Scrapbooking Supplies -
Our Top Ten Favorites

With so many scrapbooking supplies, products and tools in the market to help scrapbookers in their creative process, you might need some suggestions on what beginner supplies to get.

Meanwhile, check out our Top Ten favorite supplies list below. I believe these are essential/basic supplies that most scrapbookers can't live without.

Our Top Ten favorite scrapbook supplies:

1) Cardstock/ Solid Papers

Clearly, the most important scrapbooking supplies you will need is the scrapbooking paper itself besides photos. Remember to choose acid-free and lignin-free papers if you want your scrapbooking to last for years without the papers turning yellowish and damaging your precious photos.

For papers, there's cardstocks (solid heavyweight papers) and patterned papers.

Cardstock is a must-have for your supplies collection. It's easy to use and should be a constant supply you'll be using.

For cardstock, there's those which come with "white cores". When you do paper tearing, the torn line that appears is white and therefore more obvious. Others come in same-colored cores, meaning even when you tear them, the torn line is the same color as the cardstock.

A cardstock can form the background paper or be used to highlight your photos for matting purpose. So yes, cardstock is an important element on your scrapbook layout. Do choose colors and textures that match your photos well.

Bazzill Basic Paper textured cardstock has been a long-time favorite.

2) Patterned Papers

Patterned papers comes in a huge range of designs, paper weight, colorfast, finish, texture, single or doubled-sided.

They can form the functional foundation of your page or become a decorative element on your layout.

Think of your colour theme and that'll give you a better idea of what colors or patterns to pick out.

Some favorite brands include BasicGrey, My Mind's Eye, K&C Company.

3) Adhesives

Adhesive is what holds your photos, title, journaling blocks, ribbons, buttons, chipboard accents or whatever you choose to stick to your page. So no, your scrapbook supplies collection won't be complete without an adhesive of some sort.

And they come in various formats. From tape runner, glue dots, glue stick to liquid glue. So the deciding factor on which type of adhesive to use would be the intended surface. Check out the manufacturers' descriptions.

Keep in mind that you're building memories here, so you'll want to choose an adhesive that last for years. You won't want to see your photos falling off your wonderful scrapbook layouts, do you? Just shop around a little and you'll see there's really a number of acid-free scrapbook adhesives that will fix the pasting job nicely.

Some favorites include Glue Dots, Herma by EK Success, and Tape Runner by Creative Memories.

4) Pens

Choose pens that's pigment ink, fade-proof, water-proof and will keep your scrapbooking layout safe. You need pens to note down dates, names and write descriptions about your precious moments.

You can also use them to doodle on your layouts.

For starters, you can never go wrong with a black one. It'll see you through countless pages, and matches with everything.

Some brands to consider: ZIG Millennium by EK Success and Zig Writer by Zig. Uni-ball Signo Impact White Pen writes brilliantly on dark-colored papers.

5) Scissors/Trimmers

Next, you need good cutting tools as you'll be cutting lots of papers! A pair of precise, sturdy and good scissors will see you through many detailed cutting work.

You might want to set aside this pair of scissors for your scrapbooking projects and nothing else. ;-)

Brands to consider include Cutter Bee Scissors by EK Success, Comfort Grip Micro-Tip Scissors by Friskars.

A good trimmer will let you slice up quick, accurate cuts to your papers and see you through countless scrapbooking sessions. You might want to get one with inexpensive replacement blades, or better yet, a self-sharpening model! Tip: Make sure yours has a well-marked, built-in ruler that makes measuring a breeze!

Good trimmers include: Precision Paper Trimmer by Making Memories (self-sharpening blade), 2-in-1 Combo Trimmer by Purple Cow (guillotine and rotary trimmer), and Zision 12" Trimmer (small and lightweight, great for bringing to crops).

6) Photo-Editing Software

With digital cameras getting more commonplace, you now have a choice to edit and enhance your digital photos for great effects!

If you're looking for an effective photo-editing software that takes care of red eye, sharpens, brightens, turn photos into black-and-white or sepia or a host of other effects, read my review of the FREE Picasa by Google.

7) Embellishments

Embellishments make scrapbooking so exciting! There's ribbons, chipboard accents, borders, tags, flowers, buttons, felt pieces, rub-ons, stickers, brads, eyelets, and others.

The right embellishments can really step up your page to looking great! The important thing is to check whether your embellishments enhance and help to pull the page together. If it distracts or jars your senses, it's probably not necessary.

8) Idea Books

You might find heaps of free information on the Internet yes. But don't you find that when you hold an idea book or magazine in your hands, you somehow get even more inspired? You're likely to go over the pages more thoroughly too. At least that's how I feel.

So despite being able to find lots of free information online, I can't resist having a couple of my own idea books. I like taking time to pore over the pages.

9) Albums

After spending efforts into your pages, you'll want to keep them safe and a place to house them. Enter scrapbooking albums.

Like everything else, albums come in a variety of sizes, formats, textures, designs and colors. So pick one one that fits your personality and sense of style. You'll be working with the same album for quite some time, so get one that you like.

Some brands to consider: Pioneer, Creative Memories and K&C Company.

10) Page Protectors

To round up our Top Ten scrapbooking supplies list, let's go over page protectors.

As you happily scrap more and more pages, you'll quickly outgrow the page protectors in your album. You can add new page protectors by buying additional packs.

Make sure that they are acid-free to protect your lovingly-created pages.

Your starter's scrapbooking supplies is now complete. There's many scrapbook products to fit into different budgets. So take your time to get scrapbooking supplies that fit your needs and supplies.

You can easily get the above scrapbooking supplies at the online Scrapbook.com Superstore.

Everyone starts somewhere, so don't worry too much about getting everything perfect. Perfection will probably come from your trials and errors while scrapping. :-)

What's Your Favorite Scrapbooking Supplies?

You have some favorite scrapbook supplies that you'll use on almost every layout, don't you? Perhaps cardstock or even a particular brand of paper trimmer that you love. Share them with us!

Give Your Favorites a Title

Rave about your favorite supplies here! Be as descriptive and clear as you can. [ ? ]