How To Make Your Own Scrapbook Idea Books

By Gina M. Woods

Whether a beginner or seasoned scrapbooker, we all love to draw new inspiration from magazines, idea books, and (of course) DIY! Like me, you may have toppling piles of Creating Keepsakes and Scrap & Stamp Arts (just to name a couple!) overtaking your closet, yet every time you see a great new idea book you still gotta have it! Right? Well, if you want to learn how to quickly and easily clear your clutter and create a great inspirational idea book for yourself, read on!Idea books are certainly not in short supply these days. It seems there are idea books for just about every scrapbook topic you can think of. and then some! I've seen idea books for layouts, sketches, journaling, altered scrapbooking, mini albums, tear art, paper piecing, vellum tricks, tag art, chalk art, stencil art, punch art, mosaics, and more. Who has the money or space for all these idea books?

Another problem occurs when I remember a layout or technique that I'd like to try that I had seen in one of my magazines or books. "I know its here somewhere. probably dog eared the page so that I could find it easily" I remind myself. Easily? There's certainly nothing easy about searching thru piles of magazines and books for that one page that you probably won't ever find again. That's just frustration!

But don't despair. I've found a remedy for our inspiration/frustration dilemma! You can make your own idea book. It's easier than you might think.

All you need is a three-ring binder and some dividers. Now, go thru your old magazines and tear out pages that have unique layouts, techniques, or anything else that inspires you. Yikes! Tearing out pages from our precious magazines? I know. I was a bit reluctant myself, but it's a great way to clear your clutter and get organized. Save anything that gives you inspiration: color combinations, photo and graphic styles, layering patterns, title ideas, etc. Once you've torn out all the pages you care to keep, you can toss the rest of the magazine in the trash. Just keep repeating this process until you have cleared your magazine towers and replaced them with a nice tidy stack of pages instead.

Simply hole punch the pages and organize them in your binder, using the dividers to create different categories such as layout ideas, techniques, etc. You may even decide to create special sections such as holiday ideas. There is no wrong way to do this. Organize it however you'd like, in a way that works best for you. You may even choose to "alter" your binder by adding decorative papers and ribbons to dress it up a bit.

Now you've got your own personal, portable idea book! And the best part is that everything in this book gives you great inspiration. not just a few pages here and there. Keep adding to your idea book whenever you find new pages in magazines or even while surfing the web. The next time you need an idea, you'll know exactly where to look! And it won't take hours of searching to find what you need.

I'm not saying not to ever buy another idea book. But at least NOW you'll have extra room for them where the magazine towers used to be! LOL

Happy Scrapping!

© Copyright 2006, Gina M. Woods, All Rights Reserved.

Gina Woods is a graphic designer, artist, scrapaholic, wife, and mother of three children. She also operates an online scrapbook store, http://www.Scraps-n-More.net(site no longer active), which offers unique, high quality scrapbook supplies from popular companies like BasicGrey, All My Memories, and Carolee's Creations. As time permits, she also offers hand-crafted, pre-made scrapbook albums and layouts for auction. Gina loves to host and teach local scrapbook classes/retreats in her hometown and also writes articles for various trade publications and newsletters.