Taking the plunge into SCRAPBOOKING!

Everyone (actually 1 out of 3 households in America) was scrapbooking... except me! It just looked way too overwhelming. My daughters were both scrapbooking and I still avoided it. Several years ago... the last day of school... a teacher received a small 6x6 handmade album for her to put pictures of her granddaughter in. The album was simple, feminine, and made out of folded cardstock. I WAS SOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!! "That I can do!" I wouldn't even have to fool around with photos... just leave spaces for them.

So, on the way home from school...with the whole summer ahead of me... I knew I could do this. I could make gifts! Gifts for my fellow teachers and other friends. I wouldn't have to deal with the big box of unorganized photos of my family... the sorting process of the pictures alone would be overwhelming (that came later).

I stopped at a scrapbook store and asked many, many questions... paper? glue? punching holes?

etc. I walked around the store and every new item I came across I would ask, "How do you use this?"

I left the store that day with several bags of scrapbooking goodies, and an idea for my first album. One of my teacher friends had just bought their first family dog. So, I just focused on dog paper, stickers, a few stamps & ink, and ribbon.

I did stop at Office Max and bought a GOOD paper cutter... a purchase I've never regretted.

During that first week of summer vacation, I completed the dog album... it was so cute. I popped it in the mail and I was ready to start another... or several. I made a list of friends names and an appropriate theme for that person. My 2nd album was for another teacher..."The Lake"... perfect for some of her photos of their summer days at their cottage.

And that was my summer.... making albums, trying new materials, trying new techniques, exploring every scrapbook store I could find, and reading Simple Scrapbooks, Creative Keepsakes, and Memory Makers magazines. I felt as though there wasn't a thing I couldn't make.

That Fall, when school started again, there were 6 pregnant teachers at our school. So I made each a 6x6 album for a baby gift.

And the holidays... what fun!! I had more ideas than time. At this point I still had not kept an album... they were all gifts. Tomorrow I'll share a trick for sorting out that box of unorganized photos... and getting organized!

I'm off to Archivers (my favorite store in this area) with a friend. Bye!