Need some advice, pretty plllllllease

As I’m making a black forest cake for Father’s Day tomorrow, I’d thought I’d post a quick one.  Maybe I’ll try to take a fancy food shot of it when it’s done.  If it’s food shot worthy.  :)  So I made the mistake of flipping through my old scrapbooks the other day.  Big mistake.  Because now, I got the scrapbooking bug again.  I used to scrapbook alot, but haven’t done any in about a year.  But I really love it, and seeing my old stuff makes me want to get it out again.  But the HUGE stack of photos I’m behind on, and how expensive it can get makes the idea a little daunting.  It seems like the more behind I get, the harder it gets to start.  I’d love to put up some photos of some pages I’ve done, but I have no idea how to photograph a scrapbooking page well.  Does anyone have any hints or tips?  My pages are all 12 inch square.

I have jury duty in a week, so I figured I’m going to have a lot of sitting time soon, so why not learn a new craft or two while I’m there?  My quilt stuff is not portable to haul out with me, so I needed something easy to take.  What crafts should i consider learning?  Input?

I have decided I want to learn to needle tat, and either knit or crochet.  I got a needle tatting book and some thread, and I know that craft is a little more obscure, but if anyone reading this knows how to do it, please let me know.  If you have any tips for brand new beginners, I’d love it.  Is it hard to learn from a book rather than in person?  I couldn’t find anyone in my area who teaches it. 

Also, I don’t really know much about crocheting or knitting, so I don’t know which I want to learn.  What’s the difference?  Why would you pick one over the other?  I’m not interested in doing clothes out of either, but I’d like to do cute-sy little things, gifts, stuff like that.  I saw a really cute book on how to make knitted animals.  Maybe scarfes or a blanket, but not sweaters, or shawls.  Are there any beginners books that you’ve liked, or ones to stay away from?  Which do you think I should do?  I’d love to hear from you.  

I’ll try to put up some pictures tomorrow when it’s sunny and I can get some shots.  Toot-a-loo!