The first thing you need to understand is that a scrapbook is not like a photo album or a diary, where you can put items arranged in sequential order. Rather, it's a collection of the little things that represent your dreams, goals, relationships, and other non-eventual aspects in your life. A scrapbook helps you record the smaller but nonetheless important things in your life that otherwise wouldn't be included in an album.

There are a few things to consider before starting a scrapbook. You might want to think about what kind of scrapbook you'll create. Should you make one that follows important events in your life? Or perhaps it should follow a specific theme? You may want to consider this carefully before starting on your first page. For example, you might have 30 years worth of photos with you, but surely you're not planning on including all of them in your scrapbook. Instead, why not create a scrapbook for all the foreign places you've visited?

Remember also that writing down your thoughts, memories, and feelings is as important as the pictures that go with them, perhaps even more. Pictures tell only half of the story; without the narration that portrays the emotions and memories behind every image, their real meaning could be lost. The words you write down will also serve as a guide to more accurately portray who you really are when read by later generations.

You don't have to spend a lot of time working on your scrapbooks. Some friends have told me about their plans to start scrapbooking, but they're afraid that it would take up too much of their time. Well, they're completely wrong. You can either spend 4 hours a day scrapbooking or 1 hour every weekend; it doesn't matter at all! You don't have to spend a lot of time to enjoy this hobby.

Forget about the complex decorations. Don't get caught up in the decorations and the artwork that you may see in other people's scrapbooks. What really matters are the pictures and the stories contained in each page. I have heard of some people who constantly agonize about the artwork in their scrapbooks. They fail to truly experience the enjoyment that this hobby is supposed to be all about.

A lot of information can be found on the Internet about scrapbooking. You can also find great scrapbook stores for everything you'll ever need. If you don't have too much time to spend on scrapbooking, stop fussing about it. Scrapbooking is a hobby, not a job. It can be a lifelong pursuit, or just a vehicle to capture all the things that make up the real you.