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

Oh my goodness! First of all let me explain that this hobby is ADDICTIVE!!!!! Second let me say that it's TONS OF FUN! I would suggest going to some classes if they are available in your area first, but if not go easy on the supplies at first as it will not take long before you have a house full! I would suggest getitng several photos together with a common them, ie Birthday, Boating, Vacation, etc. with at least 3 good photos per theme, then buy the stickers and paper for just those photos at first to see if indeed you like doing this. You will need at least the following supplies: Acid free paper, glue, scissors, one multi shaped template for cutting photos mats, and stickers to match the theme of the photos you are going to be doing first. You can buy single sheets of paper at Micheal's, and at most scrapbook stores. DO NOT LIMIT YOURSELF TO ONE COMPANY! There are a few suppliers who will try and tell you that their product is SAFER, BETTER ,etc, this is just not true, acid free is acid free, PERIOD! So don't get trapped into the more expensive products, this craft is expensive enough already. You will need page protectors for the size of paper you buy, which is either the larger 12 x 12 or the smaller 8.5 x 11. Either is fine it is just a personal preference which you do. Make sure you get a GOOD idea book and READ it BEFORE you cut your first photo, make sure you have double prints or at least the negatives of photos you start out with because you will get better at this craft over time and you don't want to start with Grandmas pictures! Check out many links on how to's BEFORE you start, and feel free to ask any question here you need to. Love and good luck Penny Here is a link that might be useful: scraplink

When I look back at my very 1st scrapbook, I get disgusted at how much I thought I had to cut the pictures. Now, I only cut off the part of the photo that no one would ever be interested in...such as a recliner that takes up the whole left side of a photo, or excess grass at the bottom of a pic. I get tons of compliments on my albums now, and people tell me I should quit nursing and just scrapbook professionally. Good luck w/your album, and congratulations. There's a ton of stuff to choose from out there, but be creative and imaginative. Don't buy stickers of flowers...create your own. Don't place stickers messily over your entire page..group them together to make a scene or corner decoration. This way, they won't take away from your pictures (which should be the focal point of your album). Hope this helps.

Hi, I see that it's been a little while since you posted this, but I wanted to share the info I have in case you still need it. I discovered Creative Memories Digital Scrapping software around 6 months ago and haven't looked back. I packed up all my traditional stuff, (and I had lots and lots of it...) and I'm now trying to decide who to give it to. Creative Memories is great, I had tried scrapping with Adobe Photoshop Elements since I already used it to manipulate my photos, but I could never get the hang of it, (I've since discovered that many other people say the same thing, you have to have a good working knowledge of it to scrap with it.) CM does all the major things that PSE does, you can lasso an area and turn a photo into sepia or b/w while leaving that one spot in color just for one example. There are bunches of free paper collections that you can download, along with a free version of the scrapping software, Storybook Creator. The free version is very limited in what it will do though, you can basically only use it to drag and drop photos into all the pre-designed pages available. It's not terribly expensive, and if you buy the beginners collection you get a 39.95 coupon toward a storybook, (an 8x8 is around 40.00.) With it you also get a large kit of paper/embellishments/overlays, (which you can fill with color, gradients, paper, etc.)/and word art. You can do things like change the look of a piece of paper or embellishment simply by changing the hue or color of it. You can change it to match your photos or just to get several different looks from the same paper or embellishment. CM collections that are available to purchase, (in addition to the free ones) are very inexpensive. They range from 3.95 to 9.95 for a very large collection. There are also freebies added daily to my website that you can download, or you can use products that are not CM although I rarely need to because they have so much to choose from. I know some people like to use the freebies you find online though and most of those are compatible with it. I was so impressed with the company that I signed up as a consultant a few weeks ago and I'm loving it. I have a Facebook group called Tamela's Scrapbooking Divas where you can check out some of my work along with a few other people who have posted there. The software is extrememly user friendly and what I do is teach people how to use it, in addition to the free web claasses that CM offers covering beginning to advanced techniques. If you would like more info just e-mail me at Tgillespie67@aol.com and put CM in the subject line so I know to open it. I will be happy to tell you how to download the free software and papers if you contact me. Sorry, I didn't mean for this to be so long... Have a great evening! Tamela (Tammy) Gillespie