Tools and material for Scrapbooking beginners

For your first scrapbooking page, the investment will be really relatively low : with just a little material you will be able to create your first work!

The album

The first thing to be made is to provide you with a bought album or made by you even : according to the arrivals, one can find the very cheap one a little everywhere: Foirfouille, Gitem, But… and other similar stores. You will be able also to buy it in a specialized store but the price will be higher. Preferably choose (although there is no quite precise standard) the format 30x30 which is adopted by the majority of practicing scrap.

Some albums are provided with small pockets out of plastic, others will have sheets (white or black) protected or not by a silk sheet between them. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Perhaps is it simpler at the beginning to adopt the system with small pockets?

To trace and cross

Then, you will need a large rule, a pair of large scissors, a finer scissors for precise cuttings.

A lead pencil, a gum and a good cutter will be also very useful for you.

Add if you can it of the crantor scissors, relatively cheap. There is a great number of models and forms, for example to cut in the shape of teeth of stamp posts, waves, zigzag… You will use them to carry out edges, to bring variety to your framings of photographs and even to your photographs themselves.

Papers

To decorate the pages with your album, envisage paper preferably “acid free” matched or complementary colors. You can buy these papers in all the shops of creative leisures or in the scrap shops on line.

It should be noted that if you have a good printer, you have the possibility of printing yourself your papers with the “freebies” (goodies free on certain sites) which one finds a little everywhere on the Net. You will be able to then download paper models then to leave them on your printer.

Unless having a printer “large size” you will then be limited to A4 format. See the beautiful paper collection on:
http://freebies.scrap-gratuit.fr/papiers-scrapbooking.html

or on:
http://www.digiscrapbook.net

A research on Google with the key word “freebies” will provide you all the matter necessary!

Or, and it is what seems easiest to begin, buys your papers in specialized shop and matches the colors according to your tastes and of the photographs to be emphasized.

Canson paper of color is very useful (do not take the “black” which is not “acid free”)

Adhesives

The adhesive and the adhesives are absolutely essential! There is a broad range to meet your needs : permanent adhesives or repositionnables for “matting” your papers or your photographs, your small objects to be stuck, fabric or metal.

In general, avoid the adhesives with strong odor because they contain solvents likely to damage your photographs rather quickly.

The adhesive above is guaranteed without acid and ideal for the scrapbooking and all the assemblies photographs. The “roll'n stick” is as well practical.

Lastly, according to the uses, some conditionings are more indicated than others. For the gluing of large surfaces (doublings, matting…) it is to better have a retractable adhesive in sticks. On the contrary, for the precise stickings you get an adhesive liquid in pen with a fine tip.

To write the journaling

Scrap makes it possible to put in perspective the photographs within their original framework. One finds an environment, an atmosphere there, a framework which does not exist on the glazed paper.

The journaling is one of the means of restoring their environment with the stereotypes which one thus emphasizes.

To write these legends - it can be quite simply a description of the photographs with the names of the places, the date, the events… - envisage felt-tip pens of color of various sizes, pens with gilded or silver plated writing, “erasers stabilo” which make it possible to write in white and relief…

You will write on torn papers, strips cut out, on the page of the album even… You will use also font with the printer of the PC.

There exist also self-adhesive boards sets of characters very paratic to use but considerable cost!

(see the journaling page of this site)

Embellishments

Especially at the beginning, privilege recoveries of all kinds to embellish your pages of scrapbooking. Of course, all can be bought and it is even very pretty but the invoice growes up very very quickly!

Thus try to the maximum to recover a crowd of small objects to be inserted directly in your pages: ribbons, laces, buttons, flowers out of paper and fanfreluches of all kinds, medals, fixings and fasteners Parisian.

There exist the impossible to circumvent ones: eyelets (or eyelets to be crimped). These are small metal objects that one crimps, by behind work with a hammer and a special tool. In the same order of idea, you will find also brads (Parisian fasteners) of all kinds and all colors.

To fix a brad, bore a hole with carries part or with a nail, thread the legs of the brad in the hole then fold up the legs by the back.

For those which are pressed and which do not have too time to search in their barrels in the search of embellishments of salvage, let us announce the ready to use kits : buttons, ribbons, mini-grips with linen, sequins are gathered and ready to be useful !

In the same way, one can buy ribbons, baizes matched colors….

Tags or labels. From models, you can easily print them on cardboard then to cut out them: do not forget to give an eyelet to them in adhesive kraft so that they are truer than natural!

You will find models of tags on many sites. Come from my share to: HERE or. This last site abounds in councils, of references to marks of scrapping: to visit, absolutely.

There are also the carry-parts and the punchies, the inking-pads and the stamp… One returns there in the field of the confirmed scrapbooking!

The books ScrapBooking (images cliquables)

Very many books are devoted to the scrapbooking… I chose to present these two titles to you which are perfect to start a scrapbooking activity.