I'm a paper collector, umm, actually I'm a paper addict. I started my "scrapbooking" about a year and a half ago and have yet to create one page. I have an extensive collection of paper and tools but have no idea what to do with them. I even went out and took those SDU classes and still have no idea what to do. My husband, who has been very supportive in my addiction, just can not understand how I can spend so much and do so little. (he thinks I might be sniffing the glue pens)
First of all, welcome to the group. I'm new to the group too, though I've been scrapbooking for a while.
I remember how hard it was for me to make my first page. I think most people have a hard time. There are so many possibilities, wo what to do first? Personally I think that there are two themes that can make it easier to make a first page, travel pages and baby pages. I picked travel and made a list of all the trips that I had taken and then made sure it was in chronological order.
What I did was go with my first ever trip, but with post bound albums, you can start with any trip. I was 5 when I took that trip and only had two pictures. I wanted more pictures so I searched on Google and found really wonderful pictures taken the year that I travelled of the place that I went to. They really helped to complete my layout. My first two pages are very simple, some pictures, mats and some journaling. But they tell the story, not only of the trip but also about where I was in my scrapbooking, a beginner.
So why not just grab your fav pics from your fav trip. Look for the predominent colour in the pictures and go through that stack of wonderful paper that you have been collecting. Once you settle on a background paper that makes your pictures look good, find a contrasting piece of cardstock for matting and to create a journaling box. Don't try to make the page complicated. Simple pages are great too.
A scrapbook store owner once told me that some of us are meant to be collectors and some of us actually use the stuff we buy. Based on my purchasing patterns, I'm pretty sure that I'm a collector at heart, but I do try to use some of the stuff that I buy. How successful am I? Pretty soon I'm going to have to open a store just so that I can have a nice big place to store all the stock I've collected and get rid of the papers, embelishments and so forth that I bought, just in case...
Please let us all know when you get that first page completed!
Welcome Jessica!! You will learn a lot here because we have some fantastic scrappers who are only to happy to share. Just keep looking at everyon's work and ask questions. We have some very articulate peopple who really know what they are talking about. In the years I have been reading and posting, I have learned so much and just enjoy it more every day.
Welcome to the group.... Don't worry about sniffing the glue pens, because my husband thinks the same if not sniffing the ink as well with the money that I have spent at one time in the past.
Welcome to the world of "glue sniffers & paper collecters"(LOL)
There are lots of great ideas floating around here. The biggest step is that first page, once you get that one done, the rest are a piece of cake!:>)
I would suggest, if you are really nervous about it, using some pics that you have more than one copy of, or they don't really matter as much to you as some of your others. After you see how great you can make them look, you'll just want to scrap everything!!:>)
Welcome to a great place for inspiration:>)
-- Trish
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I have an extensive collection of paper and tools but have no idea what to> do with them. I even went out and took those SDU classes and still have no> idea what to do. My husband, who has been very supportive in my addiction,> just can not understand how I can spend so much and do so little. (he thinks> I might be sniffing the glue pens)
Welcome Jessica -- lol you gave me a little chuckle there. Hope you can gain some great insight here with the gals n guys :o) I have taken four days to do one page this past week - - procrastinating and changing ideas lol . Shaz
Hi Jessica! You have given me the nerve to de-lurk - I'm a "collector" as well. I'm Cheryl from Wisconsin, married with one son. I found this group back in April of this year, when my grandmother turned 85 years old and my mother decided that we should present her with a memory book - and we actually got each of her 9 children and 29 grandchildren to contribute pages (some did only one page, some did several). Those were the first and only pages I've managed to complete - but boy is it fun shopping for the tools and supplies! Especially since we have a Michael's and a JoAnn's less than 5 minutes apart from each other and only 15 minutes from my house. I really think that if I would just sit down with our photos and my "stuff" and just got going, half the battle would be won.
Jessica - welcome to the family. As was already said the first LO is the hardest --- so much "stuff" available on the market it's totally overwhelming. Pick a LO on "twopeas" and scrap lift it --- (copy it) - It's okay to do that --- and while your copying -- add a touch or two of your own to make it yours.
Maureen in FL aka Smilingtooo :-) SMILE BE HAPPY :-)
A Michaels and JoAnn's less than five minutes apart, eh? I know they just opened up a new Michaels in Menomonee Falls which is about five minutes away from a JoAnn's, would this be your area? I'm located in Menomonee Falls with all too many scrapbook and craft stores near me. It's like everywhere I go, the north/south/east/west, there is a place to get my supply "fix". I just have to remember "Thou shalt not sniff the embossing powder".
Welcome to the group. I'm hoping to get more time to scrap, it's not easy when you have a full time and a part time job.
I'm from "up north" - Wausau. We've had Michael's for about two years now; our JoAnn's moved to their new store a couple of months ago and it is so much nicer than the old one, it's unbelievable. They used to have 1 aisle of scrapbooking supplies and a quarter of that was stickers - now they must have five times that much.
The best part is they are 15 minutes from home one way, and 15 minutes from work the other way. Stressful morning? Pop out for a lunchtime "fix", and the afternoon is so much more civilized.
I've pretty much given up on finding time until after Christmas - I'm in the middle of crocheting snowflakes for one of my mother's cousins
- promised her enough of them for her whole tree. I'm hoping 100 of them will be enough. Be careful of promises made at family reunions!
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