How to start a scrapbook or journal that's all about you

A scrapbook about you is the most personal sticker sheet there is — except you make the stickers. Ticket stubs, photos, doodles, lists of favorite things, the joke your best friend told at lunch. This guide helps you get past the scary blank first page and build a book you'll want to keep adding to.

Paper Crafting

Just My Style Ultimate Scrapbook Kit

4.7 3,771 ratings

$13.99

Paper Crafting

Just My Style Light Up Diary with Lock and Key

4.7 3,280 ratings

$10.97

Paper Crafting

Just My Style Create Your Own Dream Journal

4.6 1,239 ratings

$16.29

First, pick the right kind of book

Ask yourself what you'll do most: glue things in, write things down, or keep things secret. A scrapbook, like our 40-page Ultimate Scrapbook, is built for photos and keepsakes, with stickers, gemstones and sequins to frame them. A journal, like the 80-page Create Your Own Dream Journal, has printed all-about-you pages for goals, routines and memories. A diary, like the Light Up Diary with Lock and Key, is for words only you get to read. And a sketchbook, like the Mer-Mazing Sketchbook, starts blank, for collage and drawing in equal amounts.

Gather your stuff

Before you start, go on a treasure hunt around your room. Look for printed photos, movie or concert tickets, birthday cards, a pressed flower, a favorite candy wrapper, a drawing from when you were little. Put it all in one box or envelope. You won't use everything, and that's fine — having choices makes starting easier.

Making your first pages

1. Claim the coverSpell your name or initials on the front with alphabet stickers. The Light Up Diary and Ultimate Scrapbook both come with letter stickers for exactly this. Now it's officially yours.
2. Start with an easy pageDon't begin with the most important memory. Begin with a list: "10 things I love right now." Favorite food, song, color, show, animal, word. It fills a page fast and will be fun to read in a year.
3. Try a layout before gluingArrange photos and keepsakes on the page without glue first. Shift them around until the page has one big thing and a few smaller ones. Then glue or tape them down.
4. Frame the keepsakesUse frames, washi tape or a sticker border around each photo or ticket. Framing makes even a blurry photo look intentional.
5. Add captionsUnder each item, write who, where and when — plus one detail you'd forget otherwise, like what everyone was laughing about. Future you will thank you.
6. Fill the gapsEmpty corners are where the fun stickers, doodles, gemstones and little quotes go. Don't overthink it; just peel and press.
7. Date every pageA small date in the corner turns a pile of pages into a story you can follow.

Page ideas when you're stuck

• Me, right nowHeight, age, favorite outfit, best friend, the thing you're best at, the thing you're working on.
• My peopleOne photo or drawing per person, with a caption about why they're your person.
• Big dreamsPlaces you want to go, things you want to learn, who you want to be. Add a star when one comes true.
• Good daysA page for one great day — tickets, a photo and a few lines about what made it great.

Keep the habit going

• Keep the book and its supplies in one place, so starting takes ten seconds, not ten minutes.
• Aim small: one page a week counts. So does a single sticker and a sentence.
• Not every page has to be pretty. Messy pages are often the most fun to look back on.
• Bring it along — the Mer-Mazing Sketchbook's magnetic bookmarks help you jump back to a page in progress.
• Make a page with a friend, then swap books and add a note to each other's.

Want more ways to decorate? The 1500+ Sticker Book has alphabet stickers and positivity phrases for captions, and the Wooden Stamp Card Set gives you stamps to press right onto a page. Find all our books and stickers on the paper crafting shelf.