Personally, I dislike "how-to scrapbook" books and classes. I don't believe there's any incorrect way to do it, and if you want to do it, you'll find the way that suits you best. None of those guides on how to do THIS page (so now everyone else has that exact same page in their scrapbook too, just with a differet picture). Biggest pet peeve really. I do admire the nice & neat pages with one or two pictures and all sorts of paper cutouts and a few stickers that are just plain pretty, but to me, scrapbooking is more than pretty pictures on pretty paper.

So, here I go proving myself rather hypocritical. Except rather than a step-by-step guide, here are just hints to help you through the process if you want to scrapbook and aren't sure how to start.

Before/during the event
If it's already passed, don't worry. When I first started my scrapbook (mine is my full life, from birth to the present, in order. I don't do special books for special events) I had to dig up old pictures from when I was a baby and really try to remember a lot of the things I did/liked. Which had been a good 16 years earlier, mostly from an age I barely remember being. So it isn't impossible, just harder- and more rewarding.

Now. My digital camera is my scrapbook's best friend. Empty some of the memory from all your myspace pictures. Save pictures on the media card to your computer (for good measure, put them on a CD as well). The best idea is to have as much memory and battery as possible, so when you're there just keep taking pictures. Take pictures posing and take pictures no one is expecting and pictures of things. Point and shoot, click away. Of course, do watch the battery because you don't want to run out at the end... cameras are great about needing batteries always. So have some extra batteries too, if you can. Don't worry about deleting the pictures there. With enough space, you can make it home and THEN pick and choose your favorites and which will go in. If you don't have access to a digital camera, you can use a regular one or even better, a few disposable ones.

Grab flyers, special napkins, ticket stubs. You can mosty only get 2D things, but you can get some 3D things, providing they're flat/small enough. Keep as much as you can, and then when you start scrapbooking you can cut them up and throw out whatever you decided not to use. It's good to have more than you need than not enough.

If you're like me and scrapbook more than just main events (maybe have a few pages for spring as well as a prom page in there?), there's a LOT you can collect. Ideas? Press flowers, movie stubs, fast food straw wrappers, cut up ads from your favorite store, your first id/credit/library card (providing they're now useless!!), candy wrappers (that are relatively clean), wristbands, playing cards, cut up boxes from products you love (playing cards, contact lenses), newspaper articles, business cards, post-it notes from friends, parking passes, and anything else that you think you could use.

Before you scrapbook
GO SHOPPING.
Two good stores that you should definitely look for are Jo Anns and Michaels. Wal-Mart generally has a craft section with a decent amount of colored paper and stickers (also look for more stickers in the card and kid sections), and you can find more arts & crafts or even just scrapbooking stores around.

Unfortunately, this is the part of scrapbooking that kills my bank account. If you don't have much to spend, this part is easily skipped (providing you have glue, scissors, and a scrapbook all ready). On a budget, remember you can usually sign up for newsletters and find out when sales are and get coupons. Know what you need before you go and don't buy too much else (my friends refuse to go to Jo Anns with me because I always get distracted by everything, as I dabble in other crafts besides scrapbooking as well).

The MOST basic things you'll be needing is scissors, glue, and a scrapbook with pages/paper, just don't expect it to be the prettiest one anyone as every seen. If it's regular white paper, you can get markers/crayons and make them pretty and personal. A ruler makes everything nice too. Stores carry a variety of things for papercrafting, so be sure to check out all the stickers and pretty papers (12x12 inches and smaller pages, textured, glittery, clear, you name it). I'm not a huge fan of stamps, but you can go look at those and see if there's anything you love, just remember they're more expensive than you'd think and you can't use them all over or it'll look bad. I've gathered a rather large collection over time of markers, gel pens, sharpies, crayons, colored pencils, glitter pens and all those in various sizes and colors. Don't forget all the different styles of scissor edges and hole-punchers. Walk around and just browse and see what you like and might use.

I definitely suggest these, or something similiar. Photo corners are a lifesaver. You can hold things down in your scrapbook that you only have one of and might want to pick up again (I've used this for pretty pictures, an invitation to my graduation, old badges, ect). You can get them clear you can't see them at a glance, or black (which looks really nice). So they not only look nice, they actually function too.

Remember to run to photo center to print out all your pictures. I like making copies of pictures, so that I don't have to cut up the original.

SCRAPBOOKING
This is why my room is always a mess. I like to set up on the floor or somewhere with a lot of space and spread out. I've got the page I'm working on in front of me, a (semi-organized) pile of craft materials, another pile of pictures, another of all the other scraps, and who knows what else.

Use your computer to print out captions or quotes, maybe something someone said that was hilarious. If you didn't print out glossy pictures at the store, you can always print them out on your computer or print them out on regular paper, or half and half. Going online you can probably find a ton of good page ideas, if you want (we already know I'm not crazy about the idea of copying pages, but I guess you can just get ideas and use them in your own pages).

If you forgot or lost something, grab a postit, scribble it down, and stick it on the page. This way you can remember the page isn't done and keep a space open for the last piece, and when you find it again, you can stick right in where it belongs.

Have fun. Do what you like. No one can tell you how to make YOUR pages.

DONE.
Keep it updated! Look at it when you want to smile, and show it off!

Wanna take a look at some of the things I've done? Clicky clicky!.