Scrapbooking is a lovely craft, but many scrapbooks rely on a wealth of experience to create. Teen scrappers may feel that they haven't accumulated enough experience to scrapbook on a grand scale, but that simply isn't true. Here are some suggestions for teens to draw on their own experience for scrapbooking ideas.

SCHOOL: What different schools have you attended? Who were your friends? Your favorite teachers? Your best subjects? Choose images and memorabilia that best reflect your school experience, such as class photos, trips and excursions, plays and productions, changing fashions at school, awards and merit certificates and examples of your schoolwork, starting from the earliest days. Ask your parents to journal your first day at school, how they felt about it, and how you reacted. Include fun memorabilia such as the wrapper of your favorite school snack, a favorite hair tie or ribbon, school badges and popular stickers, games and pastimes. Try to get a sense of the way things changed during your years at school, from the faves of your early years to the trends you enjoy now. Search the `net for scrapbooking printables to help you create great pages.


FAMILY HERITAGE: Scrapbooking your family heritage can be worthwhile and rewarding. It gives you a chance to talk to other members of the family, gathering material for your layouts. Were your forefathers immigrants? Where did they come from and how does that culture affect your life and family traditions now? Look for images of their origins on the Net, in books and magazines and add these to your scrapbook pages. Ask older members of the family to help you journal their memories, scan old photos and documents and have them printed for use in your scrapbooking. Other ephemera can be scraps of old dresses, vintage advertisements from old magazines and favorite family recipes.

CHANGING FASHIONS: What groovy threads did your mother and older female relatives wear? What are your favorite fashions? Combine now and then photos in fantastically fashionable layouts. Always scan old photographs and have the scans printed for use in scrapbooking. If you enjoy sketching fashions, include some of your own designs in the layouts.

ACHIEVEMENTS: Are you proud of your sporting prowess? Scrapbook your sporting achievements. Is art more your line? Scrapbook your first explorations in art, up to your current projects. Photograph your school projects, your at-home projects, your special interest groups. Include any certificates, ribbons and other memorabilia.

Scrapbooking what is significant in your life can also help you define who you are and where you want to go. Think scrapbooking is all about the past? Not at all. You canb use scrapbooking techniques to create wish books and dream books to help you ficus on your goals and define your future. The only difference is that it hasn't happened yet – but you put heart and soul into scrapbooking your vision, then it surely will!