Scrapbooking.. a few questions

[lunavix]

I've really enjoyed making my wedding cards, and someone suggested I try scrapbooking as it is similar (designing a page, adding embellishments etc) but with photos, and I'm a big photo person (have 6 albums of ds, he's only just over a year!)

I bought a random book at borders for some ideas, and it looks fantastic. I want to make one for my mindees, as a record of particular activities/days, and who we've had over time. (I'm feeling so much guilt that it's not for ds, dh says I'd be a fantastic catholic!)

I've got some ideas but don't know where to start. Is a scrapbook an actual BOOK ie you decorate pages, or is it like a file that you add pages to? This I'm wondering as the borders book is about embellishments, and a lot are quite big (tiny ceramic tiles, wire etc) and I'd imagine that would be a problem in a set book. Where should I get things from? I've looked at the scrapbooking thread (for beginners/kids, rickmans thread) and bookmarked the links to look at. But I was wondering the best place for supplies?

Also, will it be very expensive? I have nothing to start with!!! I'm guessing things like embellishments will bump up the cost, so should I decide what I need before I buy it, or is there starter packs etc? Help!

bump

I get my stuff from The Range and Modern Scrapbooking.com.

The idea is to use a sort of album into which you insert 12 X 12 " card squares as pages, preferably acid free so that they last.

The albums can be quite expensive, so what i did was start making up the pages then request the album for a Christmas present.

They can be hideously expensive BUT they don't need to be- one of the nicest embellishments I used was a dragonfly peel off coloured in co-ordinating colours, mountedonto a small square of angel hair inside a press out frame, all things I had left over from cardmaking. The trick is to get the colours right (it was a wedding page for a friend, and I chose some lilac flowers in the back of the picture which gave more scope than her black dress).

A fiskars unit (my mini one cost a tenner) for dry embossing is fab as they never wear out and are a great investment, and you can make simple charms by triple embossing (CAT me if you want a how to sheet as I demonstrtae this at card clubs).

Also, things like tickets, menus, letter headers, calendar pages with curcled dates are often far more effective than expensive papers and embellishment.

Sites worth looking at for papers etc:

www.craftsulove.co.uk
WWW.modernscrapbooking.com
www.stick-n-mix.co.uk/
photofinishes.net/Store/advanced_search_result.php?osCsid=2deb7639010642dc5b61d2926ad300b0&keywords=tractor&osCsid=2deb7639010642dc5b61d2926ad300b0(American but well worth it price and service wise)

Finally, poems make great embellishments: for scrapbooking I would recommend www.scrapbook.com/poems.php, which has a poem archive (some by me but don't let that put you off!!), forum and loads of other relevant stuff.

excellent.. what about the card and stuff? from there too? Or is ebay a good idea? (I have NOTHING)

The Range, EBay and all the sites I mentioned bar the poetry one sell the card, any 12 X 12 will do, but I like the Bazzill card as it has texture and fab coloyrs, that's from Modern Scrapbooking.

Hi Lunavix I would recommend buying a scrapbook magazine if you are just starting out.It will really inspire you and you can get details of where to buy embellishments and albums from.I bought a lovely 6 by 6 album from Kay and Co to start with as I was a bit daunted by the large 12 by 12 albums.You can also buy 8 by 8 albums which are nice.

A few sites you can try which I have bought things from are

www.cannycrafts.co.uk good prices and very quick service.

www.calicocrafts.co.uk have lovely folk art stuff as well as basics and arrived very quickly too.

www.thestampattic.co.uk has gorgeous stamps which are lovely to use with scrapbooking.

There's just a few to get you started.

how did i miss this??!! I LOVE scrapbooking.
You can get Cardstock and Papers in packs which I find more economic.

As PeachyClair points out It can be quite expensive so I'd say shop around for best prices.

Albums that specify that they're scrapbook albums are very expensive so I look out for 12x12 photo albums. Woolworths had some reduced to £2.99 so I got a few of them. Also boots have some for scrapbooks at halfprice at the moment.

You may want to get some page protectors too although if you do any hidden elements you wont be able to get to them without taking page out.

The stick and mix website PC posted is good and the prices are nice too.
I have loads of places i love for bits and bobos here's a few:
cheapdies
artbase
baker ross
clarkcraft - brill docrafts stockists
craft at home
kooky kards
dies to die for
There's loads more too!!

have a look at uk scrappers A wonderful scrapping forum also take a look at their sponsors for some good shopping places.

www.chinese-symbols.com

I find this site quite good for scrapbooking too

Gives you Chinese symbols for names, phrases, that sort of thing.

Sorry, Hi Champs!!!

ooh peachyclair I've CAT'd you about the embossing sheet - hope thats ok - ive just ordered a fiskar thingy from lakeland and have never used one before so any help would be appreciated!!

i've just started as well moving on from making my wedding invites and stuff to making cards anbd now this - i got an 8 by 8 album to start with and its a fab size - less daunting than the bigger ones and bought some paper and card in a pack with diff embellishments - a lot of the sites do kits to get you started and have also used stuff ive had lying around the house - bits of ribbon, stickers etc. HTH katy

Have e-mailed it over, hope it's OK

okay I'm confused about something, I've been looking on ebay and some of those sites and anything 12 * 12 seems to call itself scrapbooking 'paper'

Now I'd imagine it would be easier to make the pages on card or am I wrong? If the paper is to decorate the pages why would it need to be 12 * 12? Or are you meant to stick the paper to plain card? (lost here!)

some people use the papers as backing but i find it quite flimsy. if you were'nt adding too many embelishments or they weren't to heavy then it would be ok to use paper especially if you put the page in a protector afterwards.
As long as the paper/card is acid free you can use any size to decorate your page

would I just look for any 12*12 acid free card if I wanted to use card? I've just thought about it and I think I'd rather build everything up on the card rather than build it up on already patterned paper...

What should I use to stick the paper to the card so it doesn't go all funny like glue makes paper do? Should I use double sided tape or something?

yep!
wrt adhesives, I use double sided tape alot because you dont need to wait for it to dry. I also use a 2in1 pen alot which is repositional until it dries completely. glue dots/ sticky dots are good too and are esp. good for sticking embelishments with. 3d foam squares/ rolls are good for raising and adding a 3d look.
Make sure all adhesives are acid free.

I use the card mostly, but I often add borders of torn paper and A4 just isn't long enough, esp. if I am teraing on the diagonal.