Wednesday Sponsor Giveaways: Elise Blaha, ReVa, Studio Calico, & SheyB

My advice is to scrapbook your favorite pics and memories. Do not go in chronological order because you will always feel like you are behind.

Mine would be, if you try to make your layout perfect, you will NEVER get a layout done.

Put down the shaped scissors. I love a good scalloped edge now but I cut lots of things with funky edges.
Classic is totally more my thing.

My best advice is to keep it simple. All you need is a little paper, adhesive, pictures and some creativity. Everything else is fluff!

Think big! Don't be shy! Scrap with authority; it's your story and it deserves to be told by you in your way and with your artistry! Be bold!!!

I think the best advise I ever recieved as a newbie was from my SIL-she told me to leave my wedding pictures alone until I'd been scrapbooking for 10 years :)

Not to cut up original photos from the "olden" days (before digital).

Play and have fun. It's only paper after all. It's so tempting to want to make all your pages look like the magazines or those of other established scrappers, but it takes time to learn the techniques, build a stash and to find your own style and comfort level. Until then enjoy the process and don't be too hard on yourself. Even Ali Edwards was a beginner once.

The advice I always give to new scrappers is to know from the beginning that it is an expensive hobby - I'm a realist. Next I tell them to keep basic items in a kit always close at hand, saves a lot of frustration. Most importantly, love what you are doing!

My advice is to keep the page simple and speak from the heart for a good journaling. I wish I knew about Becky H., Lisa B,, Stacey J., and Paula W., and you Ali, the first time I made a layout.

I wish someone has just told me that any way I create is okay..... that capturing the memory is the most important thing. It's all good!!

I wish I would have run across Ali Edwards first! So I would know I don't NEED 1000 different sheets of paper that are now sitting in my closet! I wish that I could have known I only needed basics.

I wish someone would have told me not to think too hard about it. A lot of valuable time got wasted...

My advice is to just give yourself the freedom to experiment. Buy a few basics and get started. It took me a while to figure out what I liked and what my style was, although, I still consider myself to be a beginner. One thing that has helped me to get to my scrapbooking is to schedule it. Put it on the calendar that way you get to it. Otherwise, I am always so busy with the husband, the kids, the family, the house, etc.

Use your product! Hoarding it just causes unorganization and wasted product!

I wish my friends who finally convinced me to pick up the hobby had warned me about how overwhelming the store would be on my first visit. I was over-stimulated and I promise you, I had a headache by the time I left there!

My advice - just start! Don't worry about doing things in chronological order, just start with a great photo and go from there. A photo can give you the colours for your layout and inspire the style of journalling and layout. Just start... and soon you won't be able to stop! :)

I wish someone had told me it was okay not to crap every picture in the order the were taken...Iwasted a lot of time trying to do that for several years, Thankfully I got over it!!

Great giveaway! So many wonderful contributions!
My best advice: use what you have. It isn't necessary to buy tons of things for each page you create, your pictures supported by found items like postcards, tickets, and magazine clippings can be the ingredients to a beautiful page!

When I first started scrapbooking, I wish someone had told me about all the different products out there, and how much fun I would have, and how many people that I would meet! And that there are 100 different ways to do everything!

I'm a new scrapbooker!! Not sure I have any advice but I did go to my first crop recently and it was great - lots of sharing and fun.

My best advice would be to not get sucked into having everythign that there is. When I first started I spent so much $$ and didn't really need to. I think that you can do a GREAT job with just cardstock, paper, ink, adhesive and a good trimmer.

Find some artist's style that you like and get creative juices from that, it is ok!

just record and create, dont be afraid to have a go. i remember my very first page at creative memories 10 years ago-i think i sat and looked at the page for over an hour. when the consultant finally convinced me to cut a photo, I pushed it around on the page for another hour.
Just record and create.

I wish someone had told me when I first started scrapping that you do not need to have it all. Your family will love the photos and your words, not the fancy had to have latest thing that you don't even like 2 years later. Would have saved me a lot of money...