Supplies
Basic Supplies
Scrapbooking doesn’t require a huge investment at first. What you’ll need is an album with sheet protectors (about $10.00 for an 8.5”x11” album; $20.00 for a 12”x12” album), straight-edge scissors, adhesive, plain and patterned papers, a black pen or a computer and printer for journaling, and your photos. (Remember, all materials should be acid-free and lignin-free in order to safely preserve your photographs.) You provide the most important part—your memories.
Although there’s a lot of product to choose from, here are my suggestions:
Album and sheet protectors: Pioneer photo albums come in lots of different sizes and colors, the pages come with sheet protectors and you can add or remove pages from the album itself depending on how many pages you want your album to have. Pioneer albums are easy to find: check your local craft chain store. I prefer a 12”x12” size because I can get more photos on each page and still have room for embellishments.
Scissors or paper trimmer: All you really need is a pair of good scissors, yet many scrappers find they’re lost without their Fiskars paper trimmer. It comes in two sizes (8.5”x11” and 12”x12”) and allows you to cut straight lines quickly, easily and without the hassle. I recommend the 12”x12” trimmer, even if you prefer the 8.5”x11” format. You can more easily cut down all those 12”x12” papers you love.
Adhesive: Visit your local scrapbook store and you’ll see a dozen options for adhesive. Ask around and see what people recommend. A good basic is a glue stick, which is inexpensive (a dollar or two) and easy to use. Photo tabs (also called photo splits) are also a good choice. I personally like photo tabs because they keep the back of my photos relatively clean and I can remove a photo from the album (to copy) without tearing apart the whole page. I use the glue stick for embellishments and to glue journaling to the page. Another choice is the Hermafix adhesive; it’s a dry adhesive that comes in a dispenser so you can simply roll the adhesive onto the paper. It’s really easy to use; I also know people with arthritis or carpal tunnel who like that it’s easy on their hands.
The only requirement is that adhesive should be acid-free. Do not use rubber cement or tacky craft glue.
Paper: A piece of paper will be the foundation of your scrapbook page. You might choose a patterned paper to convey the theme or story of your page (rose-patterned paper for a wedding, for example). When using patterned paper, do remember the Golden Rule and always mat your photo on a solid paper so the photo and the pattern don’t compete. Matting simply means that you glue your photo to a piece of solid paper, then trim about 1/16-1/2” around the photo so you have a border.
If selecting papers seems confusing, take a look at the books of coordinating patterned papers grouped by theme or color combination. Paper Pizazz® is a line of paper collections that come in themed, color-coordinating book form. You just tear out the papers from the book and you’re ready to go!
Journaling tools: A black pen is really all you need to journal. If you don’t like your handwriting, or if you have a lot of journaling to write, you might try typing your story on a computer and printing it out, then adding it to your page. With computer journaling, you miss out on the handwritten aspect, but you can play with different fonts and sizes, and for those who like the spell-check feature, it may be invaluable! Just be sure that you print your journaling onto acid-free paper.
Your photos: Start small so you don’t get overwhelmed! Begin with your most recent photos and work backward.