Scrapbooking is a wonderful hobby that allows you to creatively capture and store memories. Many people think about scrapbooking but are not sure where to begin. There are professional scrapbooking studios that will put together albums for you based on the photos that you select, but this can be very expensive over time. It is much less expensive and more fun if you learn to do it yourself. You will need a few things to begin:

2.    Album – You will need an acid and lignin-free photo album. There are numerous choices available and you can find these albums at most department or wholesale stores like Wal-Mart or simply head to your local hobby store. Choosing albums that contain no lignin or acid will help to keep your pictures safe over time. Look around and find an album that contains the design that best matches the theme of your scrapbook. Again, there are a number of choices available, particularly if you visit a hobby store. You can also look online for your album.

3.    Page Protectors – These are critical as they will continue to protect your pictures for many years. You have to keep fingerprints and other stains from damaging your photos. You should be able to find page protectors wherever you purchase your scrapbooking album. Buy these in bulk if you are planning to create several albums over time. This saves you money and ensures that you always have plenty on hand.

4.    Glue – You need picture safe adhesive in order to bind your photos and other items to the album pages. Glue is easy to find wherever scrapbooking items are sold.

5.    Pens – A black ink pen is best. You may want to add entries to your photos and pigma ink pens are safe for scrapbook journaling. You can also print what you want to add straight from your computer and simply glue the entries to your pages. Extreme scrapbookers prefer to write in their own hand however and you may find it much more rewarding if you simply jot down what you are thinking as you add each picture.

6.    Scissors – Finally, you will need a good pair of scissors to crop your photos and cut out various items that you want to add. You can find sets of craft scissors that add decorative edges at a number of online and offline stores. These help you to add a special touch to your scrapbooking pages. Most come in sets of three or more and are fairly inexpensive.

Once you have everything that you need, you can begin preserving your memories in a scrapbook. You will need to organize your pictures and other memorabilia first. Once you have this done you can begin planning your pages. The easiest way to plan each page is to place your pictures on the album page and then “play” around with them a bit. Move each picture around until you have them exactly how you want them. When you have chosen your layout, use the adhesive to glue your pictures to the album.

Add any decorative items that you want. You will find a multitude of adorable scrapbooking tidbits that will help you to add creativity to your albums. These are normally sold in themes such as baby, wedding, school, etc. You can purchase them in bulk (they are very inexpensive) and then just add them on each page as you see fit. When you have finished placing and gluing your photos, added any decorations that you want and written in anything that you want to say, simply place your page protector on the page and you are finished. Now move on to your next page and you will soon have a completed album to show off to family and friends.

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