Never scrapbooked before!

Hi Shaz :)

You'r at the right place. I've only started out a month ago, but allready learned A LOT from this newsgroup. The ladies here are really kind and helpful. :)) I was also confused about what kind of Album to use, because I'm only use to convensional Photo Albums, but the Scrapbooking Albums does look a bit different. It's best to see one IRL. Your layout goes into a type of "pocket". It's difficult to explain.

I'm in South Africa and also thought that there's no exclusive Scrapbooking shops in my area. I started out by buying a local Craft magazine and was really surprised to see shops really close by. I don't know whereabouts in the UK you stay, but if it's close to a city, I'm sure you'll find someplace soon! :))

Good luck, it sounds like a great first project you're planning. Here's a few websites to help you out solong:

Judy, South Africa

I'm in the UK to Shaz,

Started scrapping last December. A good website to look up online shops etc is

And also one I enjoy looking through for ideas etc is

Welcome to the group Shaz. I am a scrapbooker from New Zealand and have learnt so much from everyone here and met some very nice people. Angela New Zealand

Welcome to our group Shaz and we have another Shaz in Australia! I magine that! So good to have you with us and I know you will learn lots. I like the online store of Creative Xpress. Lovely people to work with. When you have some Lo and are able to share..we would love to see them.

Hugs, Sabrina in Kentucky

a good friend is a life long treasure

Hi Shaz, I see the others have pointed you in the right direction. I have a question, are you familiar with spirella?

Welcome to the group Shaz in UK! I am in the United States so I don't have any info for you regarding craft shops. I am sure there must be something for you, check your local directory. I am sure your card making supplies will help you in your scrapbooking. Any scrapbook album will work. You need to decide what size to use first...the most common sizes are 8 1/2 x 11 and 12 x 12 (I use 12x12 myself). Second you need to decide what type of album to use, there are all different kinds...strap hinge, post bound, spiral (I, myself prefer strap hinge but a lot of ladies prefer post bound as they say it is more versatile). If you do find a store I am sure you will find them most helpful to your questions. I think the most important items for you to have is an acid free black pen (I prefer Zig brand pens), a pair of smaller size craft scissors, a cutter (I use as 12x12 cutter), acid free background/colored carstock.

If you use your daughter's birthday cards in your album try not to have the cards directly touching your photos. Protect them with a page protector. All items that are not acid free (certain papers, newspapers, cards, magazine articles, etc.) should not be directly touching your photos.

Welcome to RCS Shaz! I use just about anything on my scrapbooking layouts, as long as it's acid free. :-) The biggest thing is to make sure that anything that touches your photos is acid free. I've also discovered to make sure any ink you use is permanent as water-based inks will run if your page gets wet.

I use scrapbooking albums. I like the post-bound myself, but there's also strap hinge. Size doesn't matter, just choose a size that you like. I prefer 12" x 12", because I can fit more pictures on a page, but others prefer smaller sizes.

The biggest guidance I can give is to just start doing it! Do what looks good to you, and have fun doing it. :-)

Welcome Shaz! I got started with a mini starter kit as a Christmas present. It consisted of an album, an Intro to Scrapbooking book, a pack of acid-free paper, a few decorative scissors, and a paper cutter.

The album was a 12x12 book with top-loading page protectors. Each protector had a piece of white cardstock. I used this to get myself started, but quickly discovered it just wouldn't be enough. Then graduated to colored backgrounds and fancy papers.

I too started with the idea of what looked good is what I went with. I then started reading groups like this and looking at LOTS of layouts (LO) to get new ideas and try new things.

I decided that the album I received was nice, but took a bit of expense to buy more protectors, 12x12 paper, etc. Now I use recycled

My advise...don't get hung up on tools, album type, etc. Grab your photos, dive in and have fun!

-- Amy Springboro, OH

What is that?

Hi again,

Thanks for everyones advice, I am busy getting loads of ideas from the links, and I am sure I will come back with more questions! Hopefully I will start working on a scrapbook very soon.

I have heard of spirella, and seen it done on TV. I like the effect it has.

Thanks again for the nice welcome.

Shaz

Welcome to the group Shaz. Everyone has given you lots of great ideas to get started, so I'll just say have fun working on your pages.

Welcome Shaz! Don't we have another Shaz one here from Austraila? I can't help you on the shops in your area as I'm in the U.S.

Well ask away when you do have questions Shaz :o) I always learn something new when someone answers a questions

It reminds me of the string art pictures that were popular in the 70's. You can use it for cards and I want to try it for tags and maybe to make some frames. I haven't seen it in the US shops online.

Huh, thanks for showing me. That's really neat. I've never seen that before.

Welcome to RCS Shaz

-- Maureen in FL aka Smilingtooo :-) SMILE BE HAPPY :-)

See LO's at:

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (remove SPAM to email)

Pages complete in 2004: 42 Goal for 2004: a page a week Pages complete in 2003: 37 Member since June 6, 2002

Welcome Shaz.

Jsut wanted to pop in and say hi to the other shaz up yonder as Maureen put it in email to me lol

WElcome to RCS

Hope the rest of you dont get too mixed up trying to work out who is who

((((hugs))))) thoughts and prayers with all

Shaz downunder as I may now have to be known :)

Tabitha,

Hi there! Welcome to the scrapbooking hobby. It's addictive and you wont be able to stop. As an avid scrapbooker myself, I have some tips. First off, you can't mess anything up. If you drip some glue or end up writing the wrong letter with marker on a page, you can easily cover it with something or make it into a some creative creation. For the actual book, I would recommend a three ring binder. It is an inexpensive way to go. You simply buy page protectors for you pages and that's it. Plus in a real scrapbook, one with pages already in bindings, you have to go in order. Which can be a pain if you like to jump around to different events. The page protectors also allow you to use regular size paper, which can be bought anywhere. There are great sites online to buy scrapbook things too. Hope this helps! Happy scrapbooking.

Lisette J. Sorensen Flagstaff, AZ