Wednesday Sponsor Giveaways: Elise Blaha, ReVa, Studio Calico, & SheyB

Start scrapbooking current pictures. If you try and start years back with old pictures, you'll feel overwhelmed.

Don't buy a ton of scrapbooking supplies in the beginning. Just buy what you need to do the first pages you do. Otherwise you'll end up with a bunch of stuff you'll never use.

Great giveaways today! My best advice is you don't have to use every picture! My early pages are filled with bad pictures because I was concerned about preserving them all. Now I'm much more selective.

What I'm just figuring out now and wish someone had told me when I started scrapbooking (around age 10) was that "Your style is perfect just the way it is! How you design a page is completely up to you and there is no right or wrong way. Do the things that make you smile when you look at your page when it is completed. Enjoy the process and don't get caught up in comparing your work to other people's work! Be free!"

It took me several years of scrapbooking before I got a system that works. I get doubles of my pictures. They're immediately labeled and they go into an album. When I get around to scrapbooking, I pull out the ones I want to use and leave the other one in the album. Then I can jump around and scrapbook whatever I feel like.

What I wish someone had first told me...you do not need EVERYTHING in your arsenal in order to make beautiful pages. Buy things over time and not in big bunches.

Ooooh... the studio Calico kit or the strap would be awesome (but would be happy with anything...really!)...
My best advise would be: don't hoard stuff you like with waiting for the perfect fit on a page... before you are going to use it, the item won't be as fancy as it first was..... No such thing as a 'special page' .... they are all special, use your stuff (and you can buy new stuff when you are out... wahoooooo!!!!)

If only someone would have told me that there is no perfect layout or style of scrapbooking when I started then I would have saved myself lots of stress. All a beginner needs to worry about is that they like it and are doing it for themselves because no one else matters. Oh and always have fun with it!

Never crop your photos into star and heart shapes...I still have all those CM templates. :)

For me I don't "have to have" the latest papers, so I have bought the DCWV stacks when on sale. They give you SOOOO many papers for a great price. It wasn't until after I had a good collection of paper that I started buying tools here and there.
oh and you can NEVER have too much cardstock!

I am still a new scrapper. I think the main thing is to find your own style and go with it. Don't try to compare yourself with others or you will never get anything done. Remember that it is about the stories and photos and not the products. And, have fun with it. Scrapping should not be stressful, but fun!

My advice: Just cut up that beautiful paper already!

I wish someone would have told me to use acid free paper and not construction paper. I had to go back and redo my first album. It may seem obvious to us now, but to a new person they don't always know that simple rule.

There are no rules to scrapbooking....just do what feels right to you. You don't need to make each page a masterpiece with every perfect embellishment. The pictures and words are what is most important. You will "grow" over time with your skills. Just ENJOY it!

I wish someone had told me from the very beginning that there is no "caught up," or "right way" to scrap. I wish someone had told me that scrapping would change the way I look at my life and it would bring me more joy than I could ever express when I let go of any perceived rules and just have fun!

I wish someone would have told me I didn't have to buy all the different tools and supplies until I decided my style and what I use and don't. Would have saved me from having stuff I don't ever use laying around.

There should be no such thing as perfection. There are a gazillion ways for a page look so don't get hung up and just start!

When I started scrapbooking, I wish someone had to me, 'don't go overboard!' When I decided to start I went out and bought much more than I needed to get started, papers and stickers, books, tools and embellishments. I still have a lot of those extras sitting around.
The other thing I wish I had discovered sooner is the Kokuyo Dot'n'Roller. I cannot tell you how many tape rollers I went through that I HATED before I was introduced to this one. Now I order the refills 6 at a time! ;)

wow..what an awesome selection of yummy products! My best advise would be to HAVE FUN and remember you are creating for YOU and your family - that you are telling YOUR story not anyone elses! Oh and to resist the urge to buy a lot of things at first!

i wish someone had told me not to stress about it. i spent so many years being behind and thinking that i had to be caught up to be a good scrapbooker. now i just do it when i can and scrapbook the pages that mean the most to me.