Scrapbooking Tools

Scrapbooking Scissors

If there's one scrapbooking tool it's hard to live without, that would be a variety of different scissors. If you thought scissors were just for cutting straight lines, think again. You can cut scallops, zig-zags, and waves, even edges that look like mountain ranges and torn paper.

Fiskars, naturally, has a wonderful collection of decorative-edged scissors, including one that makes hearts if the paper is cut on both sides. These cutters are great for all sorts of paper crafts including making your own greeting cards.

Paper Trimmers and Punches

Along the same lines as scissors, other cutters, trimmers and punches are great scrapbooking tools. Trimmers look like a smaller version of the office-sized paper cutter you might have used at work, and they allow you to cut card stock to the perfect size for your pages or trim photos quickly and easily. "Guillotine" style trimmers as well as those with cutters that slide are available.

There are also cutters and punches that will help you make circles, ovals and all sorts of shapes. you can give your corners a decorative splash, use a punch to make a border our use them to cut out all sorts of shapes, from dragonflies to garden tools, snowflakes to Winnie the Pooh. A really great selection of punches from several different brands can be found at Scrapbooking Warehouse.

Other Fun Scrapbooking Tools

I don't recommend people who are new to scrapbooking go out and buy all the scrapbooking tools they think they might ever need. First, it's a waste of money, when you might already have tools in your house that can do the job for you (do you really need a hammer used exclusively for scrapbooking?).

Second, if you don't know that you're going to enjoy a craft or stick with it for a long period of time, you don't want to shell out money and find space in your house scrapbooking tools you might never use. Then you'll just feel guilty about not taking the time to learn how to use them.

Instead, newbies should start with a couple of pairs of scissors and maybe some punches. Get some rubber stamps and an embossing gun and learn how to use them. After you make a few projects, you might want to invest in a small paper trimmer.

Once you've discovered that you are, in fact, a scrapbooking maniac, then you can go shopping for the more elaborate scrapbooking tools. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Sticker Machine

These are way-fun scrapbooking tools, which allow you to run just about anything flat through them to make a sticker. The size of the machine (some are very small, while others can hold a regular sheet of paper) will determine the size of the sticker.

Make pictures, paper, ribbon, buttons, or fabric into a sticker to use in your scrapbooks. I'm sure just thinking about it has made you come up with some things you'd like to make into stickers.

Some of the more advanced sticker machines also allow you to laminate, make magnets or make labels. You can also buy adhesive cartridges that make your stickers permanent or allow you to reposition them, which can be handy for lots of reasons.

Eyelet Setter

If you like using eyelets in your projects, either to secure something to your page or just for decorative effect, you'll want to get an eyelet setter at some point. These devices can look like an X-ACTO knife without the blade or more like a tiny hammer or screwdriver, depending on the design.

These tools make it easier to punch an eyelet through your paper and have the back prongs come out evenly. Provo Craft has what they call the "Silent Setter," which is a hammerless, and thus mostly noiseless, system. It's very cute and could certainly be useful whenever you need to craft quietly.

Of course there are a million other scrapbooking tools on the shelves of your local craft store. If something looks fun and useful, give it a try. And be sure to let us know if you find a scrapbooking tool you can't live without!