Feeling like you have scrapper's block?  You sit at your workspace, scissors in one hand, photos in the other, and . . . nothing!  You go through your photos or paper patterns and still nothing!  Yep, it's scrapper's block all right.  It can be so frustrating when you want to create but you are not feeling creative  I've found a way to find your inspiration again as well as encourage you to maybe try something new.  It's called, a scrapbook journal.  Here's what you do:

First you get a binder and a bunch of binder paper.  You can get these pretty cheap at Office Depot or, better yet, use what you have lying around your house.  I use an 8.5 x 11" binder with paper and plastic page protectors.

Then you go through old scrapbook, paper craft, or hobby magazines.  Cut out ideas you want to try, layouts you like, paper patterns that grab you, supplies you dream of, whatever grabs you.  Glue these clippings to cheap ol' binder paper and write a little note to yourself saying why you want to include them in your journal.  If you can, include the manufacturer or store that makes or carries the stuff you've included.

Organize your findings into categories and insert them into your journal.  I included Layouts, Paper Patterns, Wish List, Tips, and Techniques.

Pretty soon, you'll have a whole book of scrapbook inspiration, guaranteed to cure the scrapper's block. As you look through your journal, maybe you can scraplift a layout idea, experiment with a new medium or technique, or go to the store in search of your favorite paper.  If you're feeling really adventurous, get that new scrapbook system (Cricut, Ellison, Sizzix, etc.) you've been dreaming of and play around with it.  Before you know it, you'll be excited about scrapping with dozens of new ideas to try.  Good luck!

Do you have a great idea to add to Tips and Tricks? Email me at heidi@mycroproom.com and we'll see about publishing your idea right here on My Crop Room. 

Have you ever looked at a friend's photos and wondered if he or she was a professional photographer or just hired one to take all of their pictures? For years I've been trying to figure out how to take great pictures. I am no professional but as a scrapbooker, I am very aware of what I'm photographing and I want my pages to look great, and that includes the pictures. I've done some research and asked around about the secret to taking great pictures. Here are a few tips on taking great pictures.

Get a Digital Camera  
This is a must. Nothing is worse than waiting to buy your pictures only to find that a quarter of them are unusable. No more! Go digital and you not only get instant gratification as to what you're photographing but you can delete the ones you don't want and print the ones you want. You can buy a photo printer or use an online photo galleries that will store and print your photos for you. With the digital camera really starting to replace the film loading types, more and more people are getting creative with their photography and taking better pictures with them. They vary in price from $60 - $3000+. Just decide what you want to do with your camera. If you want all of the bells and whistles, you'll have to pay for it but you'll get to do some cool things with it. I have a pretty inexpensive ($75) Kodak point and shoot camera and it does the job. The very basic feature you will want in a digital camera is a high Megapixel count (at least 5 Mpix). This will determine how sharp your pictures turn out. Anything less gets grainy and pixelated (full of little squares) when you try to enlarge them. As far as zoom, portrait mode, timer, etc. it's up to you. 

Focus on Your Subject  
Don't be afraid to get up close and personal. Use the zoom feature if you have it. If you have a father and son photo op, don't stand twenty feet away because you're afraid of chopping off heads or not getting the entire body in the picture. Instead, move in, maybe focus on their faces. Have the son look up at the dad and he look down at him then focus on just their faces. Don't be afraid to chop the tops of heads. If it doesn't work, take another shot in another angle. Tell the story with your picture, don't line your subject(s) up against a busy wall so you can get the floral print wallpaper in the background. Also, be bold to try new things. Zoom in on those big baby blue eyes, little fingers trying to tie shoelaces for the first time, hand entwined with another, etc. 

Rule of Thirds  
They teach this in any basic photography class. The rule of thirds is to imagine the image divided into thirds, then have the subject either in the first or last section. In other words, don't always have your subject in the center. This way, you can make the picture more interesting just by changing your angle. 

Change Your Perspective  
Get a chair and aim down. Lie on your back and aim up. Get on your knees. Get on your belly. Sit on the floor. Whatever! Who says our own eye level has the best view?  

Black and White  
Black and white photos are always classy. I don't know why. Maybe it's the way it softens the rough edges, or mutes loud colors. With a digital camera you don't have to get special black and white film or pay more to have it developed in black and white. There are several digital image editing sites available. Most will even give you free prints just for signing up. Here are several I have used:  

Kodak Gallery 
Snapfish 
Winkflash 
Shutterfly 
Clark Color 
York Photo 
Scrapbook Pictures
Photo Bucket
Photo Works

Retail stores online like Fedex Kinkos, Costco, or CVS Pharmacies.  
If you have taken a particularly nice photo, try it in black and white and see the difference.  

Have a Clean Picture You don't want the picture of your baby's first steps to have burp rags and empty bottles in the background. Make sure the surrounding area is clean and clutter free. This tip not only applies to actual cleaning up of the area in the picture, but also remove busy or distracting objects that can make your picture less than perfect. Don't stand next to a large plant if it will look like a leaf is growing out of your ear. Watch the how the lighting affects your picture also. You don't want a shadow on the wall that makes your hair look like a bouffont hairdo.  

Take a Lot of Pictures  
Sometimes it takes fifty snaps to get that one perfect pose. Keep taking pictures and you'll see you'll get better and the next perfect picture will come after only thirty. 

Like I said, I'm no professional but with these tips, maybe I can fool a few people into thinking I am. Now go take some pictures!

 I recently received the following email:

Heidi,
My name is Nicole and I am new at scrap booking. I have a lot of supplies but I hesitate to start because I keep seeing things that say your books should have a collective theme. Do they have to have the same colors throughout or is it O.K to flip from page to page and have them not match each other? What is your advice?
Thank You, Nicole 

Nicole, A great question. There is no rule set in stone that says all scrapbooks must be themed and match from page to page. I see it in magazines and I think if I did this, I'd get tired of the same paper, color, embellishments, etc. by the time I finished. If you like that look, go for it. I, on the other hand, go freestyle. As you scrapbook, your style will change (frequently or over time) and why not have your book reflect that. I also find it maddening to start a theme and run out of paper and find it out of stock. Have fun with scrapbooking and don't worry about what other people do with theirs. It's YOUR book. Make it YOUR way.
Good Luck, Heidi  

Do you have questions about scrapbooking? Email me at heidi@mycroproom.com and I'll publish the answer right here on My Crop Room.  

For a while, I found myself getting less and less interested in scrapbooking. How could this be?! I fretted for a while until I finally figured out that I did not have my own creative space. I had to lug all of my materials, packed in a large Rubbermaid tote, from the closet to the kitchen table and carefully get everything out and sort my paper, stickers, photos, etc. and by the time I finished one layout, it was time to clean up. I'd have to pack everything back up and lug that monster tote back to the closet. No wonder I was losing interest. I was packing and unpacking more than I was being creative. I needed my own scrapbook nook! So, I decided to clear a little space just for me. I bought a second hand writing desk and fit it in the "other room" or "storage room" in the two bedroom apartment my husband and I shared. Pretty soon, I was adding little stacks of drawers and paper holders and had everything just how I wanted it. I was suddenly feeling creative again! Who knew that making a little room for myself would rekindle my creative charge. You too, can make a little scrapbook nook of you own to invite your creative self back. I have a few tips on how to do this:

1. Get a work table. You need a good hard surface to work on. Do not use the kitchen table anymore! Just imagine a place where you don't have to pack up or slide everything to the side when it's time to eat dinner! I got a second hand desk. You can go to thrift stores, garage sales, or even buy a new card table to use. If you're especially sneaky, you can convince a relative that they need a new desk/table and offer to take the old one off their hands.
2. Stacking Paper. If you have a big pile of random scrapbook paper, like me, you need to sort and organize. I used to have everything shoved into manila file folders that went inside my huge Rubbermaid tote. Don't do this because the edges will get bent and some sides will ripped as you try to pull them out. It is also messy because sometimes the small strips would fall out. I would suggest getting those stackable organizing drawers (Rubbermaid, Sterilite, etc.) available at Office Depot, Target or Wal Mart. They usually only fit up to 8 1/2 x 11 sized paper so your 12 x 12's will have to go somewhere else. I was very fortunate to find a 12 x 12 paper rack at a scrapbook store going out of business sale. You can buy these online but the shipping costs will be crazy. You can get stackable paper trays like the ones offices use as input and output filing. If you can only find 8 1/2 x 11 sizes you can stick 12 x 12 pieces of cardboard in each slot or anything else rigid enough to provide support. Then, put in your paper and voila! 12 x 12 stackers.
3. Little Pieces. If you have a bunch of small items like brads, eyelets, beads, etc. there are several ways to sort these. You can get a fishing tackle box with lots of little compartments for your little things. Quick and easy! Another way to sort these is to collect small jars used for baby food or pimento spread, or small acrylic containers that some eyelets or punches are sold in. All of these little containers can go into one big container to keep them together and out of the way until you need them. Finally, you can get a metal and magnet spice rack without the spices. These are found at specialty kitchen or import stores. Just mount the metal sheet on your wall, fill the little canisters with your stuff and the magnetic back will attach to the metal sheet. It's a little pricey but adds a "designer look" to your scrapbook nook.
4. Scrap Paper Holder. Do you have a tough time throwing away a medium sized piece of scrap of paper because you just know that you'll find a good use for it later on? Me too! A great way to keep these scraps out of the way but close at hand is a magazine file. I got a set of six sturdy cardboard files for $11.99 at Office Depot. You can get several files and organize your scraps into colors. I have one for dark solid colors, light solid colors, dark patterns, light patterns, specialty paper and recent magazines. It's a good idea to go through your files once in a while to weed out any pieces you don't think you'll use or just to see what you have to choose from.
5. Background Noise. I can't stand to do anything when it's silent (except maybe read and sleep). I need background noise. I had a little table set up near my scrapbook nook that had a T.V. set up and I would listen to episode after episode of Law&Order and occasionally put on a movie. I wouldn't be there to watch T.V., just to listen in the background. A radio with your favorite music station or CD playing can be invigorating. Sometimes having someone else in the room helps. My husband would be at the computer that sits near my scrapbook nook and work on projects as I would work on mine. Even though we were doing two completely different things, we had great conversations and got to see first hand what the other was working on.

Now you can get started on creating your scrapbook nook. A corner of a room is all it takes. It doesn't have to be fancy. It can even be cluttery (mine is!). Just make it yours and you'll always come back to discover more of your creative self. Have fun!  
 
Do you have a great idea to add to Tips and Tricks? Email me at heidi@mycroproom.com and we'll see about publishing your idea right here on My Crop Room.  

When I first began to scrapbook, materials were relatively inexpensive. Now with paper being up to $1.00 a page and all of the embellishments and stickers climbing in prices as well, what's a scrap-a-holic gotta do? Well, you don't have to break the bank and you don't have to go without. Here are a few ideas to help you find the best deals when scrapbook shopping.  

1. Dollar Store Deals. I am always on the hunt for a good bargain and you can't go cheaper than the good ol' dollar store. I was estatic when they started adding a scrapbook section. It is usually located near the stationary or school supplies. The line is called Miss Elizabeth's and it's found in every Dollar Tree store.  You can get letter stickers, metal embellishments, punches, shiny, glazed epoxy stickers, and my favorite, packs of 12 x 12 paper. All for $1.00 each! Check it out and see if they have anything up your alley.
2. Discount Department Stores. There are discount department stores all over now. There's Ross, Marshall's, T.J. Maxx, and Tuesday Morning just to name a few. Haunt these places frequently, especially in their photo album sections. At T.J. Maxx, I found a K & Company 12 x 12 scrapbook kit (worth over $50.00 in a scrapbook store) for only $7.00! It's a great place to get a scrapbook at a discounted price. If you have Tuesday Morning in your area, they have a whole discounted scrapbook section!
3. Wal-Mart. If you're like me, going to Wal Mart is an ordeal best avoided.   But I can't ignore the fact that it's the cheapest place to find a lot of tools I need like roller adhesives, paper cutters, and even some stickers. Look for these in the craft section. The selection varies from store to store, but the price is right on for what they do have.
4. Coupons! Coupons! Coupons!. Go to your local chain craft store (I go to JoAnn and Michael's) and see if they have monthly or even weekly coupons. Some will offer up to 50% off one item with a coupon. I love to save these and buy that large scrapbook tool I've been needing (large paper cutter, heat gun, xyron machine, etc.). Get friendly with the cashiers and they can give you a heads up when the next big sale on scrapbook items will be. I go nuts at the paper sales!
5. Mailing Lists. In a small, local scrapbook store, the way they advertise is usually through their mailing list. Be on it! They'll send coupons and will usually tell you about sales before their ad hits the newspaper. I happened to be on a mailing list of a store that pre-announced their going-out-of-business sale. I had a full week to get the best deals at this store before the real mobs hit once the word got out through the newspaper.

 
Now you no longer have the excuse, "scrapbooking is just too expensive!" Go out there and find some bargains and get scrapping. Good luck!  
 
Do you have a great idea to add to Tips and Tricks? Email me at heidi@mycroproom.com and we'll see about publishing your idea right here on My Crop Room.