1. Have a scrapbooking party with your friends! No scrapbooking friends to invite? Teach a friend your love! Tell them to bring some pictures and you'll share your supplies! What more could you ask for than companionship and scrapbooking!?



2. Or, scrap alone! The point of National Scrapbooking Day is to celebrate our hobby!

3. Spend some time rearranging your scrapbook area to optimize your space. We all know that organization is the key to efficiency and storage of supplies tends to be overwhelming to every scrapbooker. So, taking time to organize your storage will reap huge returns when it comes time to make a layout or card. Plus, you'll probably get inspired by unearthing forgotten scrapbooking embellishments!

4. Get inspired to learn a technique. Look through some magazines to find something you've always wanted to try and apply it to a scrapbooking layout.

To get you started, here are some ideas of scrapbooking embellishments you could incorporate into your scrapbooking layout:

* Buttons - line clear buttons with coordinating paper

* Ribbon - thread ribbon around chipboard, add it to journaling spots, or use it to frame a picture

* Brads - use brads to make an initial or monogram, as the center of flowers, or to anchor mini-albums, accordion albums, or fold-out albums

* Embossing - make it the focus embellishment by layering embossing powder into a mound (heating between layers) and pushing a rubber stamp into the still-hot embossing powder

* Stamping - make a new background paper using 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation stamping (first impression is stamping with a freshly inked stamped, second impression is stamping immediately after the first stamping without re-inking, and third impression is stamping a third time without re-inking)

* Distressing - using white core Close To My Heart cardstock, score your paper with your scoring tool on your paper cutter and then sand the top layer off to reveal unique patterns

* Chipboard - use chipboard as a scrapbooking embellishment in titles, as photo corners, to spruce up tags, and cover mini-albums

* Liquid Glass - add Liquid Glass to the top of stamped image for a polished scrapbooking embellishment

* Stitching/sewing - either free hand or with a sewing machine, stitching gives projects a handmade touch

* Doodling - add a little of yourself to your work by doodling along to accent your page or cut out the doodles to use as scrapbooking embellishments

* Jewels, glitter, sequins, and rhinestones - add some sparkley bling to your layout and turn up the intensity of your design!

* Hidden journaling - if you don't like your handwriting or you'd rather not highlight it on a layout, hide it behind a paper flap or photograph

* Painting - use paint to create a multi-dimensional effect on otherwise plan cardstock or use texture cardstock to add further dimension!

5. Or, if you simply can't get motivated to create a scrapbook layout anew: scraplift! Find inspiration in the Close To My Heart (CTMH) Summer 2009 Idea Book or browse a gallery of scrapbooking pages and put your layout together!

6. If all else fails, there is nothing like SHOPPING for new products to motivate you to create!

Happy SCRAMPING (SCRArapbooking/StaMPING)!

Copyright (c) 2009 Tara Hamilton