If you’ve been following the Creative Memories blog over the past couple of weeks, you’ve noticed that we’ve been sharing lots of tips and ideas to help busy Moms complete memory albums for their precious babies. In my blog post last week titled 10 Scrapbook Album Making Tips for New Moms, I talked about setting yourself up for success and offered tips like gathering your tools into one place for easy access. But it occurred to me that a mom (or anyone) who is brand new to scrapbooking is probably overwhelmed when attempting to figure out which tools are really necessary, so I thought it might be helpful to go over the tools that I feel are Must-Haves (when creating any type of album) and which tools are the Oh-So-Nice-to-Haves!
1) Tape Runner. You can’t stick those photos on the albums pages without it! I’m obviously biased, but Creative Memories Tape Runner is the best photo-safe adhesive around. I love the ergonomic design of the holder and how easy it is to drop in the refill cartridges. And you can switch between the regular-size adhesive cartridge and the mini-adhesive cartridge in seconds! Definitely make sure you have some of this on hand!
2) Dual Tip Pen. A must-have for journaling, Creative Memories Dual-Tip Pens are the only pens I trust to record all my stories and memories! Perfect for recording all the details of baby’s life! The ink dries quickly and is photo safe so you can be sure that your journaling will be easy to read for years to come. The pen has a fine tip and a bold tip, so you can choose to be fine and precise or big and bold.
3) Two-Way Corner Rounder. An easy way to change the look of your photos, paper edges or Slide-In Cards with just a couple of squeezes. The two-way mechanism in this unique corner rounder allows you to round or notch the corners for two different looks.
4) Multi-Purpose Tool. My favorite! It’s always by my side to help me position stickers or gently pry up a misplaced photo or embellishment. I’ve also used it to emboss lines and fold paper into cards. This tool is truly indispensable!
5) Personal Trimmer. This little guillotine-style trimmer cuts my photos so precisely. Typically, I keep most of my photos in the standard 4 x 6 size, but sometimes I like to trim a 4 x 6 down to a 4 x 4 so it will fit on the page a little better. It’s also handy to creatively crop distracting background elements out of photos and keep all attention on baby! And one of the things I love most about this trimmer is the handy little drawer that I can store all my other must have tools in!
So there you have it – my 5 Must-Have tools. What are my picks for Nice-to-Have tools you ask? Let me share some of my favorite extras!
12” Straight Trimmer. if you want to try your hand at some traditional scrapbooking a trimmer that can cut 12” paper is a must. This one has easy to read markings and the blade gives a straight, true cut. You can also use it for other crafty paper projects like making cards, decorations, party favors and more!
Border Maker. Oh my cuteness! The Border Maker is the easiest way to add a custom touch to any scrapbook page. Currently there are 11 different border designs, with more being added in future. I LOVE the newest member of the Border Maker Family – the Button Chain Cartridge – because it is perfect on sweet baby boy or girl scrapbook pages.
Stand Alone Punches. The new Thought Bubble Punch is getting a lot of use in my projects. If baby could talk, what would he or she say? You can add fun cartoon-like thoughts to any picture with this cute stand-alone punch. And the Decorative Arcs Border Punch adds a lovely layer to borders, pages, cards and other crafts quickly and easily. SOOOO gorgeous!
And here are the easy (and cute!) layouts I created using these fabulous tools! A Multi Pocket Page layout with photos, Hello Baby Slide-In Cards and Stickers…
…a traditional layout using Hello Baby Paper Pack, Slide-in Cards and Embellishments…
…and a Hello Baby Fast 2 Fab Page with additional ABC/123 Stickers, Embellishments and Cardstock.
I hope I’ve helped you prioritize your shopping list of tools into Must-Haves and Nice-to-Haves! Speaking of shopping, I must head out to get a new pair of shoes. Maybe a pair of Manolo’s would be Nice-to Have! (wink!)
Noreen