Top 10 Items You Need As a Beginning Scrapbooker.

So, since Momma has been creating paper crafts (cards, scrapbooks and altered items) longer than I have, I decided to ask her what she thought that every beginner should have as a scrapbooker to make a scrapbook page. She said her “tool” kit hasn’t really changed much over the years unless a new product came out that made a certain area of scrapbooking easier. It took her forever to think of a couple of things that she absolutely needed as she was thinking off the top of her head. To make it easier for her I just told her to pull out her “tool” kit and show me what she had to have when she was working on her pages.

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This is a picture of Mom’s little tool kit that she keeps all her important items in, minus one or two things that won’t fit inside.
My mom keeps these items in her box at her work desk so everything that she needs all the time is right there together, but she can also just grab the box and store it in a tote bag when she is meeting up with a few friends to make scrapbook pages together. This tool kit severs as an organizer for a work desk or on the go.
Items You Need:
Glue Dots – Glue dots are a life saver for scrapbook pages. Not only can you put a page together more quickly using these, but these little glue dots also keep your pages from getting messy because you don’t have to wait for wet glue to dry. Craft glue dots come in two different ways: flat and dimensional. Flat glue dots work best on the back of pictures because they don’t make the picture sit off of the page, pictures can get damaged that way. Dimensional glue dots create a raised effect and work great for raising flat embellishments, such as journaling tags, ribbon, beads and flat stickers.

Mono Adhesive – Mono adhesive is just a fancy name for a handheld, rolling double-stick tape dispenser. These little gadgets are great for sticking things to scrapbook pages as well. All you do is press the tip of the dispenser onto an area you need tape on and drag it across the page. These work well for gluing pictures quickly or for embellishments, such as ribbon because you can drag the dispenser as long as the ribbon is on the page.

Fiskars Paper Cutter – Mom swears by Fiskars. Fiskars has a paper cutting line dedicated to making things smaller for on the go, but still fully efficient. Mom takes her fold-up 12 inch paper cutter by Fiskars to any scrapbooking or card making event. It isn’t small enough to put in her tool box, but it is always right next to it on her desk and in her scrapbooking tote.

Scissors – You always need a good pair of scissors. In Mom’s eyes you always need two good pairs of scissors; a small pair for images that may require detailed cutting and a large pair for cutting larger pieces of cardstock or less detailed images. Oh, and of course the scissors Mom uses for her scrapbook page layouts are by Fiskars as well.

Black Ink Pad – Mom always keeps a black Brilliance ink pad by her side at cropping events and at her desk. The black stamp pad is probably one of the most important things to keep with you when you do go to a scrapbook event with friends and here’s why. When you go to a scrapbooking event or crop, there are going to many times when a friend or fellow scrapbooker may have a stamp that you don’t have, but may need for a future layout. That’s when you get out your black stamp pad and a sheet or two of white cardstock and stamp that image several times. Now, not only do you have that image stamped and ready to go, but you also have enough stamped that you can create several scrapbook page layouts or other projects because you have several prints of that image, so you no longer need to buy that stamp, unless it’s one that you will use all the time, of course!

Tweezers – No! These aren’t for making sure your brows are perfect when you are scrapbooking, this is far more useful in the craft room. Tweezers work best for picking up small embellishments, such as rhinestones, beads or small pieces of paper and placing it properly on a scrapbook page. I have really big thumbs so I also, always have a pair of these at my desk or I get frustrated when an embellishment doesn’t go on the page where I need it.

Bone Folder – This is a tool that I wasn’t very familiar with, but knew exactly what is was used for once I saw it. It is what it says it is, a bone (because it’s made from bone) folder (because that’s what it helps do). A bone folder allows you to fold and crease paper perfectly. These folders come in handy for scrapbooking when you are making pockets or envelopes on your scrapbook page layouts.

Markers – Markers are great for journaling or lettering on your scrapbook page. You can also use markers to shade in images you have placed on your page or have on cardstock pre-stamped from a friend. Mom uses Copic markers, they’re a little on the expensive side, but the neat thing about these markers is that they can be refilled with tubes of ink. It only takes a few drops of ink to fill the copic marker, so you can one tube of extra ink will refill the marker several times. A lot of other scrapbook markers are expensive, but don’t allow refills, so once they dry out you have to buy a brand new set. Copic markers take that headache away. When the ink is gone and a marker is dried out, you no longer have to throw expensive markers away simply refill them with a little more ink and keep doing what you were doing.
Scrapbook Caddy – This is how you keep your items organized on the go. I keep all the scrapbook stuff I need inside of it, so when I’m ready to go scrapbooking somewhere else, I don’t have to look around and find my tools and something to carry it in. Scrapbook caddy’s can be bought at any arts and crafts stores, such as Michaels and A.C. Moore. Some scrapbook caddy’s are a little on the pricey side, but look for coupons in your local Sunday paper for savings. There are always 40 and 50 percent off coupons, making you feel less guilty for spending that much money on a scrapbook caddy.

Alright Now,
Get to Scraping!