Scrapbooking Tools
Beginner? Intermediate? Advanced?
There are many Scrapbooking Tools available to work with and new gizmos and gadgets coming out every week to tempt you and your wallet.
But, if you are just getting started into scrapbooking and you are not sure if you really want to venture past a trial run at this, you probably don't want to invest too much money into anything more than just the basics to get you started.
These are the first things I gather up when I want to work on a page or go to a crop.
Tip: - You may want to find a container to store your Scrapbooking Tools in. It makes working on a layout so much easier and faster if everything is together and ready to go in one place.
Beginner Scrapbooking Tools
Photos of course - both old and new.
Today's photos are standard size 4 x 6 inches. Older photos may be the smaller Polaroid of yesteryear, or the even older black and white photos with the deckled edges that you may have found stashed in an old shoe box.
Of course the smaller the photos, the more you will be able to fit onto your scrapbooking layouts.
For more detail see step #1 of the Quick Start Guide -
Pick Your Photos.
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Scrapbook Papers - for background, photo mattes and decoration. White pages come in almost all of the purchased scrapbooks as well as the page refills in the event you want to add more than the standard 10 pages.
You can certainly use the white background papers that come in the books, but it's always fun to use the colored and textured background papers. I have really been amazed at the range of types and colors of paper currently available. I have become a paper collector lately - and cherish this part of my Scrapbooking Tool inventory.
Click here see step #4 of the Quick Start Guide -
Pick Your Papers
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Paper Trimmer or cutter to cut a straight line. They vary in size and cost from $10 to $120 depending on the brand name and features. Mine cost about $15 and is probably the most used of all my Scapbooking Tools and I don't think I could do any paper crafting without it.
Click here see more information on the Different Types of
Paper Trimmmers
or go to our
Scrapbook Paper Cutter & Trimmer Store.
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A
Ruler, Pencil and a Pair of Straight Edge Scissors. Together they could substitute for the paper trimmer. You probably already have these, and you won't need them every time, but it helps to have them handy.
I prefer a smaller blade scissors for more control when cutting small areas and I actually have several pair of different sizes.
Tip: Don't use scissors that you will want to cut fabric with later
as paper will dull your fabric scissors very quickly.
Tip: Are your scissors already a little dull? Cut a piece
of aluminum foil with them and they should sharpen up a bit.
Tip: Are your scissors a little sticky? Cut a piece of waxed
paper with them to clean them off.
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A
Ruler - The ruler that I have found to be the most useful in my collection of scrapbooking tools is a clear acrylic
Quilting ruler with grid lines every 1/8 inch. This ruler is called
Draft and Cut and can be purchased on-line at www.ezquilt.com if you can't find one like it a craft store. The fact that it's see-through makes it really easy to line up page elements with out having to make those little pencil marks to come up with a straight line.
Check out more on some other Scrapbooking Tools and learn more on Zero-centering rulers, Tearing Rulers, Metal Rulers, Craft Knives, and Self-healing Cutting Mats here at
Scrapbook Rulers.
and visit the on-line store to see other options and to make a purchase if you wish.
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Scrapbook Adhesives
to adhere your photos and whatever else you wish to add to your layouts. These are
acid free and will not damage your photos by adding chemicals that could turn your items yellow.
At the bottom of the page is the
Adhesives Store where you can purchase what you need.
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A
Bone Folder
is a small hand held tool for enhancing creases in paper. Again, not necessary, but nice to have if you want to have some perfection in your folds.
At the bottom of the bone folder page is the Bone Folder Store where you can purhcase an assortment of Bone Folders.
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A
Scrapbooking or Caligraphy Pen
to do some Journaling, but here again, this is not required unless you wish to document on your layout any of the typical who, what, when, where or why pieces of information. Again, these are acid free so as not to damage photos and papers.
At the bottom of the Scrapbooking & Calligraphy page you will find the Calligraphy Store where you can purchase Journaling and Scrapbooking Calligraphy Pens, Kits and Books for making your hand written Journaling very special.
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How about a book with some
Scrapbook Layout Sketches. These books have helped me with my ideas and good basic layout design. Check out our page on
Scrapbook Layout Sketches & Title Ideas
to see how just one sketch can be the basis for many different types and themes of your Layouts.
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And a
Scrapbook Photo Album would be the final of the beginner scrapbooking tools to keep your layouts in when they're complete. While they are also used for protection and display of your finished work, they are also good for storage of your project until finished.
They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, composition, bindings and costs and new ones are coming available almost daily. Click here for more details on
Scrapbook Photo Albums.
and to find the
Album Store where you can look through a selection of Albums to fit your needs.
Scrapbook Album Tip: Actually, you may want to use your albums to store
Photos and
Memorabilia in until you have time to so some scrapping or while you are collecting what you want to put on your page.
And if you scrapbook album is chronological in nature, put the papers and photos in the page protectors temporarily as a place holder until you have the supplies, time and inclination to scrap them.
These should be all the basic scrapbooking tools you need to get started.
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Intermediate Tools
These Intermediate Scrapbooking Tools will enable you to spruce things up and add some special looks to your pages or layouts.
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Decorative Edge Craft Scissors
with blades that cut various shapes and give the edges of what you cut some "personality".
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Scrapbooking Paper Punches which punch shapes out of your paper for you to embellish your pages with.
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Sewing & Ribbon Accents
- The Sew Easy Tool and Sew Stamper Tools by We R Memory Keepers, allow you to add stitching accents to your scrapbook pages and cards without having to get out your sewing machine.
The Sew Ribbon Template allows you to punch holes in your paper or cardstock to add great ribbon embellishments to your art work in new designs. While you can do these accents without these tools, they are nice to have Scrapbooking Tools to speed things up and allow you to be a bit of a perfectionist.
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Crop-a-dile
- Hole punch and eyelet setter in one.
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Xyron Create-A-Sticker makers can laminate adhesive to paper or flat embellishments of various shapes up to 5 inches wide.
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Colored
Scrapbooking Chalks which can add an artist's touch of dimension to your layouts, die cuts and paper edges. They come in a variety of brands and packages with 8, 12 or 24 colors, and usually with one or two applicators, but can also be applied with Q-tips, makeup sponges, tissue or even your finger tip. These are made for scrapbooking in that they are acid free. Take a look at some additional information on
Scrapbook Chalks.
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Scrapbooking Inks that come in single color pads and various collections of colors like the ones from
Clearsnap.com
that can be used with rubber stamps, hand held stylus tools, or in a direct-to-paper method directly from the stamp pads.
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Stencils
- for guidance in applying Scrapbooking Chalks or Inks in various patterns. Or for using Caligraphy or Scrapbook
Pens for your
Font Stencils and
Lettering.
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Rubber Stamps
- can be used with the Scrapbooking Inks for stamping images for a lot of different techniques. They are handy little Scrapbooking Tools that will add interest, texture and creativity to scrapbook layouts. You can repeat an image to design your own background paper or border. You can use an image to highlight the theme of your layout. You can use
Rubber Stamp Fonts to add
Titling and
Journaling to your pages.
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Embossing Supplies
- are normally used in conjunction with Rubber Stamps and Scrapbooking Inks, to highlight your stamped images with raised color and give them an elegant and professional appearance. Your basic "Embossing Supplies" would include
Ink, Embossing Powders, and a small
Heat Gun.
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Advanced Tools
The Advanced Scrapbooking Tools include mechanical and electrical tools such as the Wishblade, Cricut, and Sissix machines that actually cut paper in assorted shapes with mechanical dies or through computer hook ups and card readers.
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Kaleidoscope Kreator
- A Fun and Interesting software application is called which will take your ordinary photos and make something really special out of them.
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Score-It tool
- is great for working with card stock that you wish to fold or impress with a straight line, or multiple lines to form designs. You can think of this a the Heavy Duty Bone Folder.
I bought mine after seeing a demonstration at a Scrapbooking retreat and I don't know how I did without out since I use is so much.
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Spellbinders Wizard Cutting, Embossing & Stenciling Machines
-
The Wizard embossing
die cutting system is a versatile, user-friendly crafting tool designed to cut and emboss with
spellbinders die templates, but it can also cut with other consumer dies, emboss with brass stencils, replicate charms, perform image transfers, set eyelets, smash bottle caps and more.
The Spellbinders will cuts quickly through paper, cardstock, craft foil, felt, balsa wood, and other media.
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Cricut Cuttinge & Printing Machines
- are also a great way to spice up your scrapbooking and card creations. They allow you to design, print, and cut all at the same time to take all of your creative projects to the next level. With the Imagine you can add full color, textures and patterns, for one-of-a kind projects that reflect your creativity and personality.
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There is also
Digital Scrapbooking software and software for
Fonts in addition to the ones that are already available on your computer. Check out the results of my research and some scrapbook layouts from
Digital Scrapbooking
as a Heritage Makers Consultant.
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I hope this section on Scrapbooking Tools has helped you get started with your scrapbooking needs.
Go back to Quick Start Guide from Scrapbooking Tools
Here's a link to lots of Scrapbook Supply Storage ideas.
Go back to Home Page for general Scrapbook Advice