Scrapbooking Basics, Part 8

When it comes down to adding special items on my pages, I tend to use mostly stickers, stamps, and die cuts.

When you get to a point where you are organized and have a general idea of what pictures you will include in your album, shopping for embellishments is much easier. You can create a list of events you feel you will be able to cover in your next scrapbooking session, say birthday, Halloween, and Christmas. With these events in mind, shopping for embellishments will be less mentally straining from looking at all that the market has available, and if you are working on Christmas and Halloween now, you will more than likely get these items at a discount because they are out of season.

Tip: Two years ago I purchased a pre-made package for Halloween that included themed paper, stickers, and die cuts, and I have still been pulling from this set to work on my Halloween pages. I have about five albums that I religiously work on every month, putting a page or two of events in each, so this will give you an idea on purchasing seasonal merchandise. You will have to store the products until the next time you work on this particular event or holiday.

I find pre-packaged material useful for holidays. If I like the style, I will more than likely use all of the supplies. If I like one or two pieces, it is generally easier for me to purchase these separately and use them.

With a large family, I always have some sort of birthday supplies, whether it be a few simple balloon stickers, or complete birthday party packages, I have something on hand. With two small children, we also attend many of our friends' parties, so having extra of an event that you will use a lot isn't a bad thing.

Always look for stickers and other supplies that are acid-free and photo-safe. This should by now be ingrained into your mind. Not all stickers are made for scrapbooking. The package will state that it meets these requirements, if it doesn't, you can still use the stickers, with acid free paper underneath, much like memorabilia.

I do have some great stamp sets, but I have a difficult time remembering to use them when I attend crops. I love my stamps and use them for other projects, but have found that if I plan ahead and use the stamps on white or cream colored paper for pages that I know I will be working on, I can leave the stamps and other supplies at home and just bring my already stamped paper.

Just like stickers and other supplies, ink will state on it that it is safe for scrapbooking. Ink comes in many different colors and can be found in the aisle with stamps in a scrapbooking store. Ink pads generally cost between 3-5 dollars. If you are purchasing from an online retailer, just make sure that they have a decent return policy. Say, you get the product and don't open it for three or four days to find it dried out. Make sure that you can get your money back when instances like this occur.

There are several companies that sell stamps -- There are rubber stamps and softer plastic stamps. You will get a much better picture out of solid rubber stamps. If you are walking down a craft store, you will see an aisle dedicated to stamping supplies. Most of the stamps you will see are on a wooden block and the rubber stamp is already attached -- if you continue searching you will see other stamps sold in packages that have loose rubber pads. These rubber pads will need to be adhered, simply cut and placed onto the wooden blocks. These are more economical than purchasing separate wooden blocked stamps with just a little effort on our part.

Stampin' Up, a direct sale company that specializes in stamps and card-making has a great selection of stamps as well. They are sold in prepackaged sets and you cut and adhere the rubber stamp to the blocks. Occasionally, I will pick up an already prepped stamp if it is something I have been looking for in particular, or if the item is on sale and I know I will use often.

I tend to purchase most of my die-cut products from Creative Memories. A consultant for the company hosts the crops I attend monthly, and I can preorder die-cuts that I know I will need. I tend to buy one or two packages at a time and these will last me between six months and a year, depending on how many of the die cuts I use. I have purchased mostly die cuts for baby's first year, and holidays, especially Christmas.

Planning ahead for what you need makes a huge difference. I do attend crops held by a Creative Memories consultant because I am updated on products that I may use and can keep myself on schedule for pages that I want to start working on and completing. For instance, I was working on a few pages from a recent trip that my son's playgroup took to the fire station. Because I had several pictures of the kids around and on the fire truck, I wanted to include some embellishments to go along with my page. It just happened that there was a set of occupational stickers available. I always look first for items that I need at these crops because I trust the products and it is easier for me to purchase when I am leisurely browsing at products in a catalog or at my consultant's house, than dragging my children through a specialty scrapbooking store. I end up purchasing far more stickers and other items than necessary, even when I try to plan because they are sticker hounds and love to apply stickers to any surface of their clothing.

While I'm sure that would make an amazing picture, it isn't an experience I have tempted often. They say that practice makes perfect, and in most cases, it does. I truly believe that planning makes perfect. Once you plan, even one page, you are much more focused on getting the job done and can do so in a more orderly fashion.