You can do this a couple of ways. You can find a CM consultant that can help you with your need list and how to do it. You can also go to Michael's and buy a book on beginning scrapbooking. There are several really good ones on the market. There are also books out there especially for scrapbooking kids pages. Go to your local book store as well and look through their selection. You will get some great ideas from them. There are definately some do's and dont's. There are also some great websites that provide layouts on line. Go to Google and type in Scrapbooking. You will be amazed at what you will find. I am in Michigan and I found a channel on cable called Do It Yourself (DIY) and they have a scrapbooking program that I have gotten great ideas from. Better yet, login to DIY.com and click on crafts/scrapbooking and they will show what was covered in all the shows they have had as well as all kinds of helpful suggestions. There are also scrapbooking magazines that will give you great ideas and a listing of websites to check out. You can purchase expensive supplies, but you can also get by with less expensive items. Stickers and stamps are great ways to add meaning and decoration to your pages. I started scrapbooking in October. I went to a CM party about 6 months earlier and bought the medium starter kit. Several of my friends had been trying to get me into this for several years. I resisted because I didn't have any spare time at that time and I thought that you needed to be creative to do it. I finally gave in and went to a weekend cropping party. What a great time I had and I found out that you don't have to be creative. There is so much out there to help you design your pages. I am totally obsessed with it now. Your granddaughter will treasure the album you make for her and you will too. Good luck and keep me posted on what you find. Carol

As you well know for a small town we are bout over loaded with scrapbook stores. I have 4 huge ones within a 30 drive. None of the walmarts near me and i have 6 within a 30 drive with 4 being the 24 hr superstores have much of a selection and Micheals here carry hardly no scrapbook supplies anymore, i dont think that they can compete with all the specaility stores for it around anymore.

There is a site on the web some where that is for what they call wallies. It is wallpaper cut into like die cuts shapes. I have LOTS of wallpaper I am using in my scrapbook, but I too test it with an acid free pen. Penny

I saw a similar messsage on another site: Getting Started with Scrapping Decide which size album you are going to use. Personally, I use 8.5 x 11 for my everyday stuff, and 12 x 12 for special occassions. Buy your album and refill pages. (I use 8.5 x 11 because it was cheaper for me. I use a plain white binder and then I buy the sheet protectors from the office supply store or BJs wholesale club.) Buy an assortment of cardstock= 2 or three of each color that you like. (Some people like brights, others like pastels- I generally stick to primary colors and natural colors for some reason.) Buy a few sheets of patterned paper, according to your tastes. Adhesive- either the photo squares, double sided tape, or acid free glue. Good scissors. Some people buy the decorative edge scissors. I own every pair ever made, and I hardly ever use them. I wish I hadn't wasted my money on them, but that's just me. I have a small paper cutter. It was $14.00 at Michael's, but I love it because I like using sqaures and rectangles in my scrapping. Maybe one stencil of gemetric figures. My advice would be, don't spend a lot of money at first. I spent SO much money on the hobby, and I swear, I don't use most of the stuff I bought, and I feel guilty. I finally gave most of it to other friends who scrap, because I cringed every time I saw how much stuff I bought at first! I wish I had bought just a little, then gotten started and added as I needed more stuff. Here are things I have also learned- Be careful how much you crop. When I first started, I cropped a LOT of the backgrounds from my pictures, and now I really regret it, because a LOT of the memories are in the surroundings. Be conservative with shapes. For me, I did a few stupid things, which I am almost ashamed to admit. I cut a picture into the shape of a sailboat. Now I look at it and say, "What the heck was I thinking???" Oh, and for me, the BEST thing I did was to subscribe to a scrapbooking magazine. I get creatingkeepsakes, which you can order through www.creatingkeepsakes.com I cut out the layouts that I like and put them in a little brag book. Then, when I am about to do a new page and can't think of an idea, I flip through the layouts to get some inspiration. (I guess you could do the same by looking at two peas or dmarie.com, but I like having the magazine pick out the good layouts instead of wading through the thousands of ideas that are on line.)