Help and advice needed..

[*Jadey*]

Hello all,

Firsts of all I'm really sorry if I have posted this in the wrong section.

My name is Jade and I am a complete newbie to scrapbooking. I have been searching the internet fom info on it but its just getting me even more confussed.

I have been looking for a album and some papers and lots of little bits on ebay. Then I noticed that you can get get different types of albums. I don't know what type of album I would like. I want to be able to add lots of pages to it, if you can do that. What sort of album do I need for this? Does every album come with the clear protective sheets?

Also this may sound like a daft question but I have no idea unless I ask. Do you get card pages in the album and then just stick your pictures on to that? Or do you take the page out and then stick your pretty patterned paper on to the card?

I have also been told that things have to be acid free. What is it exactly that needs to be acid free? Glue or paper ect..?

I'm really sorry for all the questions. I can't wait to buy my scrapbook things and get started. But I want to check that I buy the right things first.

Thankyou in advance,

Jade xxxx

[amcmen]

Hi Jade

Welcome to UKS!

You can find lots of information here. It's from the home page, you will also find useful inks and information in the library section,

You might want to pop over to the Newbie part of the forum, you can asked to be adopted and your adopter will be happy to answer your questions on UKS and scrapbooking.

Hope this helps.

Anna

[arianwen]

Hi jade and welcome to UKS.

There are several type of albums,

Post bound, these have plastic page protectors and are held in the album, by two or three little metal posts. You can add more pages by unscrewing the posts and simply adding more page protectors which you can buy separately.

Strap bound works on the same principle, but the pages are held with a plastic strap.

Spiral bound albums tend not to have plastic page protectors and you can't change the order of pages or add more, so not as flewixble.

D-ring albums work exactly like ring binders.

Most page protectors come with a sheet of white cardstock in them. You don't have to stick your page to this (if you do this on both sides, it means you can't change around the order.) Personally I take it out and just put my page in and use the white sheet for other things) If your page was very flimsy, there's nothing stopping you though.

Acid free means nothing on your page should contain acid, which over time, can make you photos deteriorate. Scrapbookers use acid free paper and adhesive and embellishments.
I am fairly fussy about adhesive I use, but over the years I've got less fussy about paper (the nice stuff is always acid free anyway.)
In this age of digital photos, I can always replace photos anyway. I'd never use a treasured original in a scrapbook anyway

Hope that helps!

[*Jadey*]

Thankyou for your replies, I'm still unsure about which album to go for. I think its between the post bound and the strap one at the momment.

Which one do you like to use?

Thanks Jade xx

[Nerlly]

Hi Jade,

I'm sure you'll find everything you need to know on here at some point, altho I would recommend that you get hold of some magazines too, nothing quite like it for picking stuff up! I started scrapping after reading a book I bought for my daughter, from the book club bloke that comes round at work!

Scrapbook Inspirations is very good, and Scrapbook Magazine has some excellent how-to articles. Scrapbook Trends is quite popular but expensive, and contains ideas but not much in the way of actual techniques - not for a newbie, is my personal opinion!

And personally, I would suggest you start with a ring-bound album or two. They do work out rather expensive unfortunately, but they're so much easier to use than post-bound. You can get more pages in them and you can move the page protectors around rather than removing and replacing layouts if you want to change the order of them. If you want to add page protectors to a post bound album or change the order, it's a bit of a palaver and you end up with page protectors sliding all over the place! Also, the pages have a bit more room in a ring bound album; too many pages in a postbound album and it bulges; the pages are pressed together, too, which can cause damage if they're bulky.

However, if you can't afford ring bound then shop around for cheap postbound ones. Asda do them and art supply shops like The Works often stock them for about 6 quid. This may be a bit difficult in Wales, tho!

[arianwen]

Don't know where you are in Wales, but there is a craft discount place in Llandudno where i got some great post albums for 8.99 this summer

[loisalexis]

Hello and welcome to this wonderful world!

I've scrapping for a couple of years but only found this site recently and its great for finding inspiration.

Sound like a D-ring album is your best bet to start as you can add pages easily and swap things around as much as you like. Its just like a ringbinder. Post bound albums seem to be the easiest to get hold of in shops and they can be extended they are just a bit of a faf. If you have a hobbycraft or range near you go have a look.

As for acid free I don't tend to worry about it to much, anything made for scrapbooking is acid free already and as someone else said I on;y tend to scrap digital photos that are easy to replace.
Also over time all paper will become acidic so you are only delaying the effects of time.

When I first started scrapping I used the white card to stick my photo's too and decorated around the pictures. I learnt there are better ways. Although some of those layouts are still lovely! If you want a few colours for your background or want to cut a chunk out of patterned paper they are good to strengthen and hold together a layout.

I'm going to recommend buying a few one off kits to start with and maybe join a crop that does classes. Don't buy a whole set of papers just yet because you'll get board very quickly of only have one type of paper. The first set of paper I bought sits in my folder and I never use it. It will donated to my daughter when shes old enough to do something with it!

Good luck

[welshwren]

HI Jade

Welcome to scrapbooking!! You will get loads of great advice and inspiration here - have a browse through the gallery for layout ideas. Where in Wales are you? TKMAXX has had some scrapbooking kits and albums quite cheaply and of course there are loads of sponsors here to visit but I think that it is nice to actually see stuff when you are starting out.