Tips and Hints:

When finishing your scrapbook, use cardstock or paper board (usually found on the back of tablets of paper but you can buy it in a larger office supply outlet) or poster board cut to fit for the cover. Cover with fabric or wrapping paper; add bows and ribbons, buttons, photos; affix a satin cord and tassel place marker. Punch holes to line up with holes in the rest of pages and thread fancy satin ribbon, narrow width (in pink or blue for a baby book) through the pages to hold the book together.

For pages that you need to cut off printed information (like the page of page and date that I cannot make go away), use a page of colorful cardstock paper, cut the printed page and glue in place. 

If you can afford the supplies, look for decorative hole punches. Even a plain one can be used to make a unique border on any page. Special stickers can add a beautiful touch to finishing your pages. There are calligraphy markers that will make it easy to do beautiful handwriting. A little practice and you will be lettering and doing decorative borders. Sticker sets have lettering sets or cut words out of magazines and glue onto cardstock and cut out to glue onto the scrapbook page. One year just after Christmas, I found a bunch of spray glitter marked down enough for me to buy a 10 year supply in an assortment of colors. 

When you are doing hand lettering and do not want to draw pencil lines, try using a page of heavy lines to put behind the page your are lettering.  Unless your paper is heavy or colored you can see the lines through the page. For extra ease, make your own light table. A sheet of thick glass (for strength) or plexiglas can be set up where you can write on it and a light can be placed behind the glass to make it easier for you to see through the page. You can make a page template to place behind the page you are creating to guide your spacing of the wording and pictures of the page.

Spend the time to read through all the scrapping websites listed to become familiar with techniques and ideas that are shown. Find pages they have that you would like to go ahead and print out. There are some really cute pages for anyone to use.