You can use all manner of cheap scrapbooking supplies to make your pages stand out and give each one its own unique style and flavor. The look and feel of your pages depends not only on the actual items you want to display and preserve, but also on the materials you surround and decorate them with.

We won’t get into the specific cheap scrapbooking supplies you can use for now - I will detail those in a later post - but let’s talk about the general supplies you should always have with you. Scissors, construction paper, a glue stick, hot glue, school glue, scotch tape, packing tape, scrapbooking adhesives, markers, pens and pencils are all essential supplies to keep with you for scrapbooking.

Why so many different types of tapes and glues, you ask? Well, each one serves its own purpose and can help you to attach different items to your page in a way that will make them sturdy enough to last without damaging different items. A small, flat trinket like a beloved coin, a dried flower, or a small lock of hair, for example, could be laid underneath a decoratively cut length of packing tape to form a seal over top of it. Packing tape is a much stronger material than regular scotch tape and it comes in wider lengths, so it can be more easily used to lock in particularly valuable or delicate items.

In addition, you can usually find special adhesives that are meant to form a strong bond but will not damage certain items. There are specially made materials that serve purposes solely for scrapbooking and crafting, so you should check out some of these at your local craft store or friendly scrapbooking ideas website before you begin your scrapbooking adventures.

The main reason why it’s important to have all these materials, along with cheap scrapbooking supplies, around you is because you might suddenly find yourself “in the mood” and then realize you don’t have what you need. In these instances, the moment may be lost because you don’t have the time or the motivation to go out to the store and pick up the necessary supplies. When inspiration strikes, be in the position to take advantage of it!

The following essential scrapbooking tools will be incredibly useful as you make progress in your scrapbooking. They are each a wonderful addition to your collection of supplies and tools, and being designed especially for crafting projects such as creating scrapbooks, you will find them to be an amazing help in giving your scrapbooks that extra something.

1. Paper Punches

Sure, you could spend hours painstakingly cutting patterns into your construction paper with a pair of normal scissors. This can be a fun activity during your scrapbooking and you can use it for simple shapes, but there is no comparison to having pre-cut paper templates that give you instant magic! There are more paper punch categories and designs than you can shake a stick at, ranging from butterflies, squigglies, stars, snowflakes, raindrops, and hearts, to borders, patterns and corner accents.

Quick Tip: After you’ve removed the interior punch, use the outside as a stencil.

Paper punches don’t just include the ready-made paper designs and cutouts themselves, but also hand-operated, decorative punch tools. These are essentially a fancy version of a hole punch, and they allow you to punch out specific patterns from any piece of paper or cardstock.

2. Decorative Scissors

Great for creating borders, frames, and fancy backgrounds of many styles. Decorative scissors have two matching blades which, instead of being straight, form a nice-looking edge with multiple curves and/or patterns. You’d really be surprised at how much flair and pizzazz you can add to a page by cutting edges on a decorative line rather than a straight one!

3. A Big Sticker Collection

Now don’t go crazy with these. But having a good selection with a wide variety of styles and shapes to choose from can go a long way to add to a page that incorporates your best scrapbooking ideas. Stickers should be used as accent pieces, not as a central theme (unless it’s done well) - your pages should not be littered with dozens of stickers. They are one of the easiest and fastest ways to decorate a scrapbook page, so people tend to go overboard. Use them sparingly and tastefully and you’ll get some wonderful results.

4. Sharpie Markers

The trusty old sharpie - matchless in its strength, marking power, and toxic fumes - but great for scrapbooking nonetheless. You can get these in full-color sets just like washable markers, only permanent. They tend to be more vibrant and are able to write on a larger variety of surfaces than traditional washables.

How you do your scrapbook layouts should depend on the goal you are trying to achieve. It’s always a good idea to think about the contents of the page and the tone you are setting by creating it. What is your purpose in making this page? Who is it for, what is it about, and how does it relate to your life? Answer these questions and you will probably come up with some more focused scrapbooking ideas to incorporate into your layout.

Next think about the visual style of your scrapbook layouts. Do you want to do something unique and innovative? Spark an emotional reaction in yourself or other friends and relatives who see it? You could be going for an inspiring page or one that gives the viewer that warm and fuzzy feeling. Sentimentality plays a big role, as does comedy. It’s quite possible that you simply want to create a page that makes people laugh!

One major thing to consider in your scrapbook layouts is called composition. That just means the organization of the way things are laid out on the page. If you want a single picture with some other decorative items around it, your first instinct might be to put it right smack dab in the center of your page, aligned both horizontally and vertically in the middle. But scrapbooking ideas should be just like any other art form, and you should try to think outside the box in order to make your scrapbooks and pages unique.

This can definitely work, but wouldn’t it add some visual interest to the layout if you placed the photo off to one side and slightly down beneath the imaginary halfway line? What about keeping it in the center, but skewing it off kilter/balance and using corner brackets or decorative corner pieces to accentuate the look? Go as far as you need to go in order to increase the “wow” factor that people will experience the first time they see your page. When it comes to scrapping, first impressions are everything if you can make the right one!

There are limitless possibilities, and your final look will depend on your own style, the materials you are using and what you have to work with. You can really do some amazing things with your scrapbook layouts if you take the time to not only learn as you go along but also to take the advice of others and look at as many scrapbook layouts as you can get your eyes on!

So you might be wondering what kinds of scrapbook items people like to include, especially if you are a newbie. Well, if you think of a scrapbook as like an album full of pictures except that it has the capability to be so much more, you are on the right track. Following are some different types of scrapbook items you could consider for inclusion into your pages.

Tickets

If you are the type who saves everything, not only will you make a great scrapbooker, but you will also have a huge inventory of items to choose from, including the tickets you have saved from every possible event that required a ticket in for as long as you can remember! This can include tickets to the movies, the theater, a rock concert or other musical event, or to the play of a local high school or college drama department.

Tickets could be as simple as raffle tickets from a fair or carnival you visited with a friend or loved one(s). They come in many different forms, but they make great scrapbook memories accents for pages that have pictures of you and your friends or family from the very same event!

Jewelry

While it’s not a good idea to put expensive jewelry in a scrapbook, you might find that adding jewelry that has little monetary value would be a good idea. Beaded necklaces with lettered names, friendship bracelets, plastic rings from the candy machines at the supermarket, and any other tiny accessory that is broken or has gone unused for awhile can help to remind you of a certain period of time and help you visualize it. It might even bring up a story or two about where it came from or how it ended up the way it did.

Cards

While greeting cards - or pieces of them - would be an obvious thought here, I’m not going to limit this section to just those cards with sentimental or funny sayings on them that you gave or received for a birthday or other holiday. Cards might include your first business card from your first real job or your first home-based or self-employed business, a special playing card, sports card or collectible trading card. They all have the benefit of being flat, similar to a photo, and so they are easier to place in a book format than certain more bulky items.

Trinkets

As long as it will fit inside your book, it can be used. Notes, scraps of paper, love letters, pieces of string or cord, fabric, locks of hair, buttons, and many other tiny trinkets make great scrapbooking ideas for your scrapbooks.