TEACHING Tuesday April 15th

Laurel sent in a wonderful write-up for beginner scrapbookers. Here are some of the tips she included:

General Tips

• Find a local scrapbooking store or family resource centre that may have "crops". These are great to meet people as passionate about the hobby as you and you will always hear new tips and can get some great advice!
  
  
• I don't recommend redoing any pages that you have already completed. They were completed with love in a fashion that you thought was appropriate when you did them. If you start redoing pages, you will never stop!
  
  
• Start working with today's memories and do yesterday's memories when you have time. If you are really ambitious, you can get all those old photos scrapbooked, but it will take a LONG time! You will feel like you are never caught up and then it may become a burden.
  
  
• Really think about how you want your layouts organized in albums before you put them into albums. Do you want one album with family Christmases, birthdays, vacations, or albums dedicated to each member of the family. Whatever you choose, it is your way of organizing and there is nothing wrong with that!
  
  
• Don't feel like you have to scrapbook every picture you take. Only scrapbook the ones with the memories that you want to preserve.
  
  
• "White space" is okay! You don't have to fill up every inch of every page!
  
  
• Scrapbook the good and the bad. It is all a part of your life.
  
  
• If you are struggling for layout ideas, google "scrapbooking sketches" and you will have over 350,000 hits waiting to help you.
  
  
• Don't be afraid to copy! If you see a layout you really like and you think it would work well with your pictures, copy it! It's called scraplifting. Just make sure you give the original artist credit if you are posting to on-line galleries or on a blog.
  
  
• Date your pages with the photo dates, somewhere, even if it's on the back! It makes putting them into albums SO much easier!
  
  
• Have fun! Scrapbooking is about preserving your families memories so generations to come can have a glimpse into your life!
  

Aren't these some awesome tips! I wish I had known about these when I started :-) Thanks so much, Laurel!