Step 2 – Purchase An Album
Although albums come in every size that you can imagine, the two most common sizes are 8.5″ x 11″ and 12″ x 12″. As a beginner, you may want to go with the smaller size so that the pages aren’t quite as hard to fill. As you get more experience, you can move up to larger albums.
Step 3 – Choose A Theme And Select Your Photos
When creating your first page, it is usually best to start with an extremely tightly-focused theme. Try picking one memorable event such as a special day at the beach, a birthday party, a camping trip, or the first day of school. Simple events without a lot of intricate details are usually the best choice when you are just getting started. Avoid major events like weddings since they usually require multiple pages. If you do want to go with a larger event, try to choose one specific aspect of it to capture on your first page.
Once you decide on a theme, choose several of your favorite photos that relate to that particular topic. Look for crisp, clear photos with good lighting. If you are having the photos printed, opt for a matte finish. Glossy photos tend to show fingerprints more easily.
Step 4 – Purchase Embellishments
This is where you have to be careful not to go overboard. It is easy to spend a lot of money in the scrapbooking aisle at your local craft store. Some items that you may want to purchase include patterned paper, cardstock, stickers, and other small embellishments. Don’t forget to buy glue, as well.
Step 5 – Put It All Together
The final part of the process is to begin creating your first page. If you need ideas and inspiration, try looking at photos of other scrapbooking pages online. If you have a lot of photos that you want to display on the page, don’t be afraid to cut them down to a smaller size. Try to capture the feeling of the special day or event, giving people who view the page a sense of what it was like to be there.
Using this basic scrapbooking guide, you should be able to put together a beautiful page for your first album. Once you finish your first page, you can continue filling up your album with pages that feature other memorable events.