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

start scrapbooking with pictures from today.... & never feel trapped with pictures from the past.

Prefection isn't necessarily the best thing! Don't get too worked up because then the mojo leaves and nothing you do will make you smile.

My advice is not to spend too much $ too soon - your tastes and style will change, and then you will be left with things and more things!
Can't wait to leave for CKC in Buffalo tomorrow!

My best advice is to just get started. Don't worry about having everything, or having the best pictures or not starting with the baby pictures. Get a paper trimmer, some tape, and some paper and just start. Scrap it simple, scrap it honest, and just enjoy telling your stories. How you scrap, and your photography, will change with time as you discover your style. Then you'll buy to match

Start with the basics, you don't need to buy everything out there before you have a chance to sit down and just start creating. Had I known this when I started, I wouldn't have invested so much money on things that have remained in drawers literally since I bought them!

My advice would be: Don't sweat it, just have fun. There's no right way to do this and whatever you choose to do is perfect, perfect, perfect. Don't expect to get "caught-up", do try to tell the stories of your families lives and use your own handwriting every once in a while, for Pete's sake!

I wish some one would have told me you don't need to scrap every picture in chronological order. I also thought that I needed to bring all of my supplies to a crop not just what I would need for 15 layouts. I learned that you should get 2 sheets of pattern paper if you plan on cutting out only certain parts of the pattern.

I wish someone had told me to get a good camera. Doesn't have to be a dslr, but a better point and shoot - and to take some photography classes or photoshop classes before starting. It makes a difference. Personally I would've loved to have taken some art theory/color theory classes so I wouldn't be so hesitant to put colors together.

best tip is to journal from the heart as you remember things and also to still scrapbook "imperfect" pictures!

Hi Ali,
a very big heartfelt thanks to you for all you wonderful inspiration on this blog site, this has been most helpful to me as a newish scrapbooker, and I have had the most wonderful time creating "things"
and the best advice - just do it, don't spend too much time thinking about how or what just start and let creativity take over !

Just jump in and start scrapping. You dont have to go in order, just pick the pictures you like the most and create a page.

My advice for a new scrapbooker would be to start simple, and build from there. I would also tell them to scrap whatever pictures they want to and not to feel like they have to make everything a "theme" album. Do what you love, and your family will love it too.

Believe it or not, I really, really wish someone had told me it's okay to not have every new product on and technique on one page. I was so caught up in making it something that everyone else liked that I wasn't focused on the true purpose: to tell a story and preserve a memory.
No one told me that I didn't have to get it right from the beginning. I used to have this insatiable urge to get published. I wanted to be like all the pages I saw in Creating Keepsakes and Memory Makers. By getting caught up in that urge, I was constantly comparing myself and found it to be lacking. This sort of attitude put me off of creating quite a bit and really hampered my enjoyment. I forgot that it was supposed to be fun.
Bottom line, I have two pieces of advice for new scrappers: remember that you're doing something amazing and essentially putting time in a bottle. Treasure what you create, and don't worry about how you're actually doing it. The second one is to know that if you allow it, your style will evolve naturally. If you want to get published, it may or may not happen, but not one single person you see today got it right from the beginning. They grew into it. Let it come to you.

Scrapbooking advice that I wish I had when I first started out: it is perfectly ok to "scraplift"...love those sketches and you just make them work for you and your materials.

I wish someone would have told me that chronological order scrapbooking is for the birds....it was MISERY for me for some reason!!!

My best advice would be scrap what moves you, don't bother to scrap it all. Too overwhelming!

Anything goes! Don't need to be caught up in perfection. Just enjoy and let the creativity flow.

I think the advice I would give is be kind to yourself! It's easy to see the awesome layouts in magazines and feel yours don't live up to that. This is a journey, and it's meant to be fun - not stressful! Go ahead and embrace the learning process, and watch yourself grow as an artist.

Only buy the tools you will actually use. Do not buy if you will not be able to use it. Purge your supplies every year if necessary to make room for new stuff.

To create pages that you love and that tell your story instead of getting caught up in the trends. You will always love the pages that were fun to create.