Scrapbooking Materials

The most important scrapbooking supply is the album itself, which can be permanently bound, or allow for the insertion of pages. There are other formats, such as mini albums and accordion-style fold-out albums. Some of these are adhered to various containers, such as matchbooks, CD cases, paint cans or other small holders.

Modern scrapbooking is done largely on 12 inch square or 8½×11 inch pages. The most popular size is 12" x 12" but more recently smaller albums have become very popular for individual one day memories as a gift. The most common new formats are 6, 7, or 8-inch square. It is very important to many scrappers to protect their pages with clear page protectors.
Basic materials include background papers (including printed and cardstock paper) photo corner mounts (or other means of mounting photos such as adhesive dots, photo mounting tape, or acid-free glue), scissors, a paper trimmer, art pens, archival pens for journalling, and mounting glues. More elaborate designs require more specialized tools such as die cut templates, rubber stamps, craft punches, stencils, inking tools, eyelet setters, heat embossing tools and personal die cut machines.

Various accessories, referred to as "embellishments," are used to decorate scrapbook pages. Embellishments include stickers, rub-ons, stamps, eyelets, brads, chipboard elements in various shapes, alphabet letters and ribbon. The use of die cut machines is also increasingly popular; in recent years an electronic die-cutting machine, similar to a printer, can be connected to one's computer to cut any shape or font. I personally use my Cricut machine and I love it.

One of the key components of modern scrapbooking is the archival quality of the supplies. Designed to preserve photographs and journalling in their original state, materials encouraged by most serious scrapbookers are of a higher quality than those of many typical photo albums commercially available. Scrappers insist on acid-free, lignin-free papers, stamp ink, and waterproof embossing powder, and pigment based inks, which are fade resistant, colorfast, and often waterproof. Many scrappers also use buffered paper, which will protect photos from acid in memorabilia used in the scrapbook, as well as acid from the oil on hands. Older "magnetic" albums are not acid-free and thus cause damage to the photos and memorabilia included in them. Anyone who has used these type of albums has since changed to the safer ways of to-day.