There are some papers that can be truly disastrous to your scrapbooking endeavors. The first is to have a paper with high acid content, such as is found in cheaper papers like construction papers. Instead, look for papers which explicitly say “pH neutral” or or have a pH of 7.0. Anything else will harm your scrapbook, especially the photographs in it, in the long run.

It’s also important to find paper that has two other features. The first is that the paper is buffered. If the paper is buffered paper, it will not even be affected by any acid substances that it encounters. This ensures that your scrapbook will always be protected. Also, look for paper that is specifically marked “lignin-free.” Lignin is a common content in cheaper paper and is found in wood. Unfortunately, over time, paper that has lignin in it will become brittle and the color will change.

Even if you’re a penny pincher, you will save money in the long-run by buying more paper than you think you will use. This can also help you avoid a lot of heartache if you find just one more use for that particular paper and you find that it has been discontinued and sold-out since you bought it originally. Also, paper can vary from lot to lot, so even if you think you’re buying the same thing again, the pigment will naturally vary, and you’ll be stuck with mismatching paper. In the end, it’s much easier and less expensive to buy more than enough of a particular paper from the beginning.

The Original Post is Located Here: Some Tips for Scrapbook Paper Shopping

-Cardstock – This is truly the work-horse of paper in the scrapbooking industry. It is heavy-duty enough to help support even heavy embellishments. You should also be able to find a large variety of colors at local stores around you.

-Parchment – If you’re trying to create a page that features old documents or history, parchment paper can definitely be used to great effect.

-Fabric – Fabric papers are cherished by scrapbookers especially for important pages such as those memorializing a wedding. Just note that the fabric effect is only one one side of the paper. Also, you’ll find that there’s generally a limited selection of colors and specific fabric looks that are available, so happy hunting!

-Corrugated – This paper is made using furrowed molds and is a very heavyweight paper. Scrapbookers often used corrugated paper for embellishments and as photo mats on their scrapbook pages.

-Embossed – This paper can be of various weights and often have patterns and images on them. The embossed image can add a sense of formality to a scrapbook page.

-Metallic – Metallic papers are great for a scrapbooker who wants to give a modern pop look to a scrapbook page or portion of a page. You can even find some metallic papers which have a holographic look.

The Original Post is Located Here: Some Different Types of Scrapbook Paper

For cropping photographs, the type of tools you will need will be various cutting tools. As is true with so many things in scrapbooking, you will need a good pair of scissors for small detail work. Look for scissors that have sharp points, instead of rounded safety scissors. Many scrapbookers find that they like to crop some pictures into circle or oval shapes. Circle scissors and oval cutters do a nice job of this and will help you get the job done quickly. In addition to this, the brand Fiskars makes numerous shape-cutter systems so that you can cut photos into a variey of shapes. Of course, a craft knife, like the one made by X-Acto, is very handy for making straight cuts, especially when armed with a ruler. And if you like your photographs to have rounded corners, try getting a corner rounder. This will ensure that all your corners are uniform and neatly done.

For tinting photographs, it’s all about what sort of color effect you want to create. Chances are, you already have many of the tools used to tint photographs. Colored pencils, watercolor pencils, and chalks can be great for tinting photographs. There are some tools that are specifically made for tinting photographs which might work better than the tools you have on hand. These are photo-painting pencils, photo oils, and photo-coloring pens.

Mounting photographs could be a whole topic by itself, but let’s try to get the basic materials you might use. If you want to make things a little easier for yourself, I recommend using pre-made photo-mounting corners. These give your scrapbook a classic look. Similar to those are pre-made photo-mounting squares. If you’re more into mats for your photographs, you can find pre-made mats or make homemade mats out of cardstock and templates.

The Original Post is Located Here: Tools for Adding Photographs with Style to Your Scrapbooks

Stickers are a major wing of embellishments. Stickers can call attention to one specific part of your scrapbook page. They can also be a fun addition to any scrapbook cover or overall design. To keep you from going crazy with too many stickers, I recommend getting a sticker binder a keep your stickers in an orderly fashion.

Another common type of embellishment are the metal kind. Brads are metal embellishments that not only add some interest to your scrapbook page but can also be used in place of an adhesive. You can also make a flower shape using metal brads. In addition, brads are useful if you want to have components on your scrapbook page which can pivot and swivel around. Eyelets and grommets also affix things to a scrapbook page in a decorative fashion. They can be more decorative than brads since they often have a design.

But don’t just limit yourself to items which are labelled “embellishment” or even ones find in craft stores. Numerous things can adorn your scrapbook page and bring it to life. If you visited the beach and rode a sailboat, why not find a piece of rope and incorporate it into your scrapbook page and make a sailor uniform from paper and a button? For embellishments, the limits are only your creativity and willingness to look around for interesting things to add to your scrapbook pages.

The Original Post is Located Here: Embellishments: the Icing on Your Scrapbooking Cake

The cornerstone of your cutting tools has got to be a good pair of straight edged scissors. But don’t just assume that your ordinary pair will do. I recommend getting nonstick or Teflon bladed scissors. These blades will make sure that you’re not pulling adhesive material off of your scissors all the time. I would also recommend that you have a variety of sizes of straight edged scissors, both for doing large cutting and fine detail work.

If you want to get fancy and creative (and what proper scrapbooker doesn’t?), you’ll need a few other pairs of scissors. You’ll need some corner-edger scissors for decoratively edging corners. You’ll also need a circle scissor set for expertly forming circles out of whatever you desire. And of course, a good set of decorative scissors with various patterns will liven up any good scrapbook.

You’ll also be surprised at how often you will use a craft knife, both for cutting straight lines and expertly handling little punched out pieces of paper. Just be careful, because even if they don’t look it, craft knives can be very sharp.

If you think you’ll do a lot of long cutting jobs, I recommend that you invest in a paper trimmer. This can make long cuts a lot faster and save you from having to use a ruler in order to get a straight edge consistently.

Unless you want all your paper embellishments and design to be pre-made, which most scrapbookers would say is uncreative and simply boring, not to mention expensive, you’re going to need a good set of cutting tools. I hope this guide has been helpful in getting your tool collection started.

The Original Post is Located Here: Cutting Edge Tools for Scrapbooking

There are a few accessories that are absolutely essential for you to have in your scrapbooking arsenal. Many of those tools are cutting tools, but you would be remiss not to have a few things to go with those cutting tools. In this article, we’ll take a look at two of those tools and why they’re so important.

The first is a cutting mat. You would hate to ruin a good table or even a card table by using a craft knife without a cutting mat, trust me. And just in case you thought you could cut a corner, metaphorically speaking, by using cardboard as a cheap alternative to a cutting mat, I wouldn’t recommend it. Nothing really can replace a good quality cutting mat. I especially recommend a self-healing mat composed of layers of vinyl. Any cuts you make on this type of mat will repair themselves and your mat will always seem basically new.

You will also need a good ruler. This ruler will serve a couple crucial functions. If you’re going to be a power scrapbooker, you’re not going to want to leave a lot of things up to chance. This means that you will want to layout your scrapbook pages intelligently and only start cutting paper and other items for the page after you’ve measured carefully. And just like in woodworking, your motto should be “measure twice, cut once.” A good ruler can also be used as a guide for a craft knife if you want to make a nice, straight line, instead of something which looks sloppy.

A good set of template rulers can also come in handy if you like to use craft and swivel knives. You can cut decorative designs out with ease with a template ruler and one of these cutting tools.

The Original Post is Located Here: Accessories Necessary for Use with Your Scrapbooking Cutting Tools

As you grow as a scrapbooker, I can guarantee that you’ll get very possessive of your scrapbook pages. I don’t blame you because you’ve put a lot of time, effort, and important pictures and scraps into each and every album. One way to keep your precious scrapbooks safe is to use page protectors. Many people won’t be as respectful of your scrapbook pages as you would like, but page protectors will keep your pages safe from dirty or oily fingers and small spills. The big question is then: what kind of page protectors should you be looking for? For the answer to that and other nifty things you can do with page protectors, read on.

There are two main styles of page protectors for scrapbooking. These are top-loading and side-loading. If you are using an expandable scrapbook album, you will have your choice between the two, but if you’re working with bound albums, then side-loading page protectors will be inevitable. It all comes down to personal preference on which is better in operation, but some people think that less dust and debris gets in side-loading than top-loading page protectors when you store albums on a shelf.

When you’re looking for page protectors, it’s important to buy only the ones which will actually protect your pages, embellishments, and photos. Never use magnetic page protectors or ones with vinyl or acetate, as they will slowly destroy your photos. Look for page protectors which are made of polyester (or Mylar), polypropylene, and polyethylene. And if you want to keep your embellishments and the page opposite to embellishments safe, buy page protectors that are specifically for embellishments.

In case you thought that page protectors were a rather un-artistic and dry subject, I’ll let you in on a secret: there’s a lot of creative things that you can do with this important scrapbooking tool. For example, you can use page protectors to add a panel that sticks out from the edge of your scrapbook page and folds in. You can also use scrapbook page protectors as shaker boxes to hold important mementos like sand from a favorite beach or seeds from your garden.

The Original Post is Located Here: Scrapbook Page Protectors

I’m certainly not joking when I say that there is a wide variety when it comes to adhesives for scrapbooking. There are so many that it sometimes can be overwhelming to know which is the right one to use in each circumstance. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the best adhesives used in scrapbooking, talk about some of their characteristics, and discuss some of each.

-Glue sticks – This is perhaps the most popular used in scrapbooking, in large part because this adhesive is very cheap and easy to use. It is a permanent type of adhesive and are great for sticking photos and paper accents.

-Adhesive dots – Handy little adhesives that are removable, just in case you change your mind about placement. They are great for affixing photos and paper mats for photos, die-cuts, etc.

-Heavy-duty tape – Also known in the craft world as “embellishment tape.” This is a permanent adhesive that is two-sided. This should be the go-to adhesive when it comes to three-dimensional embellishments and heavy items that you want to incorporate into your scrapbook.

-Mounting corners – These are a handy and classic way to mount photographs in scrapbooks. They can be either permanent or removable. They are designed for use with photographs, but can be used for mounting similar items if you wish.

-Photo tape – This is a two-sided repositionable adhesive used for mounting photographs onto mats or directly onto your scrapbook.

-Raised adhesive dots – These are handy adhesives used to make items in your scrapbook have a popped out, raised look.

-Embellishment glue – This is a wet adhesive which is permanent. It is especially for metal and other embellishments.

-Two-way glue pen – This last adhesive is repositionable, but only until it dries, at which time it becomes permanent. A two-way glue pen also takes some practice to get the hang of controlling the amount of adhesive which comes out.

The Original Post is Located Here: The Wide World of Scrapbook Adhesives

No matter what materials or creativity you do or don’t have, there’s no way to be a successful scrapbooker if you’re not organized. For some people, that just means focusing a little on putting away materials and tidying up before moving on to the next activity. For others, a little more help is needed. Depending on where you are in the spectrum, you’ll need to spend a lot of time and money on organization or a little. Because having the right attitude and materials for organization can make all the difference in this hobby.

Are you the type of person who always gets the trash out to the curb on time and on the right day? Maybe your parents instilled in you that now is the time to do something and not later. For you, organization and tidiness are probably fairly routine. If this sounds like you, keep up the good work. You’ll want to continue to clean up after each particular scrapbook activity and whenever you finish scrapbooking for the day. You could also benefit from having some simple organizing materials such as a filing cabinet for scrapbook pages in progress, a good table to work on, and a trash can nearby your work area.

If you’re on the other side of the spectrum, things will be a bit different. If you don’t already have vigilance for organization and tidiness in your personality, now is the time to learn. After each and every step in the scrapbooking process, you need to assess what you can clean up. For example, when embossing something, don’t just leave the embossing powder in your work area. Habits like that can cost you money since leftover powder can be reclaimed and reused. You could also benefit from some more serious organization tools like a Creation Station from KeepsSake or a portable scrapbook storage system like the ones made by Crop In Style. And if you’re going to use stickers more than once or twice, remember to get a sticker binder to keep all your unused stickers.

With the right organization tools and habits, you can make successful scrapbooks and not have the materials take over your life.

The Original Post is Located Here: The Importance of Organization for Successful Scrapbooking

A scrapbook isn’t all about scraps. One of the key features of any good scrapbook are pictures appropriately placed around your scrapbook pages. There are some tips to placing photos around your scrapbook pages that are a sometimes under-appreciated, but important part of scrapbooking. In this article, we’ll take a look at picture placement and cropping of photographs for scrapbooking excellence.

Even though I said that photographs were a key feature of scrapbook pages, that doesn’t mean that a scrapbook should become a photo album. This means that depending on the size of the page, there should be no more than 3-4 full-sized photographs on a page. Of course, if you’re going to crop photos, this number can be higher. Any more than 3-4 full-sized photographs tend to make the page look less artistic and more busy. If you have more than 4 photos that you want to use for one page, don’t worry at all! You will just make two (or more, depending) pages for that subject.

Cropping is vital for good scrapbooking. If you were to only use rectangular photographs all the time, your page would look bland and boring. It’s important to remember some tips about cropping so you don’t run into problems or regret what you’ve cropped. First off, never crop a one-of-a-kind photograph. Only crop photos that you have negatives or another copy of them. Use a scanner if necessary. Also, you can crop Polaroid pictures, but the company recommends that you wait 24 hours after taking the photo before cutting into it. As long as you follow these rules, the limit is only your creativity. Crop photos to emphasis a particular thing or person in them, or keep with the theme of a page by cropping a photo into a particular shape.

Combined with these tips, your artistic sense will lead you into proper placement and cropping of your photos for a beautiful scrapbook.

The Original Post is Located Here: Placing and Cropping Photos for Scrapbooking