How To Begin Your Scrapbook Hobby
By Brandie Valenzuela
Are you interested in preserving your family
photos? Have you heard about scrapbooking,
but are unsure of exactly what it is? I know --
I was there once too. Maybe you are a crafty
kind of person, who has seen the adorable, acid
free paper in your local craft store. Or maybe
you have zillions of photos sitting in shoeboxes --
never being "ooohed" and "aaahed" over by
anyone, just knowing that there must be a better
way. Even still, you might be someone who is
wants nothing more than to protect your photos
from the destroying affects of acid and other
substances. No matter who you are, if you have
considered trying out this hobby called scrapbooking -
welcome! I was a combination of all of the
situations above. I had boxes and boxes of photos --
just doing nothing but collecting dust. I had
also seen some really wonderful scrapbooking tools
at my local craft store. They looked like so much fun,
that I wanted them all. So, I knew that the time had
come for me to try out scrapbooking.
Scrapbooking is an old term that since the 1990's
has been reborn. Today, scrapbooking is a craft
that involves creatively adhering photos and other
mementos to pages in an album. Along with the
photos, it is a must to include information about
the photos, such as who, what, when, where,
and why. This is called journaling. The finished
product is albums with pages of photos, that
clearly tell a story.
One of the very first steps in beginning
scrapbooking is organizing your photos.
This is a big task -- actually the more
photos you have stored, the bigger the
job. I had quite a few, so I sorted my
photos over several nights. Also, there
are different methods to organizing your
photos. Over time, you may find a method
that you prefer. However, to get you started,
I will share with you how I did it.
Step #1 To start, I collected all of my photos.
Every single one! I went through my home
and brought every photo album and every
shoebox to my work space. I knew that I
needed decent size work space, so for my
sorting, I went to my living room floor.
Step#2 Now that I had all of my photos
together, I began sorting. I started with a
pile and sorted it by year. I was married in
1990, so the majority of our photos started
in that year. I had a pile of 1989, a pile of
1990, and so on. I kept working my way
through every single photo until they were
all in their appropriate piles.
Step #3 After the sorting into years, I sorted
each pile chronologically -- January, February,
and on through December. I used one of my
shoeboxes to make a sort of index with my
newly sorted photos. At the beginning I had
my earliest photos indexed with the first year.
Every year after that was labeled also. When
I was done sorting, I had boxes of perfectly
sorted photos -- all ready for my new hobby!
I will admit that before I started scrapbooking,
it looked like an expensive hobby to me. All
those scissors, papers, idea books, templates
and such could add up! But I really wanted to
give it a try, and even though I was on a budget,
I was determined to find a way to make this
something I could afford.
Supplies to Get Started
The first piece of advice I would give to
beginners is to keep it simple. Many times
the most impressive scrapbook pages are
those which are simplistic - they are
uncluttered and in my opinion these are
much more appealing. Also, realize that
removing your photos from those boxes
and acid-containing photos albums is the
most important step in scrapbooking.
What you do after this step is secondary.
Your main goal with scrapbooking should
be to preserve memories.
When you first start scrapbooking there
are a few things you can't do without. Here
is a breakdown of those items and some
suggestions:
Albums
For your first album, you will need to decide
which album best suits your needs. You will
find that there is a wide variety available. You
must give thought to what will work best for
you, what your budget allows, and what type
of album it will be. One of the best resources
I have found on the Net to assist you with your
decision is at
GracefulBee.com.
This site lists the pros and cons of several
different options.
Paper
It is important to keep in mind with all paper
that you use for scrapbooking, that it is
acid-free. You may also notice that some
papers say that they are "lignin-free" and
"buffered" - and both of these terms (in
addition to acid-free) describe qualities
which are ideal for scrapbook paper. Many
crafts stores that sell scrapbooking supplies
will have an assortment of paper that is ideal
for archival use. I advise the beginning
scrapbooker to purchase a package of
acid-free solid colored cardstock. The size
of paper you buy will depend on the size of
albums you would like to use. I prefer 12"x12"
albums, but many scrappers prefer 8.5" x 11" --
carefully decide which option will work best for you.
Scissors
Having a pair of good, sharp scissors is a
definite must. You may even want to consider
buying a new pair just for your scrapbooking.
I don't include decorative scissors in this
section because they aren't a necessity. It is
nice to use them occasionally, but your plain
sharp scissors will be what you need the most.
Photo Safe Glues and Adhesives
Once you have all of the above, you need
to have something to make your photos
stick to the paper. Once again, there is a
wide variety and you will have to determine
what works best for you. Some of the
options include photo corners, double sided
tape, glue pens, glue sticks and photo splints or
squares. Be sure that they adhesive you
use is acid-free. I have used glue pens and
photo splints for most of my scrapbooking.
They are not too expensive and I have been
satisfied with the results. If you would like
something even less expensive, I recommend
glue sticks, like the kind that children use.
There are a few brands which are acid-free
and usually you can purchase one or two
sticks for about $1.
Pen
An acid-free, archival quality pen for
journaling is a necessity. To start off, just
buy a basic black pen, and if you want,
you can add to your collection later.
Sheet Protectors
Sheet or page protectors are a necessity
if you are preparing your own pages to be
inserted into a binder. They must be acid-free
and I recommend those that are top-loading.
Don't skip the page protectors as this is
excellent "insurance" against fingerprints,
dust, and other materials.
Resources
Once you have your photos organized and
have purchased some of the essential scrapbook
supplies, you are ready to get your photos in
your albums. In closing, I recommend that you
visit some of the wonderful beginners guides for
scrapbooking on the internet. Here are two sites
you might want to check out:
The NewBee's Guide To Scrapbooking
Learn 2 Scrapbook
©2002 - Brandie Valenzuela
About the Author: Brandie is a freelance writing mother of three children.
She is also the editor of the HomeMade Living ezine,
and other services for parents and stay-at-home mothers.
