The following scrapbooking ideas are meant to provide some inspiration and get you out of the “same-old, same-old” mentality that you might have gotten yourself into a rut with over time by scrapping the same events each year. I hope they get you on track toward a new phase in your scrapping!

1. The Birth of a Child
It doesn’t have to be your own; a grandchild, niece or nephew, godchild, or a close friend’s newborn can be a great subject for a scrapbook or page. Especially if it isn’t your own child, this can make a great gift for the proud new parents.

2. A New Home
You may be at your first home buying stage and wish to document or share the experience with others. Even if you don’t like the look of your home at first and want to make a lot of changes before you show it off to anyone, still take photos and get a good collection of images of how the place looks right when you buy it, before you have set your hand to the plow and made it into the home of your dreams.

These photos can serve as comparisons for your own benefit after the work is done, and they will also add a special touch to your home scrapbook pages so that your family and friends can see how far you’ve come with the place.

3. Weddings
What better present to give a bride and groom than a beautifully decorated and embellished scrapbook full of your best scrapbooking ideas? Yes, some people end up scrapping their own weddings, but in the hectic rush of starting a new life together, newlyweds may not have the time or desire to scrapbook right away and so their personal projects may get pushed to the back burner. Help them out by creating a couple of tasteful scrapbook pages for them and they’ll think of not only their wedding, but also you, whenever they look at them!

4. Minor Holidays
There are of course the standard birthday, vacation, and Christmas scrapbooking ideas, but most everyone who has been scrapping for awhile has done one or many of these. What about the less “extravagant” holidays that might not be as memorable? Cherish these memories of time spent with your loved ones by scrapbooking smaller events, which are no less special than the big ones! A day trip or road trip you took over the summer, a Memorial Day cookout, or a day stranded inside the house during a winter blizzard can all make great subjects for scrapbook pages about fun times that you may have otherwise forgotten about.

The following essential scrapbooking tools will be incredibly useful as you make progress in your scrapbooking. They are each a wonderful addition to your collection of supplies and tools, and being designed especially for crafting projects such as creating scrapbooks, you will find them to be an amazing help in giving your scrapbooks that extra something.

1. Paper Punches

Sure, you could spend hours painstakingly cutting patterns into your construction paper with a pair of normal scissors. This can be a fun activity during your scrapbooking and you can use it for simple shapes, but there is no comparison to having pre-cut paper templates that give you instant magic! There are more paper punch categories and designs than you can shake a stick at, ranging from butterflies, squigglies, stars, snowflakes, raindrops, and hearts, to borders, patterns and corner accents.

Quick Tip: After you’ve removed the interior punch, use the outside as a stencil.

Paper punches don’t just include the ready-made paper designs and cutouts themselves, but also hand-operated, decorative punch tools. These are essentially a fancy version of a hole punch, and they allow you to punch out specific patterns from any piece of paper or cardstock.

2. Decorative Scissors

Great for creating borders, frames, and fancy backgrounds of many styles. Decorative scissors have two matching blades which, instead of being straight, form a nice-looking edge with multiple curves and/or patterns. You’d really be surprised at how much flair and pizzazz you can add to a page by cutting edges on a decorative line rather than a straight one!

3. A Big Sticker Collection

Now don’t go crazy with these. But having a good selection with a wide variety of styles and shapes to choose from can go a long way to add to a page that incorporates your best scrapbooking ideas. Stickers should be used as accent pieces, not as a central theme (unless it’s done well) - your pages should not be littered with dozens of stickers. They are one of the easiest and fastest ways to decorate a scrapbook page, so people tend to go overboard. Use them sparingly and tastefully and you’ll get some wonderful results.

4. Sharpie Markers

The trusty old sharpie - matchless in its strength, marking power, and toxic fumes - but great for scrapbooking nonetheless. You can get these in full-color sets just like washable markers, only permanent. They tend to be more vibrant and are able to write on a larger variety of surfaces than traditional washables.