How do you get started?

[Cruise]

Ok... I have a confession. I have loads and loads of scrapbooking supplies. I bought an organizer and sorted all my papers into groups that makes sense to me. I have all my ribbons and brads and embellisments together, all my adhesives organized, stickers and rub-ons in separate categories. I have hundreds of sheets of papers and some themed kits. I used to work at a scrapbooking supply company. Most of these things date back to over a year old.

And I have made exactly.... 0 pages.

I read all the great ideas here and see all the wonderful results and I just can't seem to get started. I think I might have too much stuff and it's overwhelming me to think about sitting down and picking the things for a page.

Does this happen to anyone else? What do you do when it does?

Thanks!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I started with a Disney trip. It helped to be focused on one themed event. I sorted my pictures, I did mine by park. Others have done in chronological order.
Then I sorted the pics into layouts, gathered my paper and embellies, and then started page at a time.

I did this with several albums, the sorting by theme. It really helped me from being overwhelmed. Now I am doing back log photos, in chronological order starting when DH and I got married.

I also use sketch books and sites like www.twopeasinabucket.com to get ideas.

 

[123SA]

I agree with Buffy about how to get started in general.

I would make a further suggestion. Pick a recent event that you have 4 or 5 photos for. Committ to just finishing this layout. After you have your photos, pick your paper or embellishments first -- whatever is more important to you. Then pick the other in co-ordinating colors. If you finish one layout, you may gain the confidence and motivation to create more.

 

[Cruise]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I do think I need to start small. The idea of 4 or 5 photos is a good one. I'm thinking my nephew's Halloween costumes, maybe. Just a few pictures there. When I think about doing my cruise, which I have over 150 pictures for, I just get a headache.

Thanks

 

[rlovew]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I do think I need to start small. The idea of 4 or 5 photos is a good one. I'm thinking my nephew's Halloween costumes, maybe. Just a few pictures there. When I think about doing my cruise, which I have over 150 pictures for, I just get a headache.

Thanks

When you go to do the cruise sort the photos into groups either chronologically or by theme- keep sorting them down until you have between 2 and 8 for each double page layout and then look for the paper by page instead of dealling with photos all at once- if you don't want to spend more money than sort them in a shoe box with index cards between each one. You may even want to jot some notes on the cards as you sort to help you as you begin journalling.

Rebecca

 

[Kim1964]

When I started the album for our '07 trip, I sorted everything I had collected by day. Then I picked a day's worth of stuff, sorted that further by "event", and then picked one event to start. The first pages I did for the album were about staying at Pop Century for the first night. The first 2 page LO was about the hotel itself....pictures of the room, towel animal, the sign out front, the resort map, and our KTTW cards. Then I moved on to what I called "Playtime at Pop"....pictures of DH and me standing in front of the "road signs" from the year we were born and the year we were married, and the kids playing in the pools.

That's how I did the whole album, breaking each day down into separate entities and scrapping them one at a time, really without even thinking beyond the one I was working on. Though I like to scrap chronologically, I got stuck for about 2 weeks on a LO and decided to skip it and do something else until I got unstuck on that one. That worked for me, as the album is done.

 

[aspcamhreditor2]

Like you, I've invested in a lot of scrapbooking "stuff", but for a long time, I just could not do any work. Getting started is often the hardest part.

The suggestion to pick out a small group of photos and do ONE layout is a great one. Picking out one group of photos that allow you to do one themed book is a good idea ... such as a Disney trip. If getting started is still hard, do a gift book for someone for which there is a "deadline" ... like an upcoming birthday.

My suggestion is this ... if you have a local scrapbook store, see if they have a class ... like a beginner's class ... or a Disney pages class. Attend a class there. Or, see if they have a "crop night" and commit to going.

If there are no scrapbook stores in your area, see if a local consultant for one of the several direct sales scrapbooking or stamping companies hosts a regular scrapbooking night. If that isn't an option, host a scrapbooking night yourself ... invite a couple of friends to your house for 2-3 hours.

Although I prefer to scrapbook at home since that gives me access to ALL my paper, stamps, embellishments, supplies, etc., I rarely seem to get any scrapbooking done there unless I have a specific "deadline" ... like presenting a teacher w/ a gift. However, that deadline doens't always work. I've still got the last 3 or 4 pages for last year's 2nd grade teacher to do. So, a friend of mine hosts a scrapbooking weekend away once the spring and once in the all. It's a pain to pack up and you have to plan a little what you want to do as you can't always take all of your stuff with you (I have one 4 ft cabinet filled with paper and another identical cabinet filled with stamps). When I attend a weekend, I often take JUST the stuff to work on a Disney album or a school album so I need ONLY to gather related papers & supplies. I can get anywhere from 15 to 30 pages done from Friday evening to Sunday morning.

Once in a while I will attend an evening scrapbooking at a friends house or local store. Even if you don't get lots of pages done, you do get motivated and can get great ideas of looking at the work of others.

 

[Cruise]

Thanks, all.

I've had a few specfic things in mind that I could do, but didn't order the prints online until today. Then realized I won't get them for another 10 days.

So I'm going to have a look into all the photos I have on hand today and see if I can get myself around to starting a page!

 

[rlovew]

I actually started by swapping- I wanted a creative outlet and looked at things and thought I could do that and try to be inovative and see what other people do also- then I felt like I ought to use some of the items and we had monthly challenges so I sat down with what I had and began actually scrapping but I actually started with handmade elements and then decided to start scrapping.

Rebecca

 

[dredick]

I always start the same for each of my Disney albums. 1.Front page 2.Layout for resort 3. layout for pool, 4.(4) layouts of each park. Once that is done, I go back and insert rides, food, etc layouts, into the right park. I finish the parks and add the extras, at the end of the book. To make it easier, I don't actually place the pages into the scrapbook until i'm all complete. Then I can place the pages into the scrapbook without having to shuffle alot! Making any sense?? As for my other scrapbooks, I just go in order! Once caught up, I just add as I go! 15+ albums so far