I can remember when I first started scrapbooking. I had attended a home demonstration party in November of 2000. Afterwards I went to a local craft store and was overwhelmed at the products. I didn't know there was such a thing as "scrapbooking stores" until a woman at the craft store mentioned "you should check out the store up the street. They have the most amazing selection of paper!"

So off I went to my very first scrapbooking store, and I was so overwhelmed. Paper? Yes, they had tons of paper, in so many sizes and designs. But, they also had all kinds of paper cutters, tons of pens, lots of books, and what seemed like millions of supplies. I had no idea where to begin in my collection. Did I need it all? What was really useful? Would I really use all of this stuff?

And, I hear the same questions today from new scrapbookers. A family friend had her first baby this year. I gave her a scrapbook for a shower gift. She loved it, but later confided that she just did not know what kind of "stuff" to buy for the hobby. This seemingly common problem let me to do a survey of the women on the Scrapbooking.com Design Team.

The women of the Design Team create pages for our website, for themselves, and even for magazine publications! Who better to ask for advice on useful tools and supplies for this wonderful hobby?

I asked five questions. The first question was "What is the one tool or supply you can't live without in scrapbooking?" Without hesitation, almost all of the replies included a 12" paper trimmer or paper cutter. The Fiskars 12" paper trimmer was mentioned most often, because it is compact, affordable, and easy to transport to a crop. But, many other women on the team like the to use a 12" rotary cutter, which often allows you to change blade styles and create decorative edges. Second to a paper cutter was the Fiskars Micro-tip scissors.

If you haven't seen these scissors, you should look for them at your local scrapbooking store, craft store, or sewing/fabric store. The easy grip handle and micro-trip make these scissors comfortable for hours of use and precise enough for complicated paper piecings.  You can find out more information about the Fiskars scissor line here.

The next question brought a wide variety of answers. "What tool or supply have bought and rarely or never used? What product just "sits there"? Many of the design team are no longer using their decorative scissors or feel that they have too many choices. They recommend choosing one or two designs and going with those.

Another set of tools that seemed to be getting less and less use are the circle and oval cutters. Many team members have given these up in favor of using templates and a simple x-acto cutting tool. One member of our Design Team recommends skipping the fancier cutting tools, and just going with the basics. It seems that, whether you are creating simple or fancy layouts, keeping it simple makes the creating process go more smoothly.

The next question was a fun one! "What tool or supply do you use that is not commonly associated with scrapbooking? Have you ever "stolen" anything from your husband to make designing a layout easier?" Without a doubt, the ladies of the design team have been borrowing from other sources! And the number one tool they acquired from their dear husbands workshop was? A hammer! With the growing popularity of eyelets and grommets in layouts, a hammer is a necessity.

Pliers for working with wire and other metals were also mentioned frequently by our design team members. And many members of our team have been using tackle or toolboxes to help organize their supplies and tools!

Finally, several of our design team ladies are using needles and thread for their layouts. So, having a sewing box handy can be a real help in doing your layouts. More than one of the women on the team have used their sewing machine to help with their projects. Thus, it seems that good advice on acquiring supplies and tools is to simply look around your own home; you may find many useful items there.

The next question could be a bit controversial! I asked our design team members if they use items that may not be acid free or lignin free in their layouts? I wanted to know if our design team members ever sacrificed creativity over archival goals. And, the answers were quite interesting.

Almost all of the women have used an item in their scrapbook that was questionable. But the women found very creative ways to help minimize the risk to the work. I asked about scrapping their children's artwork. Since this is often painted on newsprint, which contains lignin, it would not be safe for our scrapbooks. The women did include them in their books, but said to always put a page protector over such items, and never put a picture on the same page. This double protection would prevent any dangerous contents in the paper from migrating to the pictures, and the page protectors would also help keep the items from touching other layouts. One member of our design team suggested taking a picture of your child in front of the refrigerator with the artwork and scrapping this for your book!

Other items that may contain acid have been treated with the acid-neutralizing product "Archival Mist". This can be found at your scrapbooking store or at your local craft supply store.

And for items such as a lock of hair from the first haircut, the first flower your child picked for you, etc., our design team members recommend encasing the sentimental item in a memorabilia pocket or using a Xyron (Click Here for more information) to laminate the item. So, it seems that our design team members have found a variety of ways to preserve those precious, sentimental items!

Finally, I asked the design team to recommend five tools or supplies for someone just starting out in our beloved hobby. The list varied very little from member to member. The most often recommended items were a permanent black marker to be used for journaling. Other colors of markers can be added to your supply collection later. They also recommend choosing a good adhesive. You'll need one that is acid free, easy to use, and if you are a lover of vellum in your layouts, choose an adhesive that dries clear.

A paper trimmer was also high on the list of must haves. Again our ladies chose a 12" model, capable of trimming larger papers, and one of the more compact, transportable models. The ladies of the design team recommend holding off on buying a tabletop model until later. They are more expensive and you can use the extra money for other essentials. Along with the paper trimmer, those micro-tip scissors by Fiskars came up on many lists. These easy to use scissors prevent cramps, transport well, and do a good job on small and large projects.

And finally, the women recommend lots of card stock. One member of our design team recommended buying all of your papers and the same place so that you can guarantee color coordination. If that isn't possible, check into Close To My Heart's 64 colors of matching papers, cardstock and inks, or into Stampin' Up's collection of coordinating papers and inks.

So, that's it folks, a list of recommendations from the women who help put together this website each month. I learned a lot just from writing this article. These women have a lot of good, sound advice. Look for a second article next month on tips for the beginning stamper.

Many scrapbookers are often stampers, or vice versa. I've sent a similar survey to a group of avid stampers, many of whom have been published in some of the top stamping magazines; to see what advice they can offer. One of the more interesting pieces of information I learned is that while our scrapbooking team may shy away from decorative scissors, the stampers love them. Thus, it seems that what isn't used in one hobby, may be used in a creative activity.

Until next month…