Don't buy too many scrapbooking supplies when you first get started. You'll be overwhelmed and find it more difficult to stay organized. Once you develop your style, you can add to your inventory. Here's a list of tools you need to get started:

• photo-safe adhesives, such as photo corners and photo sticker squares

• black medium-tip permanent pen

• sharp, straight scissors

• decorative scissors

• corner-rounder punch, decorative corner punch, maybe a photo-slit punch

• archival-safe album or three ring binder

• polypropylene sheet protectors (8-1/2x11 inches or 12x12)

• 12-inch personal paper trimmers

• pH testing pen (to test paper for acid content)

• photographic marker

• ruler

Bev Kirschner Braun is the author of New Ideas for Crafting Heritage Albums (Betterway Books, $24.99) and Crafting Your Own Heritage Album (Betterway Books, $23.99), from which this article is adapted. Copyright ©2000 by Bev Kirschner Braun. Used with permission of Betterway Books, an imprint of F&W Publications, Inc. Visit your local bookseller, call (800) 289-0963 or go to www.familytreemagazine.com/store to obtain your copy.