Scrapbooking - help me get addicted!!!

[BellyBelly]

It's not going to be that hard, just recently it's resparked my interest when I found the page I made for Marisa at a Creative Memories party... so now I want to get into it more and have myself a hobby besides BB LOL!!!

So... what are the good brands? What are the bad? What is essential? What is a waste of time?! Love to hear everyone's thoughts on what I need to get started, I am very excited I want to do an awesome family album

[sunnymel]

hi kelly - im only a newbie myself so am probably not alot of help but am totally addicted after going to a creative memories party - i have since picked up great bits & pieces from spotlight & on ebay (as long as i know how much it is really worth) the creative memories stuff is expensive but i found pretty much the same kind of cutting system today in kmart - it's by fiskars & they were on sale - the cutter was $20 & the templates $5 - im looking forward to the weekend so DP can watch eliana & i can get stuck into some pages - i will check back on your thread to see what everyone else says - scrapbooking should come with a warning that it is totally addictive!!!!

[Melinda]

I'll be interested to see the responses to this as well since I'm a newbie and would love to know what people recommend/suggest!

[Cherie]

My absolute essentials are
- a guillotine (I've got a cheapie one from Crazy Clarks)
- a cutting mat (again, I bought mine from Crazies)
- double sided tape. I absolutely could not scrapbook without double sided tape. I don't bother with all the fancy glues and sticky dots
- lots of good quality cardstock.

Everything else is just icing on the cake really. I do a lot of my titles with a needle and thread - just sewing through the cardstock, so you don't even need fancy equipment for that.

[nellbe]

Some people swear by Creative Memories, although I have a few of their things, you can get a larger range of things elsewhere.

There are soo many products out there, it is really hard to desciper of lot of it. Do you have a scrapbooking shop near you? They are probably the best place to start. Or pick up one of the magazines, Scrapbooking Memories or For Keeps are probably the best., as they have local listings as well as heaps of online ads.

Back to the shop - the one near me offers 3 hour workshops for $12, which you get back if you spend over a certain amount and you can use all their tools - they are the most expensive part of scrapbooking. Once you have them, or access to them you are set. A shop near you may offer similar deals. To get an idea of what to do, they are on hand to show you tips and ideas. Alot of them also offer classes on certain things, or 6 week classes for beginners.

For papers, embellishments and even kits to get you started, they can be found anywhere these days. Ebay can be a great place if you know what you are looking for. Spotlight, Lincraft, K-Mart, Target and Big W all have scrapbooking sections now, although the best range of stuff is from a scrapbooking shop.

The hardest thing for me? Motivation. I love doing it when I am doing it but it's hard to set aside a chunk of time to do so. The mums from my mums group are the same so we set aside a Friday arvo every fortnight to get together and scrap. We all bring along our tools and share ideas, mags and thoughts.

Have I helped any? Please fire any questions you have. It's always hard to know what to tell people where to start.

[Fi]

I second what Nell has said. Go find your closest decent scrapbooking shop, and ask about classes. At my local you can do a 2-3 hr class for $20, and all you have to bring is your photos. You end up with 2 pages from it. They supply everything you need.
Then you can decide what you do from there. I find Spotlight a bit so-so, Lincraft is great for scrapbooking, but their prices are much the same as the local shop, and I'm sur you are the sort of person that would rather put their money into a working womans pocket rather than a big richy man!
Also, I have a loyalty card so when I spend $200, I get a $20 voucher, so if you are going to set up, it doesn't take long to spend that sorta money.

I recommend a mat, a ruler and a rotary cutter, but thats cause I use them for patchwork too. (well I use an old set for scrapping). I also have D-S tape, but only for the cardstock, and I use the proper photo sticky tabs cause you can readjust them if you make a booboo. Then you just sort of add things as you go. Everytime I go into Lincraft I check out their sale isle, and pick up a couple of little things.

Best thing I can recommend is choosing the photos for each page, along a similar thme and colourway, and then choosing your paper to match them. Once you have done the pages then you can think about embellishing it. Thats where the $$$ come in!! But dont make the mistake of buying background paper you like, and trying to match photos to it. Easier to workthe other way.

Its a great - albeith very messy - hobby.

Fi

[Trish]

You mean you need HELP to get addicted???

A 12 inch paper cutter is your most prized possesion, then comes the cardstock and either photo tabs or double sided tape. I use the Francheville brand as they are not expensive and you can usually just grab them from Spotlight. As Fi said tabs are better for the backs of your pics as they are removable and you can replace your pics elsewhere if you don't like your layout.

My Reflections is a great mag for beginners as it has some step by step pages and ideas. I was also introduced to scrappin through CM and spent way too much on the supplies. Honestly I think the money is better spent elsewhere. I am about to start selling my CM stuff on ebay because I don't use it. Of course that's just me and you might love it. You can get some great albums from Big W and Target. Make sure that all of your papers and cardstock are acid and lignid free and don't use stickytape on your pages.

Get yourself in at your local scrap shop and do a beginners class. My LSS runs them in a lot of 4 classes over 4 weeks then there is a follow up of techniques class for the next 4. If you truely aren't addicted by then, you'll never be.


Take care
Trish

[Candice]

For those who get the "how to"channel on pay TV they have a great show "DIY Scrapbooking" It is on twice a day and is the best for getting you motivated and inpired... I love, I do save the shows on my computer and will probably have a DVD worth by the end of the week..

[Fi]

Oooo DIY Scrapbooking!! I love that show, and its on pay TV in NZ at 4:30 weekdays. 2 weeks at Gramma's - you can be sure I'll be glues to the TV each day!
Its great - very USA, but some neat ideas.

Fi

[*Belle*]

Hi Kelly,

I know a girl from WC who runs scrapbooking classes in Melb.. let me know if you would like her details... I can PM her on WC for you.

Bel

[BellyBelly]

Sure Bel, thanks

Well I bought my first magazine - did anyone else look at them and go 'OMG there's no way I can do it that well!!!'

[Debbie Lee]

Me too, Kelly. There are some amazingly creative pages in those magazines.
My scrapbooking is more cut and paste - not really that creative but still fun to do. I just use those mags for ideas.