops, and zigzags. There are even special edgers made just for corners.

Be careful not to go overboard though. While that 30 piece edging set might seem great at the time, it’s a lot of money to spend when you can make patterns yourself by tracing. If you really must have all the different patterns, why not ask several friends to split the cost with you and share the scissors? This works even better if you live near each other or have scrapbooking parties.

Circle cutters. These are just what they sound like; they can cut a perfect circle every time. While many people prefer to just find something circular in their house and trace, these can save you time. Plus, depending on your cutting skills, you may have problems getting that circle looking just right. It may also be a challenge to find an object that’s the size you’re looking for. Circle cutters are an easy way to save you time and energy.

Trimmers. If you’re like me, you can’t cut a straight line to save your life. That’s why you need to get some kind of trimmer with a straight edge on it. They’re usually pretty easy to use, and once you get going, you’ll be able to precisely cut a straight edge every time.

Scissors. With all the fancy products out there, you will still be glad you have your good old regular scissors. No matter what great products you have, nothing will ever replace them. You should be sure to buy some quality scissors to keep only for scrapbooking. Other uses could damage or dull the scissors and ruin your results. It’s also best to buy specific scissors for paper and sewing scissors if you use fabrics. These will make sure you get the perfect cut every time.

If you aren’t really sure what scissors you want or need, just start small. Start with several good pairs of scissors, and a trimmer. Work your way up as you learn more and gain skill.

So, you’re bought all your scrapbooking gear, set up a space, researched scrapbooking techniques and now you’re ready to get started. Before you can start putting your first layout, you have to actually choose one. This seems like a simple task, but there are so many styles and options it’s hard to know where to start. Here are some great ways to find possible layouts for your scrapbooks.

If you’re looking for possible layouts, the first place you should look is online. There are hundreds of scrapbooking websites, many with free layouts and how to’s on how to make them. Simple to complex, budget to expensive; there are ideas for every person and every occasion.

You can also find inspiration from scrapbooking layout sites and message boards. People can submit pictures of their layouts, and they do so on a regular basis. This means there’s a constant supply of new layout ideas one pretty much every topic (and every budget) you can think of. Plus people are usually nice enough to give you tips and tricks about how they put it together.

Books are a great place to get started while choosing a layout. With just a little searching, you can find books with hundreds of sample layouts. But there’s so much more you can gather from books than just layouts to copy. Many books help get you started on creating your own layouts by sharing scrapbooking philosophies and ways to spark your own imagination. You may even find inspiration from a book that has nothing to do with scrapbooking, like a beautiful picture, poem, or quote.

If you want more original ideas without pulling them straight from a book, why not have a get together with friends and family who scrapbook? You can get ideas from their work, or they can give you tips on a layout you’re already working on. You never know, you may just get inspiration from a random conversation, story, or shared memory.

Sometimes the best layouts don’t come from friends or web pages; they come from you. Scrapbooks are supposed to showcase your life and interests, so why shouldn’t they come from your very own inspiration. If you feel like you can’t seem to come up with ideas, just get out your supplies and start playing. Soon you’ll find yourself with too many ideas for you to make.

Once you start working on layouts, be sure not to get carried away. You don’t need to have every idea all slammed into a few layouts. You can start simple with a picture, journal, and a small embellishment, then work your way up as you buy more tools and gain more skill. Remember that scrapping is an art, and sometime simple is better.

When you’re done with making a layout, what do you do with the scraps and pieces left over? Do you throw them away? Are they sitting in a drawer, file, or basket just taking up space? Why not use those scraps to add a unique special touch to your layouts? You’ll not only save yourself money on supplies, you’ll be reducing waste to help save the planet.

Punches are a great way to use scraps and add fun flair to your scrapbooks. Most scrapbook stores sell punches that turn your tidbits of paper and cardstock into tiny puppies, stars, rainbows and shapes of every kind. To cut the cost of punches, go shopping with your friends and buy punches you think you all can use. You can trade when you need them or use them at group get-togethers.

A lot of backgrounds are just a collections of pictures. You can make great embellishments and additions to layouts just by taking pictures from smaller background pieces. This is great if you tend to recycle materials like wrapping paper and greeting cards. While a whole group of flowers may make a great layout, a single flower from the same page can be just as, or more beautiful.

Mosaics are a fantastic way to reuse even the smallest scraps. You can be simple by making flowers or sunsets. If that’s just too easy for you, you can find pictures you like and recreate them with scraps. To make the process more efficient, try organizing your scraps by color then size. This will make them easier to sort through for other uses too.

Scrapbooking stores sell all kinds of letters to add titles and substance to a layout. But why spend a lot of money on letters that may not be exactly what you’re looking for? Extra pieces are great for making your own unique lettering. Solid colors make great letters, but you can also experiment with patterns. While if might take more time than buying pre-cut letters or stamping them on, it will give your layout a special touch to make it stand out.

Did you know you can use leftover paper to make your own recycled paper? Just make your scraps very small, add a small amount of water and blend. Then, spread it out on silver foil, blot with paper towels, and allow it to dry. The end result is a thick, textured paper that can be for kid’s crafts, or to add a special touch to your scrapbooks.

Do your kids have an interest in scrapbooking too? Giving them your leftover scraps is a great way to get them started without spending a lot of money on supplies. You can even find very inexpensive digital cameras just for kids so they can take their own pictures for their layouts. They’ll have fun, create memories, and they might just give you some great ideas.

These are just a few of the many ways you can save money, save the environment, and even have some fun.