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TAKE PHOTOS – AND TAKE MORE PHOTOS!  BE READY TO MAKE YOUR CHRISTMAS SCRAPBOOK ALBUM

Get that camera out and be prepared for Christmas photos.  Starting looking for cheap embellishments, or wait til the after Christmas sales, and buy yourself some cheap trimmings for your family Christmas scrapbook.

If you are going on holiday, don't forget to collect things that you can add into your scrapbook.  Drink coasters, menues, tickets, sugar wraps, etc.  All small and interesting items to remind you of your holiday.  Post cards are great too.  The pictures are (dare I say it) often better than ones we take ourselves. 

Get some more great ideas at

http://ebooksnowonline.com/hobbies/scrapbooking/ 

Have fun!

REMEMBER, KEEP VARIETY IN YOUR SCRAPBOOK

If you are anything like me you will be in a bit of rush when doing your scrapbook.  You love doing it, but you don't have all the time in the world.  But, do try and not to rush so much that you don't take the time to add variety to your work.

 Questions to ask yourself are: a) how can I make this page different from the last, b) should I do it with the photos, c) should I do it with the colors, or d) should I do it with the embellishments. Asking yourself these sorts of questions will keep your work interesting, especially to other people looking through your scrapbook.

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE

It is definetly a good idea to create variety with your photos.  Apart from the subject matter, it is a really good idea to create variety with the sizes and shapes of the actual photos themselves. When you study each photo you will notice that some of them can be cropped quite a bit and therefore changing a rectangular photo into a square photo.   Circles and Ovals look great too and really catch the eye.  Sometimes you wont want to cut a photo, but you may cut an oval in some board and place it over the photo creating the oval shape.  This can look classy if you then add an embellishment around the edge of the cardboard, making it look like a real framed photo.

Interesting scrapbooking will have people coming back to look more often.

FIND GREAT EMBELLISHMENTS AROUND THE HOME

 Scrapbooking can, and most probably will be, a "Work In Progress".  You will find that you may not have quite the right color on hand, or quite the right embellishment, and that is OK.  Just keep working through your book with what you have. 

It is amazing how many things you will have around the house to embellish your pages – buttons, ribbons, wool, glitter and all sorts of other nic naks in your hobby and sewing boxes.  Once you have ratted through all your own stuff, go visit the rellies, and see what is hiding in their cupboard.

Get more great scrapbooking ideas at

101 Tips for Starting Scrapbooking with Success

IT IS NICE TO HAVE THE PRETTY COMMERCIAL SCRAPBOOKING EMBELLISHMENTS, BUT YOU CAN GET SOME GREAT ONES OF YOUR OWN. 

You can get some really interesting embellishment pictures from magazines and also from brochures and flyers.  Just keep your eyes open.   

If you are doing a scrapbook about a holiday, collect little mementos during the holiday to add into the book – they can be anything from serviettes, match boxes, straws, coasters, cards, note paper and the list goes on.  The beauty is that these items are small, but they will have a great impact on you when you are going through your holiday scrapbook at a later date. 

For more great ideas check out

101 Tips for Starting Scrapbooking with Success

Don't forget to write down those funny sayings, and funny things that happen during your holiday.  They will all make your book that much more interesting.

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Yes, it is quite possible to scrapbook on a budget!

I have to be the first to admit that there are some absolutely fabulous scrapbooking embellishments for sale and I often think that you need a big fat wallet to be able to make up a snazzy scrapbook.  BUT THAT IS JUST NOT TRUE!

SCRAPBOOK with friends who are doing it too.  This way you can share papers and swap smaller bits that you probably wouldn't use otherwise.  It makes a great afternoon's fun and you will feed off each other with ideas and expressions to write on your pages.

I told my sister-in-law that she has to come back for a holiday.  I did a great scrapbook of my grandchildren when she was here last, but haven't touched it since, even though I have had a lot of good intention.  It is great fun to do with the family. 

BE CREATIVE  AND HAVE FUN – GET THOSE COMPUTER LITERATE KIDS TO HELP YOU OUT! Scrapbooking has so many facets to create family entertainment 

Learn to make your own lettering on the computer and print it on card then you can cut out the individual letters or shapes incorporating the whole phrase. 

If you are cutting shapes, print the wording on colored paper.  You may even print straight on to your background page. 

Using a computer can be fantastic because there is such a variety of fonts, line styles and colors. It is really quite endless if you are comfortable with doing this.