Scrapbooking is a fun and creative hobby that more and more people love doing. It’s not just glueing pieces of paper on a scrapbook. It’s a nice way to preserve important memories, significant moments and memorabilia. A scrapbook can be a great way to present the future generation with their family’s history. It’s also a great activity to exercise and improve your creative side.
Adhesives
You won’t be able to do scrapbooking without some type of adhesive. It’s what holds together the pictures, pages, papers, ribbons, buttons or other embellishments you might want to use. There’s a wide array of efficient scrapbook adhesives you can use, depending on the material you’re working with.
Double-sided tapes for example are very practical. They’re pressure-sensitive tapes that have adhesive on both sides. They’re rolled like regular tape but when you place them on the surface you need to peel off the top part to make it work. Most tapes have an easy-to-peel liner and a good grip on paper, wood, metal, plastic or glass.
Embellishing glues are great if you want to glue jewels and embellishments such as beads, pearls, rhinestones or sequins. They can hold them together with ease. There are also foam tapes. They can be long strips or small round or square-shaped patches for individual glueing. They’re great if you want to add some dimension to the scrapbook.
Foiling glue can be a great addition to your adhesives. It works with paper, fabric, metal or plastic. You can use it to create special headings, write names or accentuate some places, the options are limitless. Glue guns are a very popular adhesive option and for a good reason. They’re simple and easy to work and control and the silicone holds up very well to the material.
There are also glue runners. They’re high-tack, double-sided adhesives that have a good grip on materials. You can glue in straight lines or in curves and it’ll always look good. They work best with paper and are easily replaced. Glue pens are nice when you need to stick something small and extra delicate. You can also find glue sticks, permanent glue and tacky glues. It’s nice to have just a few of these so you can handle different materials.
Cardstock
Cardstocks are versatile, heavy-weight papers that are easy to use and a must for your scrapbooking. You can buy these supplies online or at your local craft shop. Buy papers that are acid and lignin-free. The absence of these substances will help the paper last longer and not fade or turn yellow after a couple of years.
Their core can either be the same colour as the paper or white. When you tear the paper with a white core it’ll show itself, which is a nice detail sometimes. When you tear the same-coloured ones, there won’t be any difference. These papers work with different scrapbook adhesives and come in a variety of colours, patterns and even textures. This way you can create unique and interesting designs.
Album
If you want to do scrapbooking right, you should buy a scrapbooking album. These are specialised albums that have the perfect construction to hold your crafts and memories. You can find albums in several sizes, but the most common one is 30×30. It offers enough space for pictures, quotes, writing and decoration.
there are several types of albums you can choose from. The first one is the post-bound type which usually has 2 or 3 posts to hold everything together. These posts are screwed together and hold the pages. These albums are great because once you notice you run out of space, you can add more pages with little to no effort.
Make sure the screws aren’t too close to each other or fully centred in the middle because the pages can get damaged. There’s also the D-ring album that has 3 rings. It’s made with gold pages inside protectors. The D-ring makes it easy to add and remove pages. One thing that people dislike about this album is its weight, it can be quite heavy as you add more pages.
Next is the strap-bound album which is held together by a plastic strap. It’s very versatile, the pages are laid down nicely and it’s very durable. If you want something cheaper, you can go with the spiral-bound one. It has a nice aesthetic, but you can’t add pages to it. When it comes to material, leather is the best choice because of its durability and looks.
Stamps & Ink
Different types of stamps and ink will transform your designs into something unique and special. They’re useful for adding dates, making backgrounds, making borders, and much more. Just like with scrapbooking adhesives, you have plenty of choices. Manufacturers offer different models, shapes, colours and designs.
Some of them even create personalised stamps where you can create the stamp as you wish. You can add your first and last name, nickname, a personalised message, quote, special flowers, shapes, buildings or anything else you can imagine. Remember to avoid water-based ink because it will smudge and ever fade after several years.
Scissors & Trimmers
To make any layouts and decorations you’ll need some trimmers and scissors. They should be precise, sharp and sturdy so you can make the nicest, most detailed cuts possible. They come in various sizes, so you can find something to fit whatever type of paper and ribbon you want to cut. Once you get a paper scissor or a fabric scissor, try not to use it on other materials because it can get dull very fast.
Trimmers can help you a lot as well. They have amazing precision when cutting the papers into different sizes and in straight lines. What makes them a good investment is the fact that you can cut several papers at the same time and save yourself some time and effort. Plus, there are self-sharpening models that can save you some money in the long run.
Pens & Pencils
Even everyday items like pens and pencils can contribute to your creative process. You can use them to write down your memories, write dates, events and other important details. When you go to the store look for water- and fade-resistant pens and pencils. This will make sure they don’t fade and erase your writing. Plus, they come in many colours which is perfect because you will create many different layouts.
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