I promised Donna Marie  this post some months ago now.  I hope she wasn’t holding her breath! : / Please accept my apologies for such a belated response!

The question was, "What book or two do I need to begin?"  That is such a difficult question to answer! I am a visual person and I had to begin with magazines and images to sort through in my head what it was I was envisioning. Once I had that I could proceed. My favorite magazine is Simple Scrapbooks.  I wouldn’t be without that one!  Creating Keepsakes is a great magazine but focuses more on cutting edge techniques and pages very full of materials and high tech techniques. Those are nice if you are particularly skilled at looking at such a page and picking out one or two parts thereof you might want to incorporate into your work.  Not so good if you want grab and go ideas.

Simple Scrapbooks, the book is a great beginning title.  Stacy Julian shows several different types of scrapbooks. Her new book The Big Picture is even more fun.  Cathy Zielske’s Clean and Simple Scrapbooking and the sequel to it banish even more misconceptions about how you "ought" to scrapbook and provide easy directions for quick pages.  For instance, you do not need to scrapbook ALL your pictures, nor even all your events. Choose the photos that speak to you and tell the story behind them. You do not need to lots of accents (stickers, die cuts, patterned pattern) and in fact too much of a good thing is not so good in this case. You don’t need to mat all or even any of your photos. You don’t need to even crop the pics. A new CK bk Easier Than Ever Scrapbooking will provide more layouts for standard sized photos. for that matter, you don’t even need photos! check out the alternatives here: Scrapbooking without photos and here  and here. And my favorite – you don’t need to be "caught up".

Becky Higgins’ series of Creative Sketches bks – Vol 1 and Vol 2 – are titles I pull out EVERY time I scrap. In fact many of my pages are based on BH sketches. She lays out a blueprint which you can begin with and then incorporate your own papers and accents. Her approach is also very clean and uncluttered and easy to copy. All good things! Not ready to buy before you try? I never am! You can check out her sketches at the CK website. Here are a few other sketch sites, though some may not be as well designed as Becky’s:

Scraps Ahoy

Littlebit.com

creative scrapbook sketches

If you are looking for very basic how-to instructions here are a few websites to get you started:

Your first page
Learn2Scrapbook

If you aren’t sure you want to dive in yourself but would like to introduce the craft to your children then try these:

Scrapbooking with Kids

Starting with Kids

kids pages at makingfriends.com

You will need some "stuff" to begin:

basic toolkit  In the end you really only need scissors, paper, black pen, and adhesive. These should be acid free since regular paper/pens/etc will fade anddamage your photos. Paper can be easily stored in a magazine holder with a cupholder for the rest. I would likely place those next to the computer because I am more apt to print any journaling and titles than to hand write. I would also not be without a personal trimmer – cheap, fast, straight lines. Need I say more? <g>

If you want your "stuff" even more portable you might check into the storage options at Cropper Hopper  In particular visit the organization tips link. Making Memories has very nice upscale storage aids. Fwiw, Target stores often carry similar items so you might want to surf for ideas here and then visit your local Target.

If this develops into a dearly loved hobby you may want to have a dedicated *space*.  I have had such a space in several homes. Initially it was a converted hall closet. We outfitted it with a remnant of countertop slab from Home Depot for next to nothing. I rolled Sterilite storage drawers and stool underneath the counter, nailed baskets to the side walls to contain the misc supplies and then had magazine holders and albums and idea books along the wall in front of me. (countertop is pretty deep) Here are some other options:

Armoire

Scrapjazz Organization – your room

Becky Higgins tips

Lisa Bearnson scrap space

My favorite scrapbooking internet site (after Simple Scrapbooks mag) is Twopeasinabucket   Ahhhh, 2Peas! Source of delightful fonts (storefront), theme album ideas(creating garden), poetry and quote search (peasoup) , a message board and a vast gallery of pages to browse. They have an awesome search engine at their gallery.

I will begin uploading a new album to the sidebar this week full of our family scrapbook pages fwiw.  I hope this helps encourage you. Scrapbooking doesn’t have to be complicated, time-consuming, or messy. Then again, it can develop into a true art form and source of reflection and self-expression. Take it as far as you wish. Now go grab a photo y’all! And don’t forget to share your pages with me when you finish!