by Debbie Hodge

The canvas is the piece of paper (or digital background) upon which you build your page. It’s what holds all of your elements, and it defines the space within in which you’re working.

One of the first scrapbooking choices you’ll make is of canvas size and shape. This choice is primarily driven by how you want to print, store, and present your scrapbook pages. Read more about common scrapbook album formats.

Your canvas defines visual space

Putting together a visual design (and a scrapbook page is a visual design) means combining elements within space.  Space is where your page elements coexist. Your canvas shape and size are what define the space within which you create.

Canvas size

An 8″ square canvas (layout on left) presents a 3.5″ x 5″ photo with smaller accent photo well. For a page with more photos, though (the page on the right), a 12″ x 12″ canvas provides the space to get more elements onto the page harmoniously.

Layouts by Debbie Hodge | Supplies below.

Canvas Shape

Combining your page elements in a non-square rectangular shape offers different design opportunities and challenges than those that come with filling a square-shaped canvas. One is not necessarily better than the other — they are just different. The rectangle is a familiar visual format, and there’s lots of design inspiration to be found.

non-square portrait-oriented rectangle

Most books and magazines come in non-square, portrait-oriented rectangular formats.

non-square landscape-oriented rectangle

Movie, television, and computer screens are usually non-square, landscape-oriented rectangles.

square

While we are less likely to view print and electronic media in square formats, the square is, nonetheless, widely used by scrapbookers. Albums and papers for both paper and digital scrapbookers are widely available in 12″x12″ sizes.

Layouts by Debbie Hodge | Supplies below.

Who says a canvas has to have corners?

For eye-catching impact, use a full-size die-cut once in a while. Because Tami Taylor usually leaves generous white space on her pages, she approaches a shaped canvas understanding that she’s only filling a portion of it. Dina Wakley has more ideas for using die-cut papers on scrapbook pages.

Bonding and Books by Tami Taylor | Supplies below.

 The Two-page Canvas

When scrapbook pages are presented in physical albums, two pages sit along side one another — like pages in a book. Many scrapbookers like making two-page layouts in order accommodate their photos and story and, frequently, because they like the look of matching pages facing one another in their albums.

One approach to scrapbooking two-page layouts is to consider the two pages combined as your canvas and consciously create a design that works with this combined space as one. May Flaum took the approach on “Pumpkin Love.” The orange print that backs up most of her photos spaces the two pages and unites them.

Pumpkin Love by May Flaum | Supplies below.

Another approach is to consider each side its own “canvas” or space to be filled, but to coordinate product and design so that the two side-by-side canvases complement each other.

South Pacific by Debbie Hodge | Supplies below.

Tell me:

What’s your preferred canvas size and shape. And, most importantly: why?

Related posts:

1. Scrapbook page parts: canvas
2. Blurring the line between photo and canvas adds design oomph to your scrapbook pages
3. Finding Room for Journaling on Scrapbook Pages with Lots of Photos

By Paula Gilarde

For some people the term “scrapbook” evokes visions of construction paper, shaped photos and stickers.

But, for me, scrapbooking is about so much more:

In scrapbooking events and moments from my life and that of my family, I get a chance to re-live them, to reminisce.

In doing so, I’ve found that I’ve learned to appreciate my life more while I’m living it. It’s made me realize that my life is pretty good, and pushed me to be thankful for my wonderful husband and enjoy the crazy times with my ever-growing and changing children. No, my life isn’t extraordinarily interesting but it’s my life and nobody else is living it quite like me.

Just Another Ordinary Day by Paula Gilarde

Scrapbooking has improved my photography skills

Because of scrapbooking, I’ve learned to appreciate photography, and I am actively working to improve my skills.

Prior to taking up scrapbooking I really didn’t have any interest in photos. In fact, I recently discovered that I possess only two photos from 2001, a year when many very big things happened in my life and in the world in general: I got engaged to my husband, we bought our first house together, we traveled all over Ireland among other places, we went to multiple weddings, I became an aunt for the first time. My nephew is the only reason that there are any photos of me at all from that year, and now, I could kick myself for not making more of an effort to record such a time of change in my life.

Photos are important! Even if you don’t think they are right now, you will later.

2001 by Paula Gilarde

Scrapbooking has ensured I’ll remember the “little things”

The devil is in the details – and so many of those are quickly forgotten.

Photographs are a large element in scrapbooking but the story and the details are just as important. Thinking back to my 40th birthday (which wasn’t that long ago!) I remembered the people who were there, the weather, and the fun. It was when I read the journaling on my scrapbook page, that I recalled that my husband bought TWO cakes for me – one chocolate, one vanilla, one said happy and the other birthday. Tiny little details that make me smile now – I’m glad that I recorded them. And let’s not forget all those cute things the kids do and say, relegated to the past sooner than you’d think.

Celebrate by Paula Gilarde

Scrapbooking has given me a greater appreciation for color and design

Paper crafts have always been a love of mine, and scrapbooking is a way for me to play with lots of paper. Digital scrapbooking has the additional benefit of playing with the same paper over and over!

I love learning new skills and there are so many techniques and tools to learn in every medium that I can satisfy that desire every single day. I’ve learned about graphic design and it’s made me look at the world in a different way – I never flip through a magazine now without noticing the layout/design/colors. The following layout was inspired by a magazine ad for Kleenex!

Ice Cream by Paula Gilarde – ad challenge inspiration

Through scrapbooking, I found friends with shared  interests

I’ve made many good friends through scrabooking.

Online message boards, challenges and design teams have provided me with many friends who share my interests. I’ve been fortunate to meet many of them in real life, also. We chat every day, not just about scrapbooking, but about everything going on in our lives. I feel very lucky to have these women in my life.

O Canada by Paula Gilarde

10 ways scrapbooking could change YOUR life…

I’m such a believer in the positive impact of scrapbooking, I made a layout listing MORE ways in which my life has been improved by scrapbooking:

10 Ways my Life has been Improved by Scrapbooking by Paula Gilarde

1. Leaning Photoshop can make you more employable.
2. Scrapbooking can inevitably lead to improved photography skills.
3. Scrapbooking message boards introduce you to new friends and ideas.
4. Meeting other scrapbookers creates a feeling of acceptance and understanding.
5. Recording memories gives you a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.
6. Having a handy stash of scrapbooking supplies increases your readiness when it comes to last-minute projects, gifts and crafting with your kids.
7. Scrapbooking helps remind you of the importance of capturing self portraits and personal thoughts.
8. Looking at scrapbooks is a great way for children and adults to pass time, share stories and reminisce.
9. Scrapbooking gives you an excuse to buy pretty things.
10. Now you can remember all of those extra special memories…because you’ve scrapped them!

Make some time to try out a craft that could enrich your life.  As the old slogan goes – “try it, you’ll like it!”

Paula Gilarde is an equal opportunities scrapbooker, spending most of her free time creating paper, digital or hybrid scrapbook layouts. She is on the creative team at Designer Digitals and Jillibean Soup and has been published in all the major scrapbook industry magazines. You can find out more about her and purchase her introductory digital scrapbooking class at her website: http://paulagilarde.com

Related posts:

1. Scrapbooking everyday life
2. The Get It Scrapped Project #6: Scrapbooking Everyday Life
3. Scrapbooking with Perspective: your place in someone else’s life

by Debbie Hodge

Photos are easier to come by today than ever before.

You take them with your phone as well as your camera. Your partner, parent, child, friends are taking photos on their phones and cameras and sending them to you via email or facebook or their preferred photo sharing website. You can even find photos you didn’t get a chance to take (i.e., of a place you visited) online from generous Flickr photographers or stock photo sites.

Photos are streaming into your life now from multiple sources. If these photos are not organized and explained, they quickly become a mass that’s not meaningful and that’s even too overwhelming to begin looking through.

How can you catalog and record the memories of this stream of photos efficiently and meaningfully?

Scrapbook them.

Scrapbook? Really?

Some of you are all over the idea of a scrapbook. It appeals to your story-telling, photo-cataloging, crafty selves.

Others of you will have no desire to make a weighty book of photos and memorabilia that will require more time to create and space to store than you’re willing to afford.

Let’s redefine scrapbook

A scrapbook is made up of scrapbook “pages.”

A scrapbook “page” combines some or all of the 5 basic scrapbook page elements.

1. photos
2. journaling
3. title
4. embellishments
5. the canvas upon which these sit.

A scrapbook “page” can be

1. on and of actual paper
2. a digital rendering of the traditional scrapbook page
3. a blog post
4. a slide in a slideshow
5. anything and any size and any medium you want it to be.

Here a scrapbook page is shown as: 1) a blog post, 2) an arrangement of photos, journaling, title, 3) a 12"x12" scrapbook page, 4) a slide in a slideshow.

How to start making your kind of “scrapbook page”

Include some or all of the scrapbook page elements.

1) Photos.

Select one or more photos of a moment or event that you like looking at and thinking about right now.

Sure, you might like to remember everything (at least all of it that’s good) but if you want to keep living a life that’s worth taking a photos of there isn’t the time to record all of it. So pick the photos you want to record right now.

2) Journaling

Write the information that you’ll need in order to recall the who and what—and, most importantly, the details that make the particulars of the photo worth remembering.

Ask yourself: Why do I like looking at this photo right now? It might be a sentence. It might be a longer piece of writing. The key is that YOU are telling the story now so that when someone (including you) comes across this photo in later years they comprehend it in a meaningful way. They see and read the story as you told it. They know why it was important enough to select for special treatment (special treatment=your version of a scrapbook page) by reading this journaling.

3) Title

A title can be a great cue to deeper meaning, a reminder of something fun, or simply a label of place or event or people that you then may or may not have to include in your journaling. You can include one or not.

4) Canvas

Combine photos, journaling, and title onto a “canvas” that works for you. When choosing your canvas, understand that it will need to be stored in a way that you can access tomorrow and in 10 years. For paper canvases, that could mean an album or archival box. For digital canvases, that could mean a folder on your computer’s hard drive, an “album” at a photo storage and sharing site, printed pages or even a printed and bound photobook.

Your canvas could be:

- a physical piece of paper

- a digital canvas

- a blog post

- a slide in a slideshow

- you tell me!

NOTE: YOU can define size if you’re not using traditional paper albums or an online service’s photobooks.

Your canvas background could be a solid background or you could use patterned papers (paper or digital) or a combination of papers and other elements (it’s up to you: ribbon, memorabilia, mats . . .).

The benefit of choosing a background that’s not simply solid white or black, is that it offers you the opportunity to set the tone for your page and perhaps even include a relevant motif.

5) Embellishments

Embellishments are the little decorations that add charm (and that should support your page subject and or tone). Maybe they’re not for you — but there are useful functions embellishments can play on a scrapbook page.

Start scrapbooking because it makes your photos accessible records of your life.

So that’s it. You should start scrapbooking because otherwise your photos will become part of an undefinable mass that doesn’t tell your stories. Photos can be preserved to evoke feelings, trigger associations, and tell those who see them in the future what YOUR story was. If you don’t scrapbook they will be part of a large collection that doesn’t really convey why the individual photo matters.

There will even be times when you don't have a photo but there's an important story or milestone in your family's life that should be preserved--that will matter to those involved tomorrow and in 25 years. Looking through my scrapbook pages from 2010 and reviewing where my family had been that year, I realized I never told the story of my husband's surgery for prostate cancer. Talk about an important story! And, talk about this being the kind of thing you'd like to remember not only in details but in feelings. That's what scrapbooking does for you -- it tells your stories the way you'd tell them -- not the way others looking through photos guess at them.

Think of scrapbooking as:

1. Selecting photos that compel you.
2. Writing about them.
3. Perhaps titling them.
4. Putting them onto some kind of “canvas.”
5. Storing that canvas in a way that you can access in years to come.

Let’s start a pictorial-memoir, photographic-story-telling stampede. If you’re already a scrapbooker, show this to your friends who are not so they’ll see just why you scrapbook (and maybe get going themselves).

Scrapbook Page Elements is an upcoming product from Get It Scrapped that provides a roadmap to the 5 parts of a scrapbook page so that you can made any kind of scrapbook page efficiently and well. Click here to receive early bird information and pricing when Scrapbook Page Elements becomes available.

Related posts:

1. Scrapbook page parts: photos

by Debbie Hodge

I approach making scrapbook pages by asking myself questions that are based upon my understanding of:

• 5 scrapbook page elements (canvas, photos, journaling, title, embellishments), and
• 6 design principles (emphasis, contrast, balance, alignment, repetition, and flow).

It’s not really as formal that sounds, though. The premise is:

• If you know what the 5 page parts (or elements) are (and can hold them “loosely in your mind”) then you know what pieces you might be working with.
• If you know what the 6 design principles are (and I always think “ECBARF” or emphasis, contrast, balance, alignment, repetition, flow) and you “hold them loosely in your mind” and trust the process—you’ll make a page that gets the job done!

Is that too much “loosely holding” for you? Don’t worry. The more you do this, the more subconscious the process becomes.

Here are three questions to work through.

1. What is this page’s purpose?

Knowing the answer to this will drive your page element choices and decisions.

There’s a good chance your purpose in creating any page will be one of the following:

• for your creative expression.
• to provide an opportunity to experiment and/or play with product and/or design.
• to explore a topic and better understand it.
• to create a record of a something that happened (anything from a brief moment to a big event).
• to express how you feel about a specific subject and/or person.
• to convey a message to whoever you plan to share this page with.
• . . . or it may be something else . . . just figure that out and hold it in your mind as you move forward.

My purpose with “New Spot” was to play with the design principle of balance and to make something really pretty to present this moment that I was primarily recording for myself.

2. What role will photos and journaling play on this page?

Ask yourself about these two page elements first because they are the ones that usually define space needs.

ask yourself about photos:

• what photos do you have?
• which do you want to include?
• which do you need to include to achieve the purpose of your page from step #1?

For more on the basics of making photo selections and organizing photos:

• Scrapbooking Stories on Two-Page Layouts
• How to Select Events Photos for Scrapbooking
• Organizing Events Photos
• Organizing Everyday Life Photos

ask yourself about journaling:

• how much journaling will this story require?
• how much space (relative to other parts) will you need for the journaling?

For more on rendering journaling as well as the kinds of considerations to keep in mind:

• Scrapbook Page Journaling: Justification that Strengthens Design
• 10 Ideas for Placing Scrapbook Journaling on Your Page

On this page, two photos would probably have sufficed, but I loved all of these and how together they conveyed that this went on for a while. I also loved how they showed the interaction between my son and husband. Also, my personal tendency is to use multiple photos. I needed space for more than just basic descriptive journaling—but not tons of space. By using a linear/blocked design I was able to get everything on the page.

3. How will title, embellishments, and canvas support your photo and journaling choices?

Everything becomes more intertwined.

Start to think about these three page elements and how they should be approached to achieve a solid design. You’ll circle around, revisiting these pieces in your mind – not for a long time, but as you begin moving things around on the page.

It will be an iterative process.

consider title:

• do you need a title?
• would you like to use a clever title or would a simple label work?
• how much space does it seem you have for your title given the photo and journaling requirements?
• would you like your title to be a strong part of the design?
• would you like to use it to create flow?

For more on choosing and rendering a page title:

• Scrapbook Page Titles
• 10 ways to make a scrapbook page title
• 4 Formulas for Generating Scrapbook Page Titles You’ll Love
• How to come up with scrapbook page titles from sayings, quotes, titles, famous lines & lyrics

consider canvas:

• Given the amount of space it appears your photos, journaling and title will need, what kind of a design will work well? For example, will you need to fill the entire page or could you create a design with generous white space.
• Given your page purpose what kind of tone do you want to set? A linear or blocked design will evoke different feelings than that of a freestyle design with flourishes and layers and unusually-shaped white space.

For more on the canvas:

• Scrapbook page elements: the canvas
• What is your scrapbook page foundation?
• Improve scrapbook page design with white space: 1 layout 3 ways
• Scrapbook Page Design: Asymmetrical Balance

On “I Am a Schlepper,” the title is probably the most important page part. It sets a fun, confessional tone and, along with the photo, cues the viewer to the topic. One revealing photo is all that’s needed and the result is lots of white space and a layered approach to the canvas. A cute bird and a row of aligned (but different) buttons are the embellishments.

consider embellishments:

As you start to understand how things are coming together, keep in mind the tone you want to set, and, thus, the type and number of embellishments to include.

• What motifs will support your meaning?
• How will you use color?
• Will you use your embellishments to guide the eye around the page (i.e., create flow)?
• Where’s the “charm” factor?

For more on embellishments:

• Place Embellishments to Support Scrapbook Page Flow
• Choosing Embellishments for the Scrapbook Page

And now start moving things around the page

The approach described here entails becoming familiar with the 5 elements of a scrapbook page and 6 design principles for visual design so that the questions presented here become second nature as you move things around and make a page you love.

Related posts:

1. 5 scrapbook color questions to ask and answer
2. How to make your first scrapbook page
3. 10 ways to make a scrapbook page title

by Tami Taylor

Napoleon Bonaparte had it right when he said, “A good sketch is better than a long speech.”

When it comes to managing the time in our life, our scrapbooking time often comes up short.  Even if you manage to secure some of that elusive time, it doesn’t always mean you’ll get a lot accomplished.  Remembering all those rules of design takes some time and energy.  Maybe you’re like me and would rather concentrate on embellishing and having fun with all your goodies than worry about designing the layout.  Perhaps you need to speed scrap for a project or quickly catch up with your growing stack of photos.  Whatever your situation, I challenge you to use a good sketch.

What is a good sketch?

A good sketch is one that appeals to your eye and accommodates the number of photos you want to get on that scrapbook page.  Yes, it’s that easy.

Let’s use this sketch for a reference point as we discuss sketches.

Treat sketches as your inner child would treat a coloring book.

Option 1: Grab your crayons and color inside the lines.

In other words: follow the sketch in size and layout, but go crazy with the possible color combinations and photos you can choose.  You will have a great page.  It’s ok to just use the sketch. You don’t need to try to be creative and change the sketch.  Sketches are starting points and meant to inspire you to get scrapbooking, not to stress you.  Some of my favorite layouts are literal translations of sketches.

Option 2: Grab your crayons, but use the lines as a guide only.

Remember that just because a sketch has 4 blank spots doesn’t mean you have to have four pictures.  You can have fewer pictures and use pieces of coordinating paper or embellishments to fill any spots.  Divide larger areas into smaller areas to incorporate more photos.  Merge areas to feature larger photos.

I divided a larger block (top left) into four smaller blocks to accommodate my photos.

Option 3: Grab your crayons and a friend.

When I would color with a friend as a child, we would lie on the floor face-to-face and color the same page.  One of us would be viewing the page upside down, trying rotating your sketch.  This is especially helpful if you are doing an album project. It allows you to use the same sketch several times without it being apparent.  Mirroring the sketch is fun when you are doing a two-page layout with a one-page sketch.  Sharing sketches with friends is the most fun when you share the finished product.  You’ll be surprised how unique the layouts look with different pictures, papers, and perspective.

Option 4: Grab your crayons and a sheet of paper.

Use the sketch as inspiration to design your own layout.  Perhaps it’s the grid that inspires you or maybe your eye flows to one area first. Use that morsel to start your page.  Add your own finishing touches. Just because there isn’t a big pretty flower on the bottom left corner of the sketch doesn’t mean you can’t add one.

Michelle was inspired by the grid design of the sketch so she used that to build her page.

The most important thing to remember is a sketch is what you want it to be.  So go find a good sketch and lean towards the literal side like me or abuse it like Michelle did (her words not mine).  I give you permission to use the sketch any way you want.  If anyone gives you grief for how you used a good sketch, send them my way and I’ll give them a long speech.

Tami Taylor writes for Get It Scrapped!, teaches at Masterful Scrapbook Design and runs the new site for creative classes Creative Passion. She is the mom of a big family. Her favorite escapes are trying new recipes, scrapbooking, and all things TV and cinema. To learn more about Tami check out her blog, The Taylor Life.

Related posts:

1. Scrapbook Page Sketch and Template Bundle (#80)
2. Scrapbook Page Sketch and Template Bundle: Jan 14 2010
3. Scrapbook Album Sketches and Template Bundle: September 7, 2009

All of our digital classes and tutorials are written for users of Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS by Adobe. We are able to support both Windows and Mac users and users of earlier versions of this software.

Are you feeling like trying digital scrapbooking but wary of making the software investment? You can download a fully functional 30 day trial version of Photoshop Elements from Adobe.
At this time (February 2010) the current versions are PSE 8 for Windows and PSE 9 for Mac.The trial period is good for 30 days from the time you install the program, so I would advise that you go ahead and download the trial, but don’t install it until just before you’re ready to begin working on the lessons.

To download a trial version, click here to proceed to the Adobe Product Downloads page.

You will see the following screen. Locate the Photoshop Elements download at bottom right with a blue icon. Within that area, click on “try.”

Follow instructions to select a version for your operating system and language. You will be walked through the download and installation of this software.

Remember you may use this trial version of the software for 30 days. Then, if you’re finding that digital scrapbooking is a good match for you, you can go ahead and buy the product.

Related posts:

1. 5 Ways to Use Digital Elements on Paper Scrapbook Pages
2. How to get laser cut photo effects for hybrid and digital scrapbook pages
3. Basic supplies for digital scrapbooking

Your First Digital Layout using Photoshop or Elements

Related posts:

1. Saving for printing
2. Software for digital scrapbook pages
3. Digital Labels + Journaling Spots on Paper Layouts

Taking photos

Before You Press the Shutter: Four Ways to Improve Your Photography

5 tips for scrapbookers on taking everyday life photos

Ideas for scrapbooking retro photos and memories from the 60s, 70s, and 80s

Organizing photos

Organizing Your Photos

Organizing Photos from Events

Organizing Everyday Life Photos

Which photos?

How to select events photos for scrapbooking

Cropping and editing photos

Cropping Photos of People for Scrapbooking

Speed Scrapbook Page Design with Smart Crops

Scrapbooking Photos with Busy Backgrounds

10 Quick Ways to Make Over Your Photos

Smart crops for multi-photo scrapbook pages

Photo placement

3 Questions to ask yourself when starting a scrapbook page

Creating a Focal Point (Photo) on Scrapbook Pages

3 design starters for 3-photo scrapbook pages

Blur the lines between photo and canvas for scrapbook page design oomph

Related posts:

1. Scrapbook page parts: journaling
2. Scrapbook page parts: canvas
3. Scrapbook page parts: titles

A first decision to make is what size paper you’ll use as your page canvas. And that decision will probably be driven by how you want to print, store, and present your scrapbook pages.

8"x8" hardcover bound photobooks from Shutterfly

If you’re making “paper” pages (i.e., you’re affixing photo prints–and, perhaps, mats & other elements–with adhesive to a cardstock base VS creating your page digitally) think about the kind of album you’d like to use. Consider size and binding as well as your own style preferences.

If you’re making “digital” pages, and you’d like physical albums, you can:

1) print them (yourself or at professional printer) and then put them into albums, or

2) have the pages printed into a bound book by a processer like Shutterfly.

Standard page formats for which you can easily buy albums are as follows.

scrapbook page sizes and formats

8.5″x11″ and 12×12″

D-ring albums holding scrapbook pages in page protectors.

These are the most commonly used page sizes for scrapbooking album pages and making family albums with these formats will be easiest. They present enough space for photos, title, & journaling. They store well in the average home, and product is widely available. You can also store both sizes in many of the 12×12″ albums on the market.

(*Note for digital scrappers, consider making your pages on 12″x12″ canvases so that you will then have the option to print at 12″x12″ or a smaller 8″x8″ size.)

The two sizes offer different page design options, since, with 8.5″x11″ you’re working with a rectangular canvas, while the 12″x12″ size is a square canvas.

Smaller squares: 10×10″, 8×8″, 6×6″

These are good for gift albums, albums focused on a narrow theme or one event.

D-ring binder that holds both 12"x12" pages and 8.5"x11" pages -- in page protectors

18″x18″ or larger.

Oversized albums make a great statement. Be prepared to spend more money on your supplies and a bit more time tracking them down. Make sure you can store albums this size in a cool dry spot.

Pocket Pages in varying sizes.

Buy pocket pages the same size as your chosen album format and integrate scrapped pages with photos presented this way.

two-pages or one?

Two one-page layouts facing each other in a Shutterfly photobook

With each layout that you do, you’ll also need to decide whether you’re use two side-by-side canvases or one canvas that will sit next to another, separate layout.

Related posts:

1. Alternatives to the traditional scrapbook album
2. Scrapbook Page Sketch and Template Bundle (#80)
3. 10 ideas for placing scrapbook journaling on your page

To make a scrapbook page you will need the following basic supplies. You can buy these at your local scrapbook store, your local craft store, or an online scrapbooking store.

1. Paper Trimmer and small scissors. You’ll need something to cut your paper and photos with. Start with a trimmer like this Fiskars Trimmer that can cut paper at least 12″ x 12.” Select, also, a pair of small, fine-point scissors.

2. Cardstock. First, you need cardstock to provide your “canvas.” This is the paper you will build your page upon and its size will be determined by the size of album you’re using. Read about this in Album and Page Formats. If you’re making 12″x12″ pages, then purchase paper of that size, and if you’re making a different size album, purchase accordingly. You’ll also use cardstock for mats and trim. Take a look at these top lines of cardstock:

• Bazzill Basics Paper
• Prism Papers
• Core’dinations

3. Patterned Paper. This can be used for your canvas or for accents.

4. Adhesive. You’ll need a way to adhere your papers and photos to the page. There are a variety of choices and this recent review by Jennafer Martin at Creating Keepsakes lays out the choices nicely.

5. Alphabets. You’ll need something for adding titles to your pages. Your choices include alphabets made of chipboard, stickers, rub-ons. You could also use a pen and handwrite your title. You could also use your computer to print titles.

6. Pens. While you may choose to print your journaling with your computer, you’ll still find some great journaling pens a handy supply to have. Use them to jot a date or location on an index tab or to doodle a border around a photo mat. If you’re not sure what kind of pen you’d like, go to the drawing aisle of your local craft or art supply store and try out some pens.

6. Embellishments. And, finally, it’s nice to have some kind of embellishment on your page. The choices here are wide and numerous–ranging from themed stickers to simple buttons. Take a look at the layouts in our Gallery and other online galleries and in magazines to get an idea of what appeals to you. Also, keep an eye on the articles we’ll be sharing here in the “Page Parts” category.

Related posts:

1. Replicate Digital Looks on Paper Scrapbook Pages with Supplies from the Garage
2. Basic supplies for digital scrapbooking
3. Scrapbooking with Patterned Paper: Idea Round-up