A scrapbook is a storybook that you create, telling about the things that are important to you and your family. It includes photographs and memorabilia that remind you of special times, people and places. Scrapbooking is a way to organize your thoughts, dreams, hopes and fears. A scrapbook is a treasure, an heirloom, and artwork that is meant to be shared.

In recent years, scrapbooking has become an extremely popular hobby for women (and men) all over the world. While it's been around for ages, scrapbooking has evolved from a way to show off photographs and movie ticket stubs into a way to express yourself and free the artist within you, all while preserving your memories for generations to come.

Scrapbooking is no longer construction paper and tape or just putting your photos in an album. Now you'll find that there are scrapbook stores all over the country, thousands of products to choose from, and techniques to learn to make the most of the art of scrapbooking!

Basic Supplies
While many scrapbookers can easily fill an entire room with all of their scrapbooking tools and supplies, there are a few items that are essential. To create pages you will need some or all of the following items:

Paper trimmer - Since many papers come in only 12" x 12", you will often need to be able to trim a sheet of paper down from this size. A 12" paper trimmer is recommended whether you scrapbook in 12" x 12" albums or 8 ½" x 11" albums. Heavy duty desktop paper trimmers are wonderful if you have the space for them, but you can also purchase smaller portable trimmers that are great for going to crops and keeping your supplies manageable.

Scissors - A pair of small, sharp scissors is important in order to cut smaller pieces and to have greater control over your cuts. Hold off on buying decorative scissors until you have a specific layout to use them. While they certainly have their uses and can make wonderful designs and embellishments, most scrapbookers regret cutting their photos with decorative scissors.

Adhesives - Each type of adhesive is appropriate for different needs. You will probably want to have a selection of adhesives to use for your layouts. A liquid glue pen is good for adhering small pieces, a strong liquid glue is good for larger and bulkier embellishments, photo squares work well for adhering photos, and repositionable glue dots adhesives are great when you want to move your elements around.

Acid Free Black Pen -Eventually you'll want to have a collection of pens and colors, but a black pen is a must right from the beginning! It's used for outlining, journaling, titles and drawing details.

Album and Page Protectors - Choose an album and corresponding page protectors in the size you wish to use. Albums typically come in the following sizes; 12" x 12", 8 ½" x 11", 8" x 8", and 5" x 7". Buy page protectors designed for the album you buy to be sure that they will fit correctly.

Other supplies can be purchased as you go, such as papers, templates, stickers, die cuts, and embellishments. To save money, it's best to buy supplies with specific pages in mind, so that you don't buy things you won't use.

This handful of supplies will get you started, and on your way to creating fantastic scrapbook pages.

Andrea Steed is the author and creator of Scrap Tutor, a web site and CD-ROM that teaches you how to create scrapbooks and how to perform many popular techniques used in scrapbooking. For more information, visit www.scraptutor.com.