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As a gardener you can be found considering buying garden equipment or maybe checking out some Alan Titchmarsh lawn rakes — but of course, it’s taken much of history to reach this level. Tribes grew gardens thousands of years before the creation of the trimmer or the trowel. Your recreation can trace its roots to the storied cradle of civilization. Primitive gardeners were guided by a blending of pleasure, practical reasons, and spirituality. Usually protected by walls of stone, fertile grounds were filled with flowers, fruit and nut bearing trees, grapes, vegetables, and often even fish ponds. A small part of the land was set aside, holy plant life grown and nurtured for use in the temples. Still other roots, important to the temples, were grown elsewhere. They weren’t the only culture to landscape primitive plantations. The list also includes the Persians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians, and they often incorporated buildings of noteworthy scope into this landscaping. As you might expect, one other example of a nation who practiced this would be the Romans — the Greeks, however, dedicated their efforts to the food potential of their farmsteads rather than the esthetic.

At that time, spades and hoes were the new, recent concepts that forks and lawn rakes would become in times to come — and that’s before you contemplate the kind of raw materials employed. They were initially constructed from stone, but subsequent pieces would fabricate them from copper, iron, and bronze.

Progress was forced to a halt under the pressure of the Dark Ages. Horticulture suffered, but luckily, the churches practiced what had been learned, ready for when they would again be called on.

Society started to construct exquisite gardens grown from vegetables, herbs, and flowers for enjoyment. Standards began to emerge, a formal system governing how the garden should ultimately turn out. You’ve only got to look at the work invested in a hedge maze to see this.

Should you happen to be musing on ways to remediate that vexatious lawn rake deformity or parsing some well written lawn rake reviews, remember that in the 18th century great talents such as Lancelot “Capability” Brown, William Kent, not to mention Humphry Repton picked up a spade and the rest of the garden utensils to engineer amazing gardens. Rather than abiding by these conventions that had been carefully observed for hundreds of years, William Kent and those like him innovated a special mix of tradition and invention by bringing together artificial decorative pieces like statues with a pastoral looking design. Nowadays, their appearance may have changed but we still cultivate plants as our forefathers used to. You won’t find a more relaxing setting than a garden.

Purchasers of skunk seeds look for reliable merchants and good produce. Assuming you slip by the swindles, what’s your next move? Choose a seedbank offering fantastic hybrids with swift delivery. You will have to analyze some key aspects involving risk reduction and find a supplier of sensi seeds you can be sure of. With medical cannabis seeds as with anything else, the advantage lies with the online traders when it comes to being in a position to deliver a large selection of breeds. What this means is that instead of being limited by what you can scrape up locally, you have unlimited choice concerning origin and strength. Should you honestly trust your domestic outlets? Make no mistake, Net seedbanks promise greatly improved security. Do you really want to gamble with official surveillance and arrest? A domestic vendor may be subject to either, bear in mind, in spite of any security measures. What’s more, they can confirm who they sell to, which can leave you in a tight spot legally.

A reputable online merchant will supply your sensi seeds in unobtrusive, unlabeled packaging and facilitate ordering without leaving a paper trail. It’s often smarter to avoid using bank transfers, so they’ve brought in deals with tracked cash instead. Retailers that take electronic transfer take care to keep no customer data. You understand the requirement for a dependable seedbank. It goes without pointing out that, once you identify your contact, you’ll know deliveries of your pot seeds will be steady. To make that choice, though, go by their distinction. Worthwhile seed providers should by now have built up approval from shoppers and have most likely received a few good articles. Now your merchant is ready, decide on your favorite varieties. Vital questions for your choice include individual plant heights, yield, weeks flowering, THC levels, and even harvest months, so don’t be neglectful in your research. The biggest factor, obviously, is how you plan on cultivating them. A number of types can only be grown hydroponically, although others need soil or can be grown in either. So, ultimately, we come to this point; and in this article you’ll see the majority of what to consider when you shop for cannabis seeds. You must understand that it’s well worth your best efforts.

Whenever you’re looking to buy a garden fork in the UK or checking out that Bulldog garden spade, remember that you couldn’t always obtain garden tools and fancy devices. Hoes and secateurs are surprisingly recent adaptations, but as you know, the concept of gardens is as old as Man. This leisure occupation can trace its roots to the famous cradle of civilization.

Early gardeners worked by a blend of practical reasons, spirituality, and pleasure. The vital grapes as well as similar edible vegetation would grow around pools of fish. While admittedly they consumed the majority of this some plants were cultivated to honor certain deities. Furthermore, other roots, important to the temples for ritual purposes, grew in locations far from the gardens.

They weren’t the only ones to design primitive plantations. Also active were the Persians, the Assyrians, as well as the Babylonians, who all also incorporated buildings of noteworthy dimensions into gardens. As you might imagine, another example of a nation like this was the Romans — although the Greeks dedicated themselves to the food potential of their farmsteads and nothing else.

Although they may not have used a rake or a fork, these tribes did employ quite the selection of basic accessories akin to today’s hoes and spades. Gardeners put them together using copper, stone, iron, bronze.

Progress was abruptly stopped under the pressure of the Middle Ages. Gardening was no different, but even then, the churches practiced the old knowledge and techniques, ready to be called on by the wider world. The public started to engineer charming gardens employing herbs, vegetables, and flowers for enjoyment. This movement continued throughout the 1600s, at which time gardens became increasingly conventional and systematic. Several great representations of this include hedge mazes and knot gardens, created from dense patterns.

We do recommend you check out this terrific source for Alexander Rose reviews.

Such rules are no longer essential, and as such there’s really nothing to fret about — enjoy yourself, and don’t be embarrassed about hunting for information on how to mend that vexatious garden spade deformity or leafing through some informative lawn rake review. “Capability” Brown and those like him glanced at the conventions — so fixed by that point that they were essentially stagnant — and tossed away those that detracted from their vision, bringing together a realistic panorama with carefully selected statuary and similar accessories.

Obviously, the situation has evolved over the centuries, but gardens are still loved for similar reasons to our forefathers’. You won’t encounter a more peaceful area than a garden paradise.

“It was roses, roses all the way.”
- Robert Browning

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose; By any other name would smell as sweet.”
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2 scene 2

Roses have a long and colorful history. According to fossil evidence, the rose is 35 million years old. Today, there are over 30,000 varieties of roses and it has the most complicated family tree of any known flower species.

The cultivation of roses most likely began in Asia around 5000 years ago. They have been part of the human experience ever since and mentions of the flower are woven into a great many tales from the ancient world.

And there are so many beautiful stories that include roses through out the ages that we all can recognize.

Greek mythology tells us that it was Aphrodite who gave the rose its name, but it was the goddess of flowers, Chloris, who created it. One day while Chloris was cleaning in the forest she found the lifeless body of a beautiful nymph. To right this wrong Chloris enlisted the help of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who gave her beauty; then called upon Dionysus, the god of wine, who added nectar to give her a sweet scent. When it was their turn the three Graces gave Chloris charm, brightness and joy. Then Zephyr, the West Wind, blew away the clouds so that Apollo, the sun god, could shine and make the flower bloom. And so the Rose was…

In another story, an ancient Hindu legend, Brahma (the creator of the world) and Vishnu (the protector of the world) argued over whether the lotus was more beautiful than the rose. Vishnu backed the rose, while Brahma supported the lotus. But Brahma had never seen a rose before and when he did he immediately recanted. As a reward Brahma created a bride for Vishnu and called her Lakshmi she was created from 108 large and 1008 small rose petals.

Several thousands of years later, on the other side of the world in Crete , there are Frescoes which date to c. 1700BC illustrating a rose with five-pedaled pink blooms. Discoveries of tombs in Egypt have revealed wreaths made with flowers, with roses among them. The wreath in the tomb of Hawara (discovered by the English archaeologist William Flinders Petrie) dates to about AD 170, and represents the oldest preserved record of a rose species still living.

Roses later became synonymous with the worst excesses of the Roman Empire when the peasants were reduced to growing roses instead of food crops in order to satisfy the demands of their rulers. The emperors filled their swimming baths and fountains with rose-water and sat on carpets of rose petals for their feasts and orgies. Roses were used as confetti at celebrations, for medicinal purposes, and as a source of perfume. Heliogabalus used to enjoy showering his guests with rose petals which tumbled down from the ceiling during the festivities.

During the fifteenth century, the factions fighting to control England used the rose as a symbol. The white rose represented York , and the red rose symbolized Lancaster . Not surprisingly, the conflict between these factions became known as the War of the Roses.

In the seventeenth century roses were in such high demand that roses and rose water were considered as legal tender. In this capacity they were used as barter in the markets as well as for any payments the common people had to make to royalty. Napoleon’s wife Josephine loved roses so much she established an extensive collection at Chateau de Malmaison, an estate seven miles west of Paris . This garden of more than 250 rose varieties became the setting for Pierre Joseph Redoute’s work as a botanical illustrator and it was here Redoute completed his watercolor collection “Les Rose,” which is still considered one of the finest records of botanical illustration.

Cultivated roses weren’t introduced into Europe until the late eighteenth century. These introductions came from China and were repeat bloomers, making them of great interest to hybridizers who no longer had to wait once a year for their roses to bloom.

From this introduction, experts today tend to divide all roses into two groups. There are “old roses” (those cultivated in Europe before 1800) and “modern roses” (those which began to be cultivated in England and France around the turn of the 19th century).

Until the beginning of the 19th century, all roses in Europe were shades of pink or white. Our romantic symbol of the red rose first came from China around 1800. Unusual green roses arrived a few decades later.

Bright yellow roses entered the palette around 1900. It was the Frenchman Joseph Permet-Ducher who is credited with the discovery. After more than 20 years of breeding roses in a search for a hardy yellow variety, he luck changed when one day he simply stumbled across a mutant yellow flower in a field. We have had yellow and orange roses ever since

The rose is a phenomenal plant and is rightly known as ‘the world’s favorite flower’. No other flower has ever experienced the same popularity that the rose has enjoyed in the last fifth years. In temperate climates, roses are more widely grown than any other ornamental plant, and as cut flowers they are forever in fashion.

It has been estimated that 150 million plants are purchased by gardeners worldwide every year, and sophisticated breeding programs have produced a plant that dominates the world’s cut flower market; the annual crop is calculated in tons. Roses have also made a tremendous contribution to the perfume industry.

Roses boast an ancient lineage, and they are intricately entwined in our history and culture. As a motif, the rose has been and still is depicted in many national emblems. It has been adopted by countless political factions, and even by businesses and several international events. It is no wonder so many of the beautiful rose varietals are greatly appreciated and cultivated by hobby gardeners around the world.

Eric is a friend to the growers of fine roses at Rosefarm.com, an online fresh cut rose delivery serivce.

When you want to create a beautiful and functional landscape, the task may be overwhelming. Before the first shovel of soil is turned, close your eyes and picture your dream garden. Begin by asking what are your landscape goals. Some of the common reason to landscape include:

• Create privacy

• Invite entertaining

• Provide recreation

• Modify the climate

• Beautify the property

• Grow a kitchen garden

• Attract wildlife

• Reduce water use

When a landscape is thoughtfully planned, it does more than beautify the property: It can provide a recreation area and places to entertain. Well placed trees and shrubs can cut down on heating and cooling costs. A good design can also add more living space to your home in the warm seasons and provide a window to the natural world during colder months.

Following are some landscape design basics that apply to all designs. Every good garden design owes its effectiveness to certain basic design principles. These rules apply to all levels of gardens, from a simple garden border to an elaborate classical design. Remember, in any well-designed garden no one feature, plant or structure is completely dominant. Instead, all features work together to establish a sense of unity.

A. Repetition. Repeat certain plants, textures or colors.

B. Simplicity. This is the result of constraint. It keeps your design from being cluttered and unfocused.

C. Unity. A unified design ensures that the garden reads as one whole design rather than a hodgepodge of separate elements.

D. Scale. Scale refers to the balance between sizes of various elements, which includes the house, walkways, paths, fences, garden beds and plantings. No one element or feature should overpower all of the others.

Donna Evans is a landscape designer and website designer. Donna along with her husband own, Gizmo Creations LLC, http://www.gizmocreations.com, works with residential property owners and commercial property owners to create landscape designs that provide beauty and functionality to the site’s owners. As well as having a landscape designer, the company has a licensed landscape architect on staff. In addition to working with nearby property owners, Gizmo Creations also does on-line landscape design through their site at, http://www.gclandscapes.com. Donna also teaches an on-line landscape design course. For information about the course go to http://www.gizmocreations.com. More articles on landscaping and sample plans can be seen on the website.

The essentials.

The first thing you should decide when considering growing Bonsai Trees is what type of tree you want to grow. The type of tree you want will determine not only the tree you should buy but also the design of pot and the types of tools you may require, and of course you should have the knowledge of growing the particular type of Bonsai tree that you want. Not all Bonsai trees demand the same attention. For instance draping trees will need very different pruning to a conifer and so you should have the knowledge to grow exactly what type of tree you want.

After this, it’s time to prepare yourself; you will need the appropriate tools and one good pot at the very least.

Tools.

The tools you will need include various sizes of wire and wire cutters, a small and large pair of scissors, a small pair of sharp garden shears and larger pair of pruners to cut through the thick branches.

Bonsai or not Bonsai?

Many places now sell Bonsai that are ready trained and have grown into healthy but juvenile Bonsai. As long as you are careful to pick a healthy and good looking tree then care, attention and an eye for detail means you will be able to buy a partially grown Bonsai and help it grow into a perfect full blown Bonsai. However, should you decide to buy a full grown tree or plant, then it is a good idea to visit the nurseries that stock trained Bonsai. This way you can get an idea for what type of tree you want and how they should look. It can be very difficult to see past the shape the tree already has, but remember when you want to train a tree to become your Bonsai project you will be cutting most of the branches and foliage away so it will look very dissimilar to how you first see it. You need to have good vision for this method.

Planting.

You can buy a Bonsai pot from virtually any plant shop, but make sure it has adequate drainage and preferably has little feet on it to allow the water to drain away and also allow a good level of airflow. Using a soil consisting of half organic matter and half grit will allow a good level of drainage while still giving the plant the anchorage it will need in it’s shallow pot.

Now cover the drainage holes in the bottom of your pot with a wire screen in order to prevent the soil running out. Now place a layer of grit down followed by the Bonsai soil. Now you should shape your Bonsai how you want it. Place the wire around the branches in a spiral shape, and gently bend the branches to the exact shape you want them to grow in. Be careful, though, not to break or snap any of the branches you shape. Next remove as much of the soil from the root ball as you can but be sure to leave as many of the fine feeder roots as possible and then plant your Bonsai into the pot you have prepared.

Bonsai HQ for lots of information about looking after your bonsai.

Simply put, hydroponics is the growing of plants without soil. The word “hydroponics” comes from the Greek word hydro, which means “water” and ponos, which means “labor or water-working.”

Typical Dirt Gardening:

All plant leaves need light, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Plant root systems require water, nutrients and oxygen. When plants are grown normally (in soil) water takes nutrients from the soil and carries them to the plant roots. The water and nutrients are taken up by the roots to feed plant growth. Soil drainage then allows water to be replaced by air in the gaps between soil grains. This supplies the roots with oxygen.

Hydroponic Gardening:

In hydroponic plant systems, you dissolve the nutrients in water. Soil is replaced with a “growing medium” – a soil substitute – that holds the roots and supplies them with water, nutrients and oxygen. You can deliver the nutrient solution a couple of ways: You can drip feed it to each plant, or you can flood the root chamber, then drain it out. These methods require a pump and timer to circulate the nutrients through the roots. You can also grow the plant roots in the air by spraying them with a fine mist of nutrient solution, or grow them by aerating the solution under each root mass with an air pump.

Actually, six basic types of hydroponic systems make up the basis of all hydroponic gardening.

Wick
Water Culture
Ebb and Flow (or Flood & Drain)
Drip
Nutrient Film Technique (N.F.T)
Aeroponic

Let’s take a look at these 6 basic hydroponic plant systems:

Wick

The wick system is the simplest and easiest to build of all the systems available. It has no moving parts, and requires no electrical energy source or special attention.

The nutrient solution is drawn into the grow bed from the nutrient reservoir through the capillary action of wick material and absorbent grow media. When plants get very large, they may use nutrients faster than the wicks can supply them.

Water Culture

The water culture is another very simple hydroponic system. Plants grow with the roots suspended in the nutrient solution. The structure that holds the plants is usually made of styrofoam and floats directly on the nutrient solution. An air pump delivers the nutrient solution and oxygen to the plant roots. The main disadvantage of a water culture system is that it doesn’t work well with large plants or with long-term plants.

Ebb and Flow (or Flood and Drain)

The ebb and flow hydroponic system works by temporarily flooding the grow tray with nutrient solution and then draining the solution back into a reservoir. Usually the pump is submerged and is connected to a timer.

The ebb and flow system can be used with a variety of growing media. The entire grow tray can be filled with grow rocks, gravel or granular rock wool. You can use individual pots filled with growing medium. This makes it easy to move plants around or even move them in or out of the system.

Drip Systems (Recovery and Non-Recovery)

Drip systems are probably the most widely used type of hydroponic plant system. Basically, a timer controlled pump delivers nutrient solution to drippers located at the base of each plant.

In a Recovery Drip System the excess solution runs off and returns to the tank for re-use. A Non-Recovery System does not collect the run-off which therefore goes to waste.

Nutrient Film Technique – “N.F.T.”

This is another very popular hydroponic system. A constant flow of nutrient solution pumped from a tank flows over the roots of the plants in a tube or tray and then returns to the tank.

The growing medium is mostly air, plus whatever medium was used to grow the plant from a seed or cutting (usually rock wool or perlite.)

Aeroponic

The aeroponic system is probably the most high-tech type of hydroponic gardening. The growing medium is primarily air. The roots hang in the air and are misted every few minutes with nutrient solution. A timer controls the nutrient pump much like other types of hydroponic systems, except the aeroponic system needs a short cycle timer that runs the pump for a few seconds every couple of minutes.

Many growers prefer hydroponic plant systems and believe them to be a far more efficient way to provide water and nutrients to their plants. Since food and water go directly to the roots, the plant is able to spend more energy growing above the surface, producing more vegetation, larger fruit, flowers and vegetables.

Copyright 2006 Robert Mosse

Robert Mosse is a gardening and lawn care specialist and author of the “Easy” Lawn and Gardening Book Series. Visit Robert at www.lawn-and-gardening-tips.com for great, hands-on gardening information… and get the Free Guide “101 Garden Tips.”

How Oxygen Keeps Your Plants Thriving!

Oxygen is used in large quantities by plants. If you were to analyse a dried plant you would find that about 45% consisted of Oxygen atoms. Just like humans, plants need fresh air and their cells use Oxygen in the same kind of quantities that ours do. In air conditions with a low concentration of Oxygen, or where the air is poor, plants do not thrive. Those that do manage to eke out an existence remain poor stunted specimens.

The leaves of a plant have easy access to Oxygen. They make it as a natural bi-product of the process of producing plant sugars
and breathe it out as waste during the process of photosynthesis.

The roots of the plant do not have the same amount of Oxygen available to them. They have to work a lot harder to find enough for their needs. Insufficient Oxygen at the roots will reduce the plants root respiration and result in the shutting down of photosynthesis.

A plant’s growth and its yield are governed by the size and health of its root system. It can only grow to its full potential if the roots have enough Oxygen for their needs. In plants grown hydroponically this essential ingredient is supplied dissolved in the nutrient solution.

Dissolved Oxygen in the nutrient solution can be measured by a DO meter. These are available from all good hydroponics equipment suppliers.

The amount of Oxygen dissolved in the solution will vary depending on both temperature and pressure. The warmer the water the lower the gaseous content will be. Really cold fresh water has a DO reading of up to 14 ppm or 14mg/litre, while water at 30 degrees centigrade can only hold about 5ppm or 5 mg/l DO.

This DO only amounts to a very small percentage of the roots needs. All water culture systems have to utilise some other form of oxygenation for the roots as well as DO in the nutrient. Root systems that have insufficient Oxygen available will soon turn brown and become very sick.

We aerate the nutrient in our systems in order to get the best saturation that we can, (from 5ppm to 8ppm) but the main function of this aeration is to kill off the anaerobic bacteria around the roots. Anaerobic bacteria are pathogens that cannot survive in an oxygenated environment; (Anaerobic meaning without air).

Because the dissolved Oxygen in the nutrient can only supply about 1% of the roots requirements, the balance must be made up by breathing air. This air is trapped within the soil in conventional gardening and in the growing medium in normal hydroponics systems. This Oxygen search uses up energy that the plant could better use to produce root growth.

The only type of system where this does not happen is the aeroponics system. The aerated water being sprayed directly onto the roots, allows the plant to take in free Oxygen from the surrounding air, while still keeping the roots moist and supplied with nutrient.

One of the functions of Oxygen is to facilitate the exchange of nutrients and gasses between the plant roots and the surrounding solution. It does this by changing the electrical charges within the water, so allowing the roots to absorb the available nutrients with the least expenditure of energy. For this reason, if no other, the roots need all the Oxygen they can get.

Copyright (C) 2004, 2005, 2006.

J R Haughton.

— All Rights Reserved —

A partner in a thriving retail hydroponics supply business,
Rickie Haughton is the owner of hydroponics-gardening-information.com which aims to cater for all levels of expertise in the field of hydroponics gardening. The website is packed with good content about all aspects off hydroponics gardening and offers a free hydroponics Club membership to all subscribers.

Winter has an effect not only pot plants outdoors, but also indoors. Find out what are the key factors that affect your plants in winter and what you can do to help
them stay healthy at this time of the year.

1. LIGHT is the very first element to consider. In winter, when the light is not so strong, you can place your plants closer to the windows, and rotate them regularly so all the leaves receive enough light.

Choose the most appropriate location taking into account the following window orientations:

-North: it doesn’t receive direct sunlight, but it is a good source of light for your plants. Most convenient in summer.

-South: it receives the most sunlight. Very convenient in winter.

-East: it allows early sunlight, which is very important for an excellent growing of your plants.

-West: it receives much sunlight, but its convenience depends on the amount of light the plant can receive.

2. TEMPERATURE is another key factor to consider because in winter we increase the temperature of the room via heaters, fireplaces and other heating devices. Plants suffer many times because of this, and we do not realize.

When the temperature of the room increases, the water of your plants evaporates quickly, and so it may be necessary to increase the amount of water they receive. As always, the exact amount of water will depend on the type of plant you have.

A solution to this is to place containers with water close to the plants. The leaves will absorb the water by transpiration, in a natural way.

And a quick reminder: although plants show beautifully when displayed on mantelpieces, remember to remove them before starting a fire, as the excess of heat could kill them.

3. WATERING your plants in winter is important for the reason told above. To water your plants properly, do so with abundant water fewer times, rather than with less water and very often.

The reason for this is because the water needs to reach all the roots of the plant, including the deepest ones. When you use abundant water, the plant does not need more water for a while, so you can space the watering.

If not watered properly, the plant may die, even though the surface of the soil may appear wet.

4. VENTILATION is a key factor since some indoor plants need air moving around them occasionally, so their stems and leaves can gain in strength.

Although they do not need a continuous flow of air, the truth is that they get exactly what they need under “friendly” weather conditions, that is early autumn, spring or summer, when we naturally open doors and windows and allow breeze to flow.

But in winter we keep windows closed for longer periods of time, therefore preventing air flows. Again you should ensure that your specific plant is receptive to air flows (not all indoor plants are).

5. Some plants may undergo a period of HIBERNATION during winter. Hibernation is just a natural mechanism of the plants to protect themselves of adverse weather conditions.

During this “sleeping period” the plant may stop growing or even appear weak and loose their leaves. Consequently, the owner believes (wrongly) that the plant is dying or dead and ends up throwing it away.

The thing is, while plants hibernate, they don’t need so much water nor fertilizer. If you doubt whether your plant is hibernating or actually dead, just leave it where it is and water it occasionally, and you might just see it alive again in spring.

Cristina Diaz Garcia is the Author and Founder of the “Beautiful Gardens Email Club”. Visit her page for an useful Pot Gardening free report at http://www.soapystuff.com/free-garden-reports.html

Do you remember when your child lost their first tooth? You probably took a picture to preserve the memory. You get a warm feeling just thinking about that cute smile. Hey, why not take a look at that photo right now?

What’s that? You can’t because you don’t know which box of photos you stored the picture in? That warm fuzzy feeling has quickly turned to frustration because you know that memorable smile is lost, buried in some drawer or box somewhere, possibly lost forever.

That scenario used to be the story of my life. That is until I decided to stop losing memories and start cherishing them with a scrapbook. What better way to relive memories– page by page, memory by memory.

Okay, I know what you’re saying; “I don’t have time for scrapbooking, that’s only for crafty people.” I know that’s what I used to say. Then I discovered some simple tips to make scrapbooking easy and yet still professional looking.

Basically, all you need to scrapbook is an album, some glue, a pair of scissors, and some photographs or newspaper clippings.

Any fabric, ribbon, or bits of leftovers from other projects can be used to embellish your scrapbook.

If you’re too busy to get those materials, you can even buy complete kits that include not only the album but also the background paper for your project. Some kits will even include embellishments like beads, flowers, feathers, and even paste on letters. Get one or more of these kits and you can create a beautiful keepsake in just a just a couple of hours.

Once you have you scrapbooking materials together, it’s time to pull out your photos. While going through your photos you’re going to start thinking about a “theme” for your scrapbook page.

Creating a theme is important if you want your scrapbook to look professional. It’ll also make the process of sorting through photos easier and that’s the effect we’re after; fast, easy and professional looking.

To create your theme, think about these questions;

- what is the overall purpose for my scrapbook? – Who is the scrapbook for? – Who is the scrapbook about?

Once you have your answers -you have the appropriate subject of your theme!

Now that you have your scrapbook theme, it’s time to start planning your pages. Another tip I found that made this process easy is planning a “Title” for my pages.

Titles can be as basic as the date of an event, the name of an individual, or a specific event. Or they can also be more interesting and exciting by including quotes, sayings, fillers, or simple phrases. Some great places to look for title inspiration; in greeting cards, advertisements, and commercials.

That’s it! You now have the basics to start creating great looking scrapbooks. I wish I had known it was so easy; my family photos have spent nearly all their memorable lives hidden in drawers until I discovered these simple tips.

So what are you waiting for?

Now that you know these simple tips, you can save and cherish memories forever in a professional looking scrapbook, in very little time. And believe me, your friends and family will say “wow” when they come over to take a look. Become an easy scrapbook maker today!