Let Me Tell You: The Essentials of Basic Scrapbooking

I’ve been scrapbooking for eight years when brads were only found in office supply stores. I was pre-Xyron days and eyelets were used in making clothes, not scrapbook pages. So I have come to realize that not every product is a necessity and it all depends on how you approach the hobby. My approach is about the “book” part of scrapbooking. I don’t want anything to take away from my photos and the story they tell. That is the real reason to scrapbook. Don’t let anyone tell you different. Scrapbooking is about having fun creating a little piece of memorabilia whether for family or friends. But to do that, you need the proper supplies. 

So here’s the beginner’s list. If you must know, after eight years of trial and error, it’s also my only list. I don’t spend money on anything else. 
You will need: 1. an album 
  2. adhesive 
  3. paper 
  4. embellishments 
  5. journaling pens 
  6. cutting system 
  7. storage 
I know it looks like a lot but we are going to narrow the field quite a bit. I’m going to tell you what you need. I’m not going to beat around the bush and say “you can get what you want”. If you want all the guess work taken out, then you can follow my advice, the advice of the Scrapbook Nazi. (You vill do vhat I say und you vill like it!) Or you can adapt some of these tips if you feel more comfortable in your skills as a scrapbooker or paper crafter. 

An Album 
Albums come in a variety of sizes and the size of your album will determine the size of your paper. The type of your album will determine whether you need cardstock or not. The Scrapbook Nazi says, “Buy the 12 X 12 size with a strap hinge mechanism.” Strap hinge albums are the easiest to add refill pages to and can expand to almost twice their original size. Do NOT buy a post bound album. They never allow you to expand the album and the ones that do are challenging to take apart and put back together.