Memory

I am a dedicated scrapbooker. I started about 15 years ago, at a Creative Memories party, and have been hooked since. What I love most about it is the chance to tell a story with pictures. It's a chance to preserve history for my family. I have a box of family photos going back generations and I have no idea who any of these people are.
I dont want my grandchildren to look at pictures and go who are they and why are there pictures of dressed up pets?
Scrapbooking puts it all into perspective.
I'm not the greatest scrapper, I know that. I dont make intricately designed pages with fancy pop ups. I'm also not a mean girl scrapper either. I remember being at a crop years ago in NJ, where I apparently was seated at the queen bee's table by mistake (she of the I'm going to send back the swap you submitted because you obviously don't meet my standards and humiliate you on the email list because I can)
At this particular crop, she spent more time being hypercritical of everyone else's work than scrapping herself.
I learned a very important lesson that day: like in yoga, keep your eyes on your own mat.
I think crops are an important part of a scrappers life. At crops, I've learned new skills, had fun and ate a lot of great cupcakes.
They, however can be intimidating if you aren't going with a group of friends. Out of my circle of friends, I'm the only one who scraps regularly. Most of my other friends aren't as obsessed by it as I am, so overall their interest in a crop is non existent.
If you are in the same boat I'm in, crops at your local scrapbook store are a good place to start. For the most part, they are low key and there are usually a variety of levels, talents and tools.
To get started, either at a crop or scrapping in general, you need some basic supplies:
Pictures
Paper
Acid free adhesive
A pen
scissors

It's very easy to get caught up in all the cool supplies in the scrapbook store. However, it's best to start with basics.
I subscribe to the less is more style of scrapping. This wasn't always the case: I used to be guilty of embellishment overload.
My picture is what drives the layout. I pick the picture, and I write out my journaling. I tell the photos story. Sometimes its several paragraphs, sometimes its a brief caption. I like to handwrite my journaling, that's a personal preference.
Once you've picked your picture and story, now you are ready to start scrapping!