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

Less is more~enjoy the process!

My advice would be to focus on the photos and the story- not the products. I would get so caught up in all the cool and adorable embellishments, papers, and tools that I'd forget what I was really trying to do. It's easy to get distracted while scrapping.

My best advice for a new scrapbooker: focus on the pictures and the stories behind them rather than get caught up in all the "bling" and extra embellishments or in trying to create a masterpiece of every page. What will matter at the end of the day, or the end of your life, will be the basic stories.

Do not try to scrapbook all your pictures - choose the ones that tell the story and put the rest in a photo album.

You don't have to do it in order, do it the "right" way or do it all. Enjoy the process....

i'd say be free in your scrapbooking, be yourself! Don't compare your work to others! Have fun with it!!

just start with telling today's story. don't get caught up with having to catch up

Look at what the "professionals" do, but create your own style using stuff you love.

I wish I'd taken more classes. Or maybe that's the current scrapbooker in me. I love being inspired and instructed!

I would just say to figure out what is really important to you and what you want to convey and go from there. I think when one first starts out one is often unsure and so then tries to scrapbook like someone else or based on how someone else sees or portrays things instead of based on one's own feelings.

Best advice....organization is the key to success. I say that, but if you look at my desk today it's piled as high as the moutain tops and is in despearte need of organization. God grant me the energy to get to it tonight!

My best tip for beginners is just to start with your most recent photos--the ones you're excited about.
Also just make your book yours. You don't have to do what everyone else does. It's your story and it's up to you to tell it in your style.

Love your first pages and don't feel like every layout has to match those in the magazines!

I wished somebody told me longer ago that it is OK to work on other sizes than 12' by 12'. It just is NOT me. I thought that then i could not scrapbook. Now i scrap on all different sizes (but never on 12 by 12)

My advice would be not to get too caught up in design, instead focus on the story. As I look back over my first layouts, I notice they are really cute, but there is no story. My journaling is minimal and uninteresting. I wonder about the unique anecdotes or stories I missed writing down.

My best advice is: enjoy what you do.
It's a hobby, it's supposed to be fun. Not a chore!

Wow! What an amazing giveaway! My advice to a beginning scrapbooker would be to remember how scrapbooking began - using *scraps* to document events, memories, thoughts, etc. It's using whatever you want, to make whatever you want. It's about you the scrapper, not the products!

I wish someone had told me not to buy sooo much stuff before i figured out what i liked and what i liked using!

I wish that someone had told me that the memories are the most important part! A lot of my early scrapbooks are missing all of the important journaling. While the pictures are great, I really wish that I had the written memories to go with them.

keep your pages simple. that's why i like ali's layouts so much. great layouts don't have to be time-consuming.