Want to start scrapping again after oh...seven years! A few

I took a 3-4 year break a few years ago.  When I decided to return, I bought a couple idea books and made a trip to the LSS.  I am a simple scrapper, trying to branch out a bit.  I too love/loved Cathy Zielske, Becky Higgins, Stacey Julian, Lisa Brown, etc.  Cathy has a blog and still scraps.

Tracie posted a link to Mary Jenkins's blog a couple days ago and I love her style...pretty classic, but modern.  Lots of inspiration here.

i rock paper and scissors


I have some simpler layouts on my Pinterst board...although some I have pinned to give me ideas for ways to branch out.

Pinterest


I would make a trek to the LSS that is an hour away.  Sometimes just seeing the papers and store displays can really help.  You'll also get an idea of what the new lines of paper look like and find brands that you love.  I still go to crops...I attend a monthly paper mania club meeting at my LSS and do scrapbook weekends with a group of friends.  We also go to some of the CKC or Embellish It Play All Day events when they are in our area.  You could check out Meet Up to see if there are any scrapping groups in your area.

If you are looking for a neat idea book, check out the Page Maps book.  I bought a used copy (looks brand new) on Amazon for a couple bucks.


Page Maps on Amazon

Welcome back!


Though I never took quite that long of a break, I too felt tremendous pressure from the number of photos I wanted to scrap and the urgency that precious memories were escaping before I got them recorded. Well, isn't that a buzz kill??? I read Stacy Julian's Big Picture Scrapbooking book, and her Library of Memories system completely changed how I approach scrapbooking.

Mind you, I hardly implemented a FRACTION of her system! Just learning to think differently about what I scrap and why, helped me find an approach to choosing photos and a system for organizing my finished layouts that completely and utterly suits me. If you haven't been at it in a while, chances are you've got more photos than ever, so even if you don't decide to take a look at that particular book, give this some thought before you start up. Be open to different approaches to what you choose to scrap and how you store it, and give yourself permission to switch mid-stream if something in your method feels like at's burdening your enjoyment.


Meetup.com might be a good place to find groups of scrappers who crop together near you. It can feel odd sometimes if you're alone and everyone else knows each other, but it might be worth a try to check out any groups that are close enough to home, you just might find a good fit!


simplescrapbooksmag.com still has regular issues, that might be a good source of inspiration. Don't count pinterest out yet either... I too find that when I type something into search, only a fraction of what I see really fits what I wanted, but it's rare that I don't find something that inspires me and end up pining one or two things... before you know it, you've got a lot more inspiration than you realized!

I use a Fiskars Rotary trimmer, 12X12 , 6" wide base with an arm extension. It's better than the last 2 I had, which were Cutterbee rotaries, and though I liked them they didn't cut straight.


I hated buying paper sight unseen as well. Nary a LSS to speak of near me, pretty much ever. However, NJ hosts an Expo every year with retail vendors, so I've been able to line up a babysitter for the day and save up for one big shopping splurge on the designer collections they don't have at Big Box, nearly every year. It has gotten smaller over the years, but if you've got nothing else, well, you know what they say! If you google "scrapbook expo michigan" there are a bunch of links for various events-don't know if they're near you or have good reputations or not, but it's a start!

I will say, though, that when I found a few collections I Just.Had.To.Have. that I couldn't find in person, I ordered on line. And... I liked it. You can check out new product at scrapbookupdate.com (usually there's a CHA or Trade Show link for Sneak Peaks), to get a sense of what you might like. The links often go to the blogs, many of which show project samples in regular lighting that give you a better sense of true color than the product images.

You might try buying a collection kit to help you get back into it. It would save time on coordinating paper and embellishments. Hobby Lobby carries the Echo Park kits and with a 40% coupon, it's only $6!! Combine the paper with some solid card stock and you can get several nice layouts out of it.

I started 1994 and was gun ho for a while worked at local LSS and have a huge stash, then alot of life happened and didnt scrap for 5 yrs. I found Shimelle and her love of scrapbooking got me back like you my children got older and lost track of photos So now am enjoying I organized my photos and have them in somewhat order how i want to scrap them, I use goove books so i can print them in event or time i want to scrap them. I love I do what i want i am not a chronological scrapper, I like to scrap lift and play, use Project Life in there, I find the more i do the ideas come;

I love using sketches. I also have tons of kits from Scrapbook Generation that have the sketches and everything for the layouts included. I find using sketches and putting together page kits saves time and makes me focus on completing pages.

Lisa D.