What is Scrapbooking?
Scrapbooking involves the preservation of photographs and memories in a photo album, by using your pictures in a special and creative way you will produce a beautiful keepsake which will tell its own story, with the use of the photos, texts and other memories a plain photo album can be transformed into a book that can be enjoyed by generations to come. 
In scrapbooking a photo album no longer consists of only photos, but also contains coloured paper to focus more attention to the photos, small or elaborate texts to tell the story behind the photos and all sorts of techniques to enrich the pages.

Which materials do I need for scrapbooking?
You only need a few basic materials for scrapbooking. You start by choosing a special scrapbook album, for instance one of the many beautiful albums available from K&Company, S.E.I. or Basicgrey.

Apart from your photographs you will have enough to start if you have glue, pens, felt tips or pencils, a pair of scissors, and, very important, Acid and Lignin-free decorative papers, 
Working with acid-free and Lignin-free paper decreases the chance of discolouring and deterioration over the course of the years. 

Once you have the hang of it you can employ a large number of techniques and materials, such as Pergamano, Lacé, nice punches, stickers, stamps and so on! Visit my on-line shop categories and be inspired by all sorts of scrapbook materials, you can also purchase scrapbooking kits which contain a whole host of complementing scrapbooking accessories all in one great value pack.

But I am not creative. Isn’t that a problem?
Not at all! The funny thing about scrapbooking is that you can make great pages by using examples so there is no need to be creative. And maybe you’d surprise yourself if you seem to display, after some practice, more creativity than you ever thought you had!

What is Matting?
Matting is putting a photograph onto coloured paper. This you cut out again, creating a coloured border around your photo. This way the picture jumps out of your layout. It brings out the colours of the photo better. You can repeat this a few times to create more borders of colour around your picture. It looks best if you use paper with colours that also occur in the photograph. You can also use designed or patterned paper. Make sure to use a plain colour first and use decorative paper for the second or third mat. This will look better.

What other items can I use in my scrapbook?
There is no limit to the items you can place in your scrapbook, it is entirely up to you, it may be a brochure from a place you have visited, a menu or even an entrance ticket, there are also plenty of other decorative products available such as Funky Fibres, they come in many variations and colours, materials and looks. You can always find a fibre to match the style of your layout.

You can use Eyelets, Snaps or Brads to attach vellum, photo's, tags with journaling and other embellishments. Stickers and peel-offs can be used to decorate a page and add dimension, letter stickers can be used for journaling. Flat back buttons, wire and charms are decorative embellishments that can all be attached to a page with glue dots.

Ribbon can also be used as decoration and Rub-ons which are acid free transfers are ideal for adding pictures, phrases or individual letters. There are many die cuts available such as Cuttlebug which enable you to cut out shapes and images from your own cardstock.