There are thousands of different types of embellishments available for scrapbooking. But before you start shopping for scrapbook embellishments you should decide on a theme for your scrapbook, then choose the photos that you will use as the basis for each page. Use this theme and photos to help choose the embellishments you will use. Just be sure to use some common sense when choosing your supplies at your local craft or department store so you don’t go overboard.

Perhaps you have done other types of crafts and already have a stash of craft materials available to you around the house. You could use some of these items for embellishments. Buttons, lace, drawing paper and photograph mats are fine for use in your scrapbook, especially if the material is acid-free. You could have a hoard of items at home and not even know it, so make sure you check all of your drawers and cupboards. If you are an expert in calligraphy, you may be able to do your own lettering on each page. If you are doing a scrapbook about babies and have a baby yourself, maybe you have some small baby items that you can use on a scrapbook page.

So you’ve decided on a theme for your scrapbook and you’ve found a couple of treasures in drawers around the house to use as embellishments or mats on your scrapbook pages, but you still want to add more detail and novelties. Head to the scrapbooking department of your local craft store to buy more scrapbooking materials if need be, but remember to keep check of how much you are spending as it is still much cheaper to make your own embellishments.

When you reach the scrapbooking section of your local store you will find a plethora of different types and colors of paper from which to choose. Choose paper that will complement the pictures you have chosen for the basis of your album pages. Remember not to choose paper that will detract from the subject of your page. Once you have chosen the right paper, choose embellishments that will coordinate with the paper and photographs you have chosen, and any other embellishments you found or made at home.

There are both flat and 3D embellishments available for your scrapbooking use. These embellishments come in a huge variety of themes to choose from. If you already have the photos and paper chosen, you will have automatically narrowed down the color choices of the types of stickers and other embellishments you can choose. Choose embellishments for a page or two at a time if choosing for an entire album seems overwhelming.

And most importantly, take your time. Yes that’s right, take your time. There is no rush to buy every single item on the shelves, as over time you will end up with huge collections of items without even realizing it. So take it slow, take it steady and take it easy, but remember to have fun!

Visit Cheap & Easy Scrapbooking for more tips on scrapbooking on a tight budget.

There are a few things to keep in mind when shopping for your very first scrapbook. Your local craft store will have aisles and aisles of scrapbooking goodies for you to choose from so it is very easy to become overwhelmed with so many products. If you’re new to scrapbooking it can be daunting to realize just how much stuff there is available for this craft, including how many different types of scrapbooks there are.

If scrapbooking has really tweaked your interest and you’re keen to get started, your very first purchase needs to be the actual scrapbook that you will use. But what type of scrapbook should you buy? Don’t stress over this too much as the scrapbooks themselves are fairly straight forward, your only decision should be on the size and quality of the cover.

There are a few different sizes to choose from with the most popular being the 12 x 12 inch and the 8 and a half x 11 inch scrapbooks. Choosing one of these popular sizes will make it easier to find supplies like borders and new pages. These scrapbooks usually come with a minimum number of pages and allow you to add more as you go along.

The larger size 12 x 12 inch scrapbook and paper are a bit more expensive but they allow you to fit more onto the page. But most people choose a scrapbook and pages that are the same size as what their home printer takes so they can design their pages on a computer and print out the pages before adding embellishments. These sizes are usually the Letter size if you’re in the US or A4 if you’re in Australia or the UK.

An added advantage of using these standard paper sizes is that you can walk into any office supply or department store and readily find them without any problems.

Another thing to look at is the scrapbook’s binding. You should try to avoid the spiral bound scrapbooks as they will not let you add new pages and you will be limited to the number of pages that are already in the scrapbook. Always look for the scrapbooks with the removable pages so you can add more pages when you need to and also rearrange pages if you want to make any changes.

Covers come in all manner of colors and styles so the choice is up to you as to what you would prefer, though a nice strong cover will definitely last longer. Look for thicker cardboard or even plastic-coated covers.

Choosing the right scrapbook for your needs is fairly straight forward once you know a few basics and feel confident about making these choices. So get scrapping and have fun.

Kristy Taylor is a syndicated journalist and keen scrapbooker. Visit Cheap & Easy Scrapbooking for more tips on scrapbooking on a tight budget.