Tips and Tricks for the Scrapbooking Beginner

By Tiffany Washko

Scrapbooking can be a fun hobby to start for anyone who loves taking pictures and showing them to others. It's so easy to do that even a beginner can catch on quickly. If scrapbooking intimidates you because you've seen some elaborate creations, just follow some of these beginner tips to hone your skills into a bona fide scrapbooking pro:

Matting - By simply matting your photos, you can instantly change the look of your picture and make it stand out on the page. Double matting is even more effective to making a picture stand out. Use white or light colored mattes first and a contrasting color to matte the picture in last. For the contrasting-colored matte, use a color that's in the photo to really make it pop.

Pre-made designed pages - If you're not comfortable designing your own pages for your pictures, then buy some pre-made scrapbooking pages from any hobby store. You can simply attach your photos on these pages however you want and add any extra things - like stickers or content.

Rubber stamping - Consider using rubber stamps to add a little spice to your themed scrapbooking pages. Take a day at the zoo and bring more life to the scrapbook page by rubber stamping zoo animals periodically throughout the page.

Don't forget the words - No scrapbooking page can be complete without some text scattered here and there on the themed page. You can use your own handwriting to write what you want or print something off of the computer and cut it out to place on your scrapbook page. Words can help keep the memory of that special day alive.

Something old, something new, something special - To make a scrapbooking page more personal and special to you, add some sort of physical item from that day. For example, a wedding scrapbook page could use something like one of the flowers from the bouquet or a wedding napkin to immortalize that day in your life.

Get others involved - Recruit your children or friends and have them design their own pages for their photos. It can be the perfect way to pass the time on a rainy day when you can't get outside.

If the kids aren't old enough, you can do the cutting and pasting, but let them add stickers and choose the colors they want. They can even add some of their own artwork to the pages if they want!

Use stencils - If you want to add some little graphics to your scrapbook, but can't draw, consider using stencils. There are many stencils out there that have all kinds of shapes you can trace onto your scrapbook page.

Scrapbooking is the easiest hobby you can start! Once you're comfortable as a beginner, you'll find it easy to implement new ideas you stumble upon for your scrapbooking pages.

Tiffany Washko is the editor of Nature Moms, http://www.naturemoms.com . After working several years in corporate healthcare marketing and public relations, she took time away to be a mother. This new pursuit lead her to a new passion, natural family living and writing about environmental and political issues. She currently works as a freelance writer and newspaper journalist.
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