WEEK TWO: Lesson Two for Retirement Years Scrapbooking

WEEK TWO: Lesson Two for Retirement Years Scrapbooking
Selecting Supplies on a Budget--Scrapping is About the Photos

Note to self:
Remember budget
Exercise caution when buying

Book of the Month: Stylish Scrapping for the AARP Crowd
by: Ms. Oldemoldiescrapper

I'm so glad that you are back with us for week two and lesson two. I would imagine by now you have bought a few of the magazines that I suggested and hopefully devoured them and that you are filled with wonderful ideas and enthusiasm for this new and thrilling adventure in creativity! Now that you have these magazines and are calling them fondly by their pet names (initials) you will also learn to think of people such as Lisa, Tracy, Stacy, Angie, Donna, Becky, Faye, Jyl, Carrie, Rhonna and Melissa (among others) as friends who are here to help and guide you in this journey through Scrapperdom! And as you peruse the articles you will come to lust for membership in teams referred to as HoF, PKPT and MMM. This is a noble goal but try to pace yourself and do not let this goal cause you undue stress. Our goal is to get you started!

As you look at the ads in the magazines and on tv you will see multiple items that you will want and need for the task at hand. We are going to guide you in creating your first page! All you need is some photos and some cardstock! See how simple and painless scrapbooking can be!! Now choose a photo and lets get started!

Oh, if you have a digital camera you will find that you will be able to print your photos in any size and shape you want at home and Photoshop will make this
so exciting! But I digress, let's get out that cardstock and those photos and finish our page. You can use your special archival quality glue stick or Hermafix or photo tabs or order a delightful machine which makes gluing the pages down so much easier. You can purchase a variety of refills from permanent to repositionable for
a mere pittance. These things will really add speed and excitement to your hobby.

As you position your photo onto your cardstock, you may want to include a mat created by a patterned piece of cardstock and perhaps even use a vellum overlay.
Don't worry if you don't have these supplies now, you can find them at what we lovingly refer to as the lss (local scrapbook store) which is another three letters that will become dear to your heart! * This is optional. Many scrappers happily stay with the simplest procedure and do wonderful books!

There! Now you have a page with your photos lovingly attached onto sophisticated matting. Of course, if you had some of the lovely metal attachments, I'm thinking tiny frames and brads, perhaps a few eyelets and perchance a few tags, these could add a lot of interest to your page. I find that sewing on a basic page can really add a bit of spice. You can buy a nice portable machine created especially for this purpose or invest in a regular sewing machine which you can use for household repairs and even to sew your own clothes to help maintain a degree of frugality in your retirement years. It will make that pension go farther!! These are all supplies that require a tiny investment now but will be used over and over again.

Another way to save money is to print your supplies as well as your photos at home. You will want (in addition to your digital camera), a good scanner and a great photo printer (if possible, a 12 x 12 large format) and pages look so great when printed on premium paper with special archival quality inks. These may cost a bit more but will pay for themselves in the long run. (A one or two gig CF card is nice to have too and is a real steal at a couple of hundred bucks!) And just think, if you become a complete digital scrapper......well, you are practically scrapping for free! (Of course you may want to treat yourself every once in a while to some great computer software and digital CDs full of artistic backgrounds and embellishments..)

You can purchase a top of the line digital camera for less than a thousand dollars, scanner for around 200.00, a wonderful printer for 600 and ink refills are usually less than 40.00 each while paper is a real bargin if you buy it in bulk! Oh, how I envy you who are having the thrill of just getting started and assimilating all of these wonderful supplies! What fun!

I leave you now to look at your first completed new page.....with photo placed artistically, creatively and frugally on your cardstock! See, you did it and stayed within your budget! Aren't you proud!!

That is all for Chapter two and Lesson two. Be sure to check back with me next week for chapter three and I hope by then you will have completed about 20 more pages for your album.......oh, dear, did I not mention that you need to buy an album....silly, silly me!! Of course you will want some way to display and protect the masterpieces you will be creating. You can find some beautiful ones .....even embossed ones at your LSS (remember that term, gentle scrapper!)

Imaoldiemoldiescrapper

Note to Self: What Have I Done??
Read neighbors magazine before she sees it on her doorstep, just have it back by 4pm when she gets home
Talk to hubby about digital camera and printers
Cancel orders from tv shopping
Look into part time job
Find out how to remove glue dots from dog
Buy one of those "sticky" machines
Buy vellum
Buy metal thingys for pages
Buy special glue for metal thingys
Buy album
Buy more card stock and patterned cardstock
Return decorative scissors