A Beginners Guide to Scrapbooking

The thought of storing all my memories away in a little book to look back on makes me happy. Life is short and it seems to be flying by so if you’re like me and want to keep hold of all your special memories or even just the little things, then a scrapbook is a great idea. I started my scrapbook without a clue on what I needed apart from pictures. Although I consider myself a highly creative person, I’m not exactly the best at making things look pretty. I do try to. But not the best lol. Here is my beginners guide to starting a scrapbook.

What you’ll need:

S C R A P B O O K

Firstly, you need to decide on what scrapbook you want. They’re tons of different themed books out there and it’s entirely up to you with what you choose. There is something called a Smash Journal, which I’ve had but didn’t get along with. It’s great for if you’re wanting themed background as each page is different. You’ve then got Project Life which is more of a modern day/stylish approach to scrapbooking where you just slip your photos into photo pocket pages.

For me personally, I went for a cheap and cheerful A3 Landscape Black Scrapbook from trusty Amazon. I went for black pages as I found that it made the photos stand out better and the blank pages mean that you can customise it to your desired extent.

P H O T O S

If you’re wanting to create a memory filled scrapbook with personal photos then surprise, you’re going to need some photos. I like a mixture of different sized images, just to make things look a bit more interesting and it fills up the pages more. There is endless amounts of online photo printing services which you can simply upload a bulk of images straight from your camera roll, or you can even upload images through Facebook or Instagram. I mostly use Printiki for my images as I have found them to be amazing quality and very versatile. I mostly go for the Square M (4 x 4) prints and the Retro Square M (4 x 4) – which are more of a Polaroid style print. You can get 20 prints for just £7.99 including shipping however (cheeky little promo) you can use my referral code at checkout: X77JNFE8 to receive free shipping!

Another handy way of printing off pictures is to print them off yourself. I received a HP Sprocket printer for Christmas and have been using it non-stop since. It’s a very clever chargeable printer that prints off little 2 x 3-inch stickable snapshots straight from your phone. You simply download the HP Sprocket App and connect it to your phones Bluetooth, from there you can edit your photos by adding filters, stickers, banners or even text which are all built into the app and within seconds, you’re photos are printed out! What I love most about this, is that the paper is called Zink which means it already has ink built into it. The photo sheets sell for £9.99 for 20 sheets on amazon, which is a bit expensive however worth it because I know I’ll be using them all the time.

P A T T E R N E D  C A R D

I’d highly recommend investing in some patterned card sheets. You can buy these in a bulk pack on Hobby Craft and they come in a variety of themes and colours. Seeing as my scrapbook has plain black pages inside, it’s nice to mix it up a bit and add some colour for the background of my images. I just love the variety of different themes you can get. Or you could ever try making your own if you’re feeling super creative.

S T I C K E R S  A N D  W A S H I T A P E

I feel like no scrapbook looks complete without stickers or washi-tape. You can find them anywhere and just like the cards, you can also have different themed stickers for each page of your scrapbook.

L A B E L  M A K E R

Apart from my HP Sprocket printer, this is the second best gadget I have for my scrapbook. I bought this Dymo Label Maker on Amazon for £13 along with 3 refills for when I run out. This gadget is very easy to use and you can create your own custom sticky back labels which gives my scrapbook more of a personal feel to it.

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I hope this was a bit helpful to those who are thinking of starting a scrapbook especially now that 2018 is here. You don’t need to go out and buy this stuff all at once, as long as you have the basics then you’re ready to go.