Getting started with scrapbooking

You only need a few things: a base, paper, something to cut with, adhesive and your photos.

• an album or loose sheets of cardstock (sturdy, plain card) as a base
• a few sheets of patterned paper (printed paper)
• a good pair of scissors, a ruler and a pencil
• double-sided tape or a tape runner
• a pen that doesn't bleed through or fade
• your printed photos

Stickers, stamps and washi tape are fun, but you don't need them for your first page. Make sure any paper and glue that touch your photos are acid-free. That way your photos stay looking good for longer.

Read also: What you really need to start scrapbooking

Most scrappers work at 30.5 x 30.5 cm (12 x 12 inches). Most scrapbook paper is sold in that size, and it's the size you'll find the most examples for.

Still, it's not the only good way to start. A4 is easy to get hold of in the Netherlands and Belgium and works well with 10 x 15 cm photos. With smaller sizes, such as 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inches) or 15 x 15 cm (6 x 6 inches), a page fills up faster, so you finish something sooner.

Choose the size you can easily find paper for and that appeals to you. A finished A4 album is worth more than an empty 30 x 30 one.

Read also: Which album size to choose for your first scrapbook

Scrapbooking is keeping photos and memories on decorated pages, with paper, short bits of writing and small decorations.

The difference from an ordinary photo album is that you tell the story too: who was there, where it was and why the moment mattered. Besides photos, you can also stick in tickets, entry passes, notes and drawings.

The word is English: a scrap is a snippet or cutting. There are no fixed rules. A page can be as simple or as lavish as you like.

Read also: What is scrapbooking, and which style suits you?

Start with one memory and a few photos, and only stick things down once everything is in the right place.

• Choose a moment and one to three photos that go with it.
• Choose a cardstock background and two or three papers in colours that appear in your photos.
• Lay everything loosely on the page and try out two or three layouts.
• Make one photo large as the focal point.
• Write a title and a few lines: who, what, where and when.
• Stick things down from large to small: background paper, mats, photos, text.
• Add a few embellishments last, close to the photo.

Take a photo of your layout before you start sticking. Then you'll remember where everything went.

Read also: How to make your first scrapbook page, step by step

One to three photos is enough for a first page, with one photo as a clear focal point. That leaves room for a title, a bit of writing and some decoration, and you don't have to juggle things around.

A spread (two pages side by side) holds more, for example five to seven photos of the same moment. Choose the photos that tell the story best or that move you most. You don't have to use every photo from a day. You can keep the rest or use them on another page later.

Read also: Choosing photos and how many fit on a scrapbook page

Starting can be cheap, because you need very little for a first page. You may already have scissors, a ruler and a pen at home. The money mostly goes on embellishments, paper collections and machines, and you can buy those later.

• Buy per project, not everything at once.
• Start with cardstock, a small pad of patterned paper and good double-sided tape.
• Use scraps, tickets and receipts you already have.
• Hold off on machines until you know what you like making.

Big tools last for years, while small embellishments quietly add up. A set budget helps you keep that under control.

Read also: Scrapbooking on a small budget

No, scrapbooking is about your memories, not about drawing talent or beautiful handwriting. Most of the work is choosing, cutting, moving things around and sticking, and you learn that by doing it.

If you don't feel creative, a sketch helps a lot: a ready-made plan for the layout of a page. If you're unsure about your handwriting, you can print your text, use letter stickers or stamps, or calmly write in capital letters. Try it on scrap paper first.

In time, it's your own handwriting that makes your pages personal.

Read also: You don't have to be creative to scrapbook

No, for your first pages a good pair of scissors, a metal ruler and a craft knife on a cutting mat are enough.

A paper trimmer becomes handy if you often cut straight strips and mats. It's usually the first tool scrappers add. Die-cutting machines, which press shapes out of paper with dies, and cutting plotters, which cut out digital designs, are fun but expensive. As a beginner you don't need them. Wait until you know what kind of projects you make.

If you want to play with shapes first, you can buy loose die cuts.

Read also: Choosing cutting tools: paper trimmer, scissors and cutting mat

Both are a good start. It depends on what you find more enjoyable.

On paper you work with your hands, you feel the materials and you have a real book straight away. Digitally, you make pages with software on a computer or tablet. You can undo everything, you make no mess and it takes up no space. You do need a program, though, and you have to get the pages printed if you want to hold them.

If your photos are already on your phone and you like working on a computer, digital is the obvious choice. You can also combine the two. That's called hybrid scrapbooking.

Read also: How to get started with digital scrapbooking

Yes. Photos are common, but it's about the story you keep. You can also make pages with:

• tickets, entry passes and receipts
• letters, cards and notes
• maps and leaflets from a trip
• recipes, drawings or quotes
• dried flowers or bits of fabric

Write a short note on why it means something to you, so the memory still makes sense. Receipts often fade and many tickets contain acid. If the original is precious, use a copy or scan instead.

Read also: Scrapbooking without photos: how to tell your story anyway

Start with a single page or a small project you can finish in an afternoon. For example:

• one page about a photo you love
• a card, to try out techniques
• a small mini album about a day or an outing
• pocket pages, where you slide photos and cards into the pockets of a page protector

A small project gives quick results and lets you discover what you enjoy. A big album with years of photos is often too much as a first project. You can start on that later.

Read also: How to make a mini album: base, pages and binding

As a beginner, a simple page can easily take one to three hours. It gets quicker with experience. Most of the time isn't spent sticking but choosing: which photos, which paper, which layout.

If you want to work faster, this helps:

• choose your photos and paper beforehand, at a different time
• work from a sketch, so the layout is already decided
• stick to one paper collection
• spread the work over short sessions

Pages with lots of layers, paint or special techniques take longer. Feel free to take that time. For most scrappers, the making itself is the best part.

Read also: How to make a scrapbook page when you're short on time

Yes, you get them printed, at home or by a photo printing service. Do pick only the photos you really want to use, or you'll end up with piles of prints.

Common sizes are 10 x 15 cm and 13 x 18 cm. Smaller prints, such as 7.5 x 10 cm (3 x 4 inches), often fit better on a page. Many scrappers choose matte photo paper: it reflects less and shows fewer fingerprints.

Printing at home is handy for small sizes and when you want quick results. A photo printing service often gives a better, longer-lasting print than an ordinary home printer.

Read also: Printing photos for your scrapbook: at home or with a photo lab

In a photo album you mainly keep photos. In a scrapbook you also tell the story that goes with them.

A scrapbook page combines photos with paper, a title, short bits of writing and embellishments, and often tickets, notes or other keepsakes too. A photo book you have printed online sits somewhere in between: it has a design, but everything is printed flat.

What suits you depends on how much time you have and whether you enjoy the making itself. Many people combine them: a photo book for all the photos from a year, and a scrapbook for the moments that deserve more attention.

Read also: Scrapbook, photo book or photo album: which suits you

No, you learn the basics in a few pages, and there are no fixed rules. A calm, lovely page comes down to a few simple principles:

• one clear focal point
• two or three colours that appear in your photos
• some empty space around the photos
• embellishments in moderation

Beginners often don't find the sticking hard, but making choices and keeping an album consistent over several pages. Start small and look back after a few pages. You'll naturally see what you're good at and what you enjoy.

Read also: How to build a scrapbook layout step by step

Yes, a kit is an easy start, because the paper and embellishments already go together. You don't have to combine things yourself.

You see straight away how colours and patterns work together, and you can try out what you like. Do check carefully what's inside. Sometimes there are lots of embellishments and little paper, and you often have to buy glue and scissors separately.

A single pad of patterned paper from one collection (a paper pad) works almost as well. Keep what you don't use, because scraps always come in handy later.

Start with your photos: look at what happened and what you want to remember, and build the page around that.

For the layout, sketches help a lot: simple plans that show where the photos, the title and the text go. You'll also find inspiration in scrapbooking magazines, books, videos and other scrappers' pages. Save what you like in a folder or on a mood board, so you always have something to fall back on.

Most of all, look at why a page works, such as the colours or where the photo sits, rather than copying it exactly.

Read also: What is a scrapbook sketch and how do you make a page with it?

For a simple page you need about four to six sheets or pieces of paper, and a few 30 x 30 cm sheets are plenty to start with.

• one sheet of cardstock as the background
• one or two sheets of patterned paper for a second layer or a strip
• a scrap of plain cardstock for matting (the borders behind your photos)
• a small piece for a title or label

You can cut lots of smaller pieces from one 30 x 30 cm sheet, so a pad of patterned paper with twelve or twenty-four sheets lasts for several pages. Better to buy too little than too much. Paper from one collection already goes together, and lay the sheets next to your photos before you start cutting.

Read also: How to choose colours that suit your photos

Most mistakes happen because you want to do too much at once. Common pitfalls are:

• too many colours, papers and embellishments, so your photos get lost
• no clear focal point
• sticking things down before the layout is finished
• wet glue that makes the paper wrinkle
• using original, irreplaceable photos instead of prints
• not writing down names and dates
• buying everything in one go
• being so much of a perfectionist that a page never gets finished

Lay everything out loosely first, take away whatever doesn't add anything, and at the very least write down who, what and when.

Read also: Design principles for a scrapbook page that works

Start with a practice page on a loose sheet, so nothing can go wrong. Use prints instead of original photos, so you can print a photo again if something goes wrong. Lay everything out loosely first and only stick it down when you're happy.

If something does go wrong, you can almost always hide it. A glue stain or a misspelt word disappears under a strip of paper, a label or washi tape.

Your first pages don't have to be beautiful. Later on, they show how you started. A finished page is worth more than a perfect page that never happens.

Read also: How to fix a mistake on your scrapbook page

There are many kinds, and you don't have to pick just one.

• traditional: paper pages in an album, often 30 x 30 cm
• pocket scrapbooking: photos and cards in the pockets of page protectors
• mini album: a small book about one subject
• digital: making pages on the computer and having them printed
• hybrid: digital and paper combined
• junk journal: a book of recycled paper and keepsakes
• art journal: a journal for images, colour and self-expression

Feel free to try a few. Many scrappers switch between them, depending on their time and the subject.

Read also: What is scrapbooking, and which style suits you?

Yes, most scrappers taught themselves. You'll get a long way with:

• videos and step-by-step guides online
• books and magazines about scrapbooking
• sketches, to recreate layouts
• workshops near you
• scrapping together, for example at a crop: an afternoon or day when people work on their albums together

In the end, you learn most by making pages. You pick something up with every page, and after a while you'll naturally see which style suits you. Feel free to ask someone how they did something. Scrappers are usually happy to explain.

Read also: Scrapbooking together: crops and crafty afternoons

You keep memories in a way that still tells something later, to yourself and to those who come after you. Photos without context lose their story. In a few years, nobody will remember who is in them or why the moment mattered.

On top of that, many scrappers find it relaxing to be busy with their hands. You get a break from screens, you look back on lovely moments and you make something that's finished. Scrapping together or giving an album as a present makes it something cosy to share as well.

Read also: Why scrapbooking can bring calm and satisfaction

No, for your first pages you can work in whatever you have: a sketchbook, a sturdy notebook, a ring binder with loose sheets or an album with blank pages.

For beginners, a ring binder or post-bound album with loose pages is the most practical. You can add, swap or remove pages. With a bound book you need to think about thickness in advance: if you stick a lot in, the book will start to bulge.

If you buy a proper album later, choose one with acid-free pages or with sleeves made of safe plastic, such as polypropylene.

Read also: Post bound, ring binder or self-adhesive: which album to choose

Scrappers use lots of specialist words. These are the most common:

• layout (or LO): one finished page
• spread: two pages side by side
• cardstock: sturdy, plain card used as a base
• patterned paper: thinner, printed paper
• embellishments: decorations such as stickers, buttons and labels
• journaling: all the text you write with your photos
• matting: sticking a photo onto a slightly larger piece of paper as a frame
• sketch: a plan for the layout of a page
• crop: a get-together where people scrap together

Read also: Scrapbooking terms explained, from brads to vellum

Yes, using someone else's page as an example is perfectly normal in the scrapbooking world. It's called a scraplift or CASE, usually explained as copy and share everything.

You borrow the layout, the colours or an idea and turn it into something new with your own photos and your own story. If you show the result to others, mention where you got the inspiration.

If you sell or publish your work, it's a different matter. Copying a design exactly or using other people's images isn't simply allowed then.

Read also: Scraplifts and CASE: is it OK to copy someone's page?

Yes, scrapbooking is still very much alive, although it looks different now from how it used to.

Alongside classic albums, junk journals, travel journals, pocket scrapbooking and decorating planners with stickers and washi tape are popular. Precisely because almost all our photos are on our phones, many people want to hold a few moments in their hands again.

There are online groups, workshops and scrapbooking afternoons, so you don't have to do it on your own.

No, start with the photos you feel most like working on right now. Often that's something recent whose story you still remember well. If you try to start at the beginning of a big pile, you'll quickly lose heart.

An album doesn't have to be in chronological order. You can work by theme, person or event, or slot pages into the right place in a ring binder later. Do put a date or year on every page, even if it's a guess.

In the meantime, you can sort older photos into boxes by year or event.

Read also: Behind on your album: do you have to scrap in order?