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Scrapbooking Must-Haves

© Merrideth Chenoweth

No matter your skill level, the proper supplies will enable you to create a wonderful page. I cannot stress enough the importance of using archival quality materials, which means acid and lignin free supplies! Why put all the effort into a page that's not going to last more than a few years before yellowing and aging?

Here are a few of the supplies and tools that I use on a regular basis. Keep in mind though: that a tool one scrapper cannot live without may not suit you at all!

Basic Supplies

Books

There are so many choices for scrapbooks and albums that it's going to come down to a matter of taste. Things you have to decide on when choosing a book are: Pre-Bound, or the kind with page protectors; you choose the color, and size. The sizes of books on the market vary, but some popular sizes are: 6x6, 8 ½ x11, and 12x12.

Paper and Card Stock

Paper is necessary either for the background for your page, or as added elements glued onto your page. You can make frames, photo mats, cut out titles, and many other things. The only limit is your imagination.

Photographs

While not totally necessary for a page, they do help the idea along. It may be helpful to organize all your photos first. I have my photographs separated first by person, and then by event. I know my sister separates hers by event only and my mother by year. Find a system that works for you, and stick with it!

Cutting

Now we need something to cut, crop, and snip with!

Scissors

I recommend buying scissors in two sizes: large and small. Large scissors are good for the gross work, for things like cutting out circles or large patterns. Small scissors are wonderful for detail cuts. Embroidery or manicure scissors are good options for the small ones.

An X-acto knife is a good investment. There are a multitude of uses, from cutting out the inside of a letter to opening a stubborn package of card stock without bending up the papers inside.

Circle/Oval Cutter

Ever try to draw a perfect circle? Ever get it right? If you have, then good for you. For the rest of us though there is a such thing as Circle and Oval cutters. And thank goodness!

Paper Trimmer

Remember in elementary school how the teacher had the big board thing with a guillotine-type blade that was lowered to cut the paper strait? These days we have smaller, less intimidating scrapbookingch work wonderfully for scrapbooking.

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