Scrapbooking - what is it? How to get started?

What is scrapbooking?

Not such a scary devil as they paint it, scrapbooking, despite sounding foreign, has been rooted in the nature of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers for decades as well. After all, in every family you will find a photo album with photos glued together, old diaries, newspaper clippings glued into notebooks with yellowed pages, Christmas trees cut out of postcards, letters buried in boxes, dried flowers between the pages, stickers on envelopes with handwritten addresses... Yes all this is what scrapbooking is all about.

Scrapbooking is a love of memories and the desire to stop beautiful moments and capture those moments, not in the form of a story just - a picture.

How did the USA popularize scrapbooking?

The United States is considered the cradle of scrapbooking, this creative method of creation has been gaining popularity year after year since the 1970s, and it's hard to find a household in which you won't find at least one trinket created with scrapbooking in mind.

Nowadays, scrapbooking is also a multimillion-dollar business worldwide, and the accessories and add-ons being created at an alarming rate can certainly overwhelm beginners in this art. You'll read about what you might need to get started in the following paragraphs. Keeping Memories Alive was the world's first scrapbooking store, it opened in 1981 and still exists today as one of the most recognized in the industry.

Scrapbooking - is it a hobby for me?

People who create scrapbooking are often called scrapbookers, on the Internet you will find a great many thematic groups bringing together fans of this hobby, sharing their ideas, advice and experience. If you are looking for a place friendly to beginners (not only in the use of cutting plotters) but also in scrapbooking, we invite you to our Facebook group.

So is scrapbooking a hobby for me?
If you are a creative person, have an artistic soul, like to work with paper, glue and scissors then no doubt scrapbooking will prove to be a hit!

Scrapbooking - how to start the adventure?

Scrapbooking is a method of decorating albums, cards or diaries. All you need to start this adventure are:

• colored papers

• scissors

• glue

Of course, in order to expand your creative horizons, paper cutting devices are also useful, i.e.: paper trimmer, manual Sizix machine or cutting plotter.

For decorating we can also use:
cut out elements and graphics from papers, newspapers or postcards, buy ready-made scraps - that is, shapes and inscriptions cut out of paper.

We can also cut out scraps on our own, whether on hand machines using die-cutters or by cutting them out with a home plotter in any shape and size.

What else might be useful?
Of course, you don't need to buy everything at the very beginning, the more work you do the easier it will be to start discovering new techniques to help you with your ideas.

Mostly useful are also:

• decorative punches,

• stamps and stamps,

• zircons and pearls,

• ribbons,

• stickers,

• embossing powders and inks

• structural pastes, etc...

Also popular especially in Poland are paper flowers or foamiran flowers - and again you can make them yourself or buy them ready-made.

Modern scrapbooking - how to make your job easier

Scrapbooking for many people is also a source of income and allows them to spread their wings by transforming well-known techniques into commercial ideas. It is used during; creating cards, boxes, albums, wedding decorations, etc.

How to make your work easier? Using, for example, free graphics programs such as Inkscape or Gimp, you can design scraps, digi stamps or graphics for albums yourself. If you have your own printer, you can freely print colorful designs on business card paper, for example, getting your own scrap paper. Collect postcards, ribbons from bouquets, bows from gifts, feathers and anything that pleases the eye - such will come in handy and you will definitely use in your works!

Remember, in scrapbooking there are no rigid rules and principles, the composition of your works depends only on your vision and imagination. So don't be afraid to have fun, test, check and act!