Scrapbook Tools For Beginners and Professionals

The scrapbook industry has exploded making more and more tools that help you turn your pictures into works of arts that save your memories for the rest of your life.

As a scrapbooker there are a few tools that you should have to help you create the simplest to the most advanced scrapbook pages you have ever seen. In your basic bag you should have tools for journaling, adhering your pictures and elements, paper, embellishment and a cropping tool. As you become more vested in the scrapbooking craft you can add more advanced tools such as die cutting tools.

The point of scrapbooking is to tell a story about the event that led to the picture. Journaling is an element of every page. To properly journal you should pick out markers or pens that are acid free. They should be archival quality. Pens and markers come in many colors that will coordinate with your pages. Be sure to check the tips. Some markers are for coloring and are less effective as writing instruments.

Adhesives. Adhesives should be acid free and archival quality as well. Office tape or glue can damage your photos and yellow your pages. A tape runner would be a good basic tool for a beginning scrapbooker. Tape runners can be refilled or throw away. You should check your tape runner can come with strips, dots or wider bands. Your tape runner could also come with permanent or repositionable adhesive. If you are testing your page use repositionable. If you are happy with your design use permanent adhesive. For more advanced scrapbookers you can get adhesive machines that will turn paper or other thin materials into stickers. Adhesive machines can work with items up to one inch wide up to several inches wide. Again these machines can work with repositionable or permanent adhesives. Some of these machines will also work with magnetic mediums or act like laminators.

Cropping tools can be as simple as a set of scissors or paper trimmers to circle and other shape cutters. A paper trimmer will help you crop your pictures by cutting out background areas that deter from the true meaning of the picture. Paper trimmers are also helpful for resizing your papers for mounting your pictures. Paper trimmers can cut straight lines, some can also come with extra blades to cut scallop and wavy edges.

Every scrapbooker will have a wide variety of pages. Card stock will be very useful. Card stock is a little heavier it is excellent for making cards and mounting pictures. Card stock will come in the most basic colors but will also come in patterned, textured, metallic and glittered. Papers are come in other weights and styles. You will also find vellum, lighter weight papers and mulberry and more. Paper come out every day in different weights and mediums. This is what makes scrapbooking so exciting because the limits are pushed everyday. Papers come in 12x12, 8x11 or 5x5 formats. Albums also come in similar dimensions so that your scrapbook pages will fit.

Embellishments include ribbons, eyelets, buttons, stickers, brads, chipboard and die cuts. Just about anything you can adhere to a page is an embellishment. The sky is the limit with elements. Some embellishments require additional tools. To work with eyelets you will need an eyelet setter and a hole punch. Die cuts can be purchased or you can use electronic machines like cricuts or manual machines like quick cuts to cut your own diet cuts. Manual and electronic die cutters are for the more advanced scrapbooker.

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