People of all ages with all budget ranges (even free!) can make their own memory books. And here's how.

Gather paper for the size book you'd like to create. For regular 3-ring notebook sizing, 8 ½ X 11-inch paper is the best choice. If you have no budget, gather whatever sized paper you can find, then trim to size with scissors and a straight edge (a ruler or book edge will do fine.) Those with a budget can purchase a decorative stationery sheets or printer paper, even with special occasion or other holiday borders.

You can search your favorite engine on line for scrap booking supplies, check out office supply stores, dime stores and discount or outlet stores. Next get creative: gather together photos and other mementoes you are saving, stickers, colored pencils and markers, corners (that hold photos in place), tape, glue, glitter, ribbons, fabric swatches and any other fun crafting materials you can think of in a shoebox or other storage container.Then relax, turn on your favorite tunes, and begin. Focus on one page at a time of your memory book.

Choose a focal point - like one main photo or photo grouping. Place them on the page, leaving room for a memory sheet; i.e. your written description of what the page is about. Then when you see there is sufficient room for all, affix everything in place. Finish the page by adding creative touches here and there; for example, sprinkle glitter framing around the photos, glue grandma's bow at the top of the page, etc.Decorate a cover for your memory book! This can be made out of fabric, cardboard and photos or nearly anything. The sturdier the better.If you're interested in professionally printing and binding your own baby memory book, check out local print shops like Kinkos and online companies.

Tips & Techniques

Experiment with special crafting scissors, scrap booking pairs with a variety of edges that make wave cuts, angle cuts, etc.Add lace and frame pages with fabric scraps.Glue photos to fabric squares first, for a matting effect.Invite friends and relatives to contribute. Many have their own special photos and old greeting cards, toys, etc. around Hit yard sales, flea markets and after-season sales for discounted scrap booking supplies and other creative materials to use.

Enjoy!

By Sophia Ton

A digital scrapbook is an exciting project. With minimal mess, you can gather photos and memories into an electronic scrapbook. From there, you can share individual pages or the entire digital scrapbook via e-mail. You can save the digital scrapbook on CD. You can print your digital scrapbook as many copies as you desire.

Digital scrapbook flourishes make your work look professional. Well-placed and limited in number, digital scrapbook flourishes can soften sharp corners and add feeling to any page.

Define Digital Scrapbook Flourishes

Digital scrapbook flourishes are decorative touches added to photos on the page of a digital scrapbook project.

As in writing, a flourish is an ornamental embellishment, added to make the page showier. Such embellishments appeared frequently in Victorian writing, but are now reserved for things such as certificates where calligraphy appears.

A digital scrapbook flourish might be a sweeping stem of flowers placed across the corner of a photo. It could be a circular "doodle" of intricately interwoven lines. Sometimes, digital scrapbook flourishes take a free art form, flowing loops of color or black sweeping onto the photo from opposite corners.

Brushes or Rubber Stamps

The forerunners of digital scrapbook flourishes are done with "brushes" in conventional scrapbooking. The term "brushes" can be misleading, however, as no artist's or painter's brush is involved. These decorative touches are added with rubber stamps in conventional scrapbooking.

Since digital scrapbooking is done solely on the computer, the "brushes" or "rubber stamps" may be previously created designs placed on the electronic page atop the photo. Another way of producing digital scrapbook flourishes is to use a digital brush to doodle or swirl a design onto the finished page.

Advantages of Digital Scrapbook Flourishes

Many advantages can be gained through the use of digital scrapbook flourishes. A page that is other wise little more than a simple photo album page gains interest, and tells a more complete story through the addition of flourishes. How do flourishes accomplish that?

1. Digital scrapbook flourishes give cohesiveness to a page. For example, a page that features two similar photos can look bare if the two photos sit alone on the background. Look at what a digital scrapbook flourish can do. A flourish can sweep between the photos, crossing one corner of each, and tying them together. A flourish can be echoed from one photo to the next. Place identical flourishes across matching corners to show the photos' relationship. A few small flourishes can flow between the photos, overlapping each photo slightly at one or two spots. All of these, and more, are ways to pull page elements together with digital scrapbook flourishes.

2. Digital scrapbook flourishes can also be used to convey emotion. A photo of a young girl, just home from her first dance, can become wistful and nostalgic if a spray of flowers floats across one corner. A photo of a boy's first baseball game recalls his excitement when a flourish of a trophy is added.

3. Finally, a digital scrapbook flourish can simply make a dull page showy. Think of an official royal decree. It would carry as much power on a plain piece of paper, provided it had the proper seal. But a flourish or two makes it showy – gives it importance. Digital scrapbook flourishes can do the same for your electronic page.

Sources for Digital Scrapbook Flourishes

The best source for digital scrapbook flourishes may be your own skill and a good computer graphics program. If you are comfortable with using such a program, and know your way around it, you can find many built-in flourishes, as well as tools to create your own flourishes.

If you do it yourself, you can create digital scrapbook flourishes from a bit of your digital scrapbook paper design. Simple capture the flower or design element you want for a flourish and "clean" it, removing unwanted background colors. Place the finished flourish on your page and see how well it ties in with the background. Change its color, if desired, for more contrast.

Most digital scrapbook software includes flourishes and embellishments. If you are using such a program, look for "brushes" or "stamps" to use.

Websites that retail digital scrapbook supplies will also have digital scrapbook flourishes. Look at their samples to get ideas. Purchase packages of digital scrapbook flourishes from them.

Helpful tip: When you come across a term such as "flourishes" in your digital scrapbook work, pursue it until you understand it. Understanding the "technical talk" is a big part of making a great digital scrapbook.

If you are interested in crafts in any way then card making is an ideal activity to begin with. There is a huge variety card making techniques and ideas that will help you with your card making ideas.

You do not need huge amounts of time and money to get into card making, it can be as simple or as complex as you desire but trust me once you have started you will be hooked.

Card making ideas are easy fun and are an excellent way of showing your creative side, they are considered gifts when being given in the form of a card and will always be well received.

When I had my first card making idea I started with a few basic tools, often you can use items from your home that are gathering dust.

The basic items I would suggest you need to start any card making ideas are the following.

Paper or card - paper and card come in a huge variety of forms from handmade paper, vellum, patterned and so many other designs. Paper and card is really the foundation for any card it can be used to mount toppers, add a layering effect it can be used in so many different ways including iris folding, a simple but very effective technique that involves folding strips of colored paper that are layered together in a spiral pattern.

Scissors - It is extremely important to have a really good quality pair of scissors, using blunt scissors really can mess up your card making ideas.

Metal ruler and craft knife - it is important to always work on a clean surface and a cutting mat is perfect for this as you can also use your craft knife with out having to worry about damaging your table or area of work. Good cutting tools are very important

Peel off stickers - peel off stickers can be used in so many ways they are a must for anyone who wants to produce good quality card making ideas. Using a peel off sticker that is the same color as your card can also give an embossed look.

Once you become a keep card maker you can always introduce additional supplies and items to your craft box.

Remember never to throw anything away that could be used, even your card scraps as these could be used to punch out small punches for embellishments.

If you are making cards with your children and using an ink pad always make sure that the ink is washable it is surprising how much children would rather ink their hands and faces rather then using it for their card making ideas.

Making cards is a wonderful past time that all the family can enjoy sending and receiving home made personal cards will bring you joy and a sense of achievement.

By Vicki Churchill

Tips When Starting With Scrapbooking Crafts

Getting into the world of scrapbooking can seem daunting at times. All of the scrapbooking crafts can quickly add up to a rather large checkout bill. Many novices jump into the hobby without realizing what they are getting into and often find themselves investing hundreds of dollars.

They later realize that they do not have the time for scrapbooking and wind up having a lot of scrapbook supplies just laying about in storage. It does not have to be this way for you though. If you take your time and start slowly, then you can come to love this wonderful hobby without going over your budget.

Scrapbooking crafts are a multi-million dollar industry. Some huge companies only produce scrapbooking supplies. Sure, you can go and buy the entire scrapbook albums from Martha Stewart's line of crafts, which are sold at Michael's, but you may not need to do that at the start. You need to start slowly. That will give you time to decide if you want to learn how to scrapbook and if you have enough spare time to devote to this hobby.

Simple scrapbooks are the way to start. You can buy scrapbook paper in a large number of craft stores and even some dollar stores. Starting off with a small scrapbooking kit is an excellent way to begin. Such a kit will contain the paper and the necessary adhesive supplies to put together your own albums. You may have to purchase the specialty cutting tools and scissors if you want a decorative edge to your pictures, but they do not cost that much.

If you need to know where to go for scrapbook supplies, then you can check out a variety of stores and online websites. Retail stores such as Michael's, Hobby Lobby and even Wal-Mart carry supplies that are very affordable. You can even find rubber stamps to go along with all of those stickers that are sold in packs.

When you go looking for scrapbooking crafts just keep in mind to start off with a few supplies, such as one scrapbooking kit. Do not jump in and overwhelm your budget by buying a couple of hundred dollars worth of materials.

The key to any hobby is moderation. You have to first enjoy the hobby before you start pumping large amounts of cash into it. Just take it slow and you will be just fine, and you will have a hobby of which to be proud.