13 BEST Scrapbooking Supplies: MUST-HAVES Often Overlooked!

Written by: Dalia Abdalla

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Time to read 11 min

Our ABSOLUTE BEST Scrapbooking Supplies


Before my stationery business, I began with scrapbooking. I practiced it for many years, and know my favorite tools like the back of my hand. Whether you're a seasoned scrapbooker or just starting out, having the right supplies at your fingertips can make all the difference. In this guide of the best scrapbooking supplies, we'll explore the essential tools and materials that every scrapbooker should consider for their crafting arsenal. 

1. Die Cutting Machine


A die-cutting machine is a scrapbooking essential because it provides precision and versatility. It allows scrapbookers to cut out intricate shapes, letters, and designs from various materials like paper, cardstock, and fabric. With this tool, you can add custom elements to your layouts, enhancing the overall creativity and design of your scrapbook pages.


  • Item Dimensions (LxWxH): 14 x 8 x 6.5 inches
  • Operation Mode: Automatic
  • Platform Size: Large (9 x 12.5 inches)
  1. Faster & Quieter Operation: The Gemini Electric Die Cutting & Embossing Machine is designed to operate quickly and quietly, making it efficient for your crafting projects.

  2. Versatile Use: This machine is suitable for a wide range of crafting materials, including heavyweight cardstock, vinyl, foil, and multiple layers of fabric. It can handle intricate designs with ease.

  3. Compatibility: The Gemini is compatible with most leading thin metal dies and embossing folders, giving you flexibility in your crafting choices. 

2. Hot Foil Stamping Machine


Hot foil stamping machines are indispensable for scrapbookers looking to add a touch of elegance and shine to their projects. These machines can create metallic accents, titles, and embellishments that catch the eye and add a luxurious feel to your layouts.


  1. Versatile Foiling: You can create foil accents on a wide range of materials, including cardstock, fabric, ribbon, and leather, giving your projects an elegant and eye-catching finish.

  2. Easy to Use: The system comes with clear instructions, making it user-friendly even for beginners. Simply heat the platform, place the chosen foil plate, and run it through your die-cutting machine.

  3. Wide Compatibility: While it's designed for Spellbinders machines, it's also compatible with other die-cutting machines, such as Sizzix, Tim Holtz Vagabond, and more, that have at least a 6" wide platform and accept steel-rule dies.

  4. Variety of Foil Colors: You can choose from a wide range of foil colors, allowing you to customize your projects with different shades and effects.

  5. Included Accessories: The package includes essential accessories like a Magnetic Pick-up Tool, Heat Resistant Acrylic Spacer Pad, Acrylic Plate, Silicone Cooling Pad, and two Starter Foil Rolls in Gold and Rainbow colors. 

3. Craft Paper Trimmer


A paper trimmer is a must-have for scrapbookers striving for clean, straight cuts. It's an essential tool for achieving well-organized layouts and a polished look in your scrapbooking projects. With precise cutting capabilities, you can ensure that your elements fit seamlessly together.


  1. Multi-Function: This paper trimmer and scoring board offers multiple functions in one tool. It includes a foldable 12 x 12-inch trim and score board, a detachable scoring tool, a paper trimmer, and a crease tool with a convenient storage slot.

  2. Precise Measurements: The board features measurements in both inches and centimeters for precise scoring and trimming. The inch scale is used for paper cutting, while the fold is scaled in centimeters.

  3. Easy to Use & Store: The versatile board has a 12 x 12-inch work area that folds up for space-saving storage. It also includes guides every 1/16 inches for accurate measurements. The titanium blades are easy to replace.


4. Blending Brushes


Blending brushes play a crucial role in scrapbooking by allowing you to add ink or paint to your projects with soft, gradient effects. These brushes enable smooth blending and shading, enhancing the overall aesthetics of your scrapbook pages and making them visually appealing.


  1. High-Quality Bristles: The brushes are made with high-quality, fine bristles that hold their shape, ensuring durability and long-lasting use.

  2. Smooth and Even Applications: The ultra-fine tapered tips of the brushes ensure smooth and even applications of various media, including liquids and powders.

  3. Versatile Usage: These brushes have manmade bristles that can be used with a variety of media, making them versatile tools for different crafting and art projects. 

5. Storage Box


Staying organized is vital for efficient scrapbooking, and storage boxes are a lifeline in achieving that goal. These boxes help you neatly store and access your various tools, papers, and embellishments, ensuring that you can work efficiently and find what you need when you need it.


  1. Multi-layer separation design: The storage box has 5 partition trays that can be placed or taken out according to your purpose and type. The removable tray keeps smaller items neat and organized, while the extra depth allows for larger, bulkier supplies.

  2. 17-Quart Capacity: With a 17-quart capacity and dimensions of 15.94"L x 11.61"W x 7.28"H, this storage box is perfect for arts and crafts supplies, stationery, legos, kids' building blocks, sewing kits, and other small tools.

  3. Perfect Solution for Craft Storage: This plastic storage bin is an ideal solution for organizing art or craft supplies, including colorful beads, sewing art, fishing equipment, figurines, sewing kits, cardstock, and more.

  4. Transparent and Portable Design: The high transparent base and cover allow you to easily identify the contents inside, making it quick to find what you need. The clasp on the lid makes it easy to carry, and it effectively prevents the contents from spilling out. 

6. Clear Stamps


Clear stamps are a scrapbooking essential due to their versatility and precision. They enable you to add images and designs to your pages with ease. Clear stamps can be repositioned and easily aligned, allowing for consistent and professional-looking results in your scrapbooking projects.


  1. Ease of Use: These clear stamps are easy to use. Just apply ink to the stamp and then press it onto paper or cardstock. Wait a few minutes for it to air-dry.

  2. Transparent Design: Each small stamp is transparent, allowing you to see exactly where you're placing it on your project.

  3. Versatile: These stamps are suitable for various crafting projects, including card making, decoration, and scrapbooking.

  4. Holiday and Gift Tag Use: Perfect for creating holiday cards and gift tags with a wide array of designs and themes. 

7. Ink Pad Sets


A variety of ink pad colors is essential for scrapbookers seeking to create colorful and dynamic layouts. Archival-quality inks ensure that your projects remain vibrant and fade-resistant over time, preserving the beauty of your scrapbook pages for years to come.

  1. Vibrant Colors: The ink pads come in multiple colors, including Red, Black, Dark blue, Purple, Dark green, Light green, Light blue, Gold, Silver, Yellow, Pink, and Orange. These vibrant colors allow you to add life and vibrancy to your creations.

  2. Waterproof: Once the ink is dry on paper, it becomes waterproof, ensuring that your designs and artwork remain intact even if they come in contact with moisture.

  3. Verified Quality: Each item is verified by transparency and comes with a unique code that is verified before shipping, ensuring quality assurance.

  4. Cost-Effective: Buying these ink pads in a pack of 15 provides cost savings compared to purchasing them individually. 

8. Photo Corner Protectors


These small but valuable items serve a dual purpose in scrapbooking. They protect your precious photos from damage while also adding a classic, decorative touch to your layouts. Photo corner protectors make it easy to mount pictures without harming them and add an elegant finish to your pages.


  1. Variety of Colors: The product includes 13 sheets of self-adhesive photo corners, each in a different color. This allows for creative and colorful photo album designs.

  2. Ease of Application: These photo corners are self-adhesive, making them easy to apply. No additional glue is required. Simply peel them off from the sheet and attach them directly to your album pages.

  3. Multi-Purpose: Suitable for various applications, including scrapbooks, picture frames, photo albums, memory books, and photo wall decoration.

  4. Quantity: Each sheet contains 24 photo corners, providing ample supplies for your crafting needs.

  5. Diverse Color Palette: With 13 different colors included in the set, you have a wide range of options to match your project's theme or aesthetic. 

9. Alphabet Letter Stickers


Letter stickers are indispensable for adding titles, captions, and text to your scrapbook pages. They come in various fonts and sizes, allowing for creative and personalized typography that enhances the storytelling aspect of your scrapbooking projects.


  • Each package includes 800 pieces of letter stickers across 10 sheets.
  • It contains 260 pieces of capital letters, 260 pieces of lowercase letters, 100 numbers, and 180 signs.
  1. Proper Size: Each sheet measures approximately 20.5 x 22 cm (8.25 x 8.75 inches), and the individual letters, numbers, and signs have suitable heights ranging from 0.59 to 0.98 inches. This versatility allows you to use them for various purposes.

  2. Glitter Design: The stickers feature a glitter design with various styles, including capital and lowercase letters, numbers, stars, signs, hearts, and more. This variety allows for creative and eye-catching decoration. 

10. Hot Foil Plate


Hot foil plates complement hot foil stamping machines by allowing scrapbookers to create intricate foil designs, patterns, and text on their projects. These plates add a luxurious and eye-catching touch to your layouts, making them stand out and feel special.

  1. Versatile Foiling: This hot foil plate is versatile and can be used for various foiling techniques. It can be used to foil the negative spaces of leftover foil from previous projects, add hot foil to die-cut pieces, or create custom hot foil cardstock.

  2. Size Compatibility: The plate measures 4.5 x 5.75 inches, making it suitable for accommodating hot foil plates up to A2 size (A2 size measures 4.25 x 5.5 inches). This size compatibility ensures you can work with a range of foiling projects.

  3. High-Quality Foiling: The plate is designed for high-quality foiling results, ensuring that your foiled projects turn out beautifully. 

11. Die Cuts + Layering Stencils


Die cuts and stencils are fundamental for adding decorative shapes and patterns to your scrapbook layouts. They offer versatility and creativity, allowing you to use them for backgrounds, borders, and embellishments, ultimately enhancing the visual appeal of your pages.

  1. Detailed and Realistic: The stamps have been designed with great attention to detail, allowing you to create realistic and 3D effect flowers with ease.

  2. Layering Effect: The bundle is designed for layering, where you can first stamp the flower outline, add color using the coordinating coloring stencil, and then use the dies to cut out the flower shape, resulting in beautifully layered designs.

  3. Wide Range of DIY Uses: This set is versatile and can be used for various DIY projects, including card making, album crafting, postcards, letters, and other delicate art and crafts projects. It's also suitable for decorating theme cards to be attached to gifts. 

12. Patterned Paper


Patterned paper is a staple in scrapbooking as it adds visual interest and thematic elements to your pages. It serves as a fundamental element for creating appealing designs and setting the tone for your scrapbook's overall theme and style.

  1. Versatility Meets Elegance: This scrapbook paper pad is versatile and elegant, featuring 24 double-sided 12x12" sheets with 24 unique designs. It's perfect for scrapbooking, card making, and other paper crafts.

  2. Premium Quality: The cardstock is acid and lignin-free, ensuring the longevity and preservation of your creations. With a weight of 170gsm / 65lb (cover), it provides durability and a high-quality feel to your projects.

  3. A Sea of Possibilities: You can use this floral-themed paper stack for a wide range of creative projects, including albums, journals, greeting cards, tags, scrapbook layouts, DIY boxes, and mixed media projects. The variety of designs allows for endless creativity. 

13. Sheet Protector


Sheet protectors or page protectors are essential for preserving your completed scrapbook layouts. They prevent damage from handling, dust, or environmental factors, ensuring that your hard work and creativity remain protected and can be enjoyed for years to come.

  1. 500 PACK SHEET PROTECTORS: This product includes 500 sheet protectors, making it suitable for organizing and protecting a large number of documents.

  2. High Quality: The sheet protectors are PVC-free, acid-free, and odor-free, making them ideal for long-term document storage. They are also made of environmentally safe recyclable polypropylene, which is a durable and eco-friendly material.

  3. Crystal Clear Transparency: The clear finish provides reduced glare, making it easy to view and archive documents, copy papers, photos, records, recipes, reference materials, business documents, and photographs. 

What all do I need for scrapbooking?

To start scrapbooking, you will need some basic supplies, including: Paper (acid-free and lignin-free) Adhesive (glue, tape, or adhesive dots) Scissors and/or paper trimmer Photos Embellishments (stickers, ribbons, buttons, etc.) Writing tools (pens, markers, or letter stickers) Page protectors or albums to store your finished pages

How do I start scrapbooking?

To start scrapbooking, follow these steps: Gather your supplies. Choose a theme or event for your scrapbook page. Select your photos and arrange them on the page. Create a layout by adding decorative paper and embellishments. Add journaling or captions to tell the story. Use adhesive to secure everything in place. Place your completed page in a page protector or album.

What are the 3 main elements of a scrapbook?

The three main elements of a scrapbook page are: Photos: The central focus of your page, capturing memories and moments. Journaling: Text or captions that provide context and tell the story. Design/Decor: Decorative elements such as paper, embellishments, and creative layouts that enhance the visual appeal.

How can I get better at scrapbooking?

To improve your scrapbooking skills, consider the following tips: Study scrapbooking magazines, books, and online tutorials for inspiration and techniques. Practice regularly to refine your layout and design skills. Experiment with different styles, colors, and themes to develop your creative abilities. Join a scrapbooking community or take workshops to learn from others and get feedback. Stay organized by keeping your supplies neat and accessible. Don't be afraid to make mistakes; they can lead to creative discoveries. Keep a scrapbooking journal or sketchbook to jot down ideas and layouts for future projects. Most importantly, enjoy the process and let your personal style shine through in your scrapbook pages.

Modern Pink Paper Author - Dalia Abdalla

Dalia Abdalla

Owner & Head Designer, Modern Pink Paper

Dalia is the creative force behind Modern Pink Paper. With a keen eye for detail and a love for all things stationery, she embarked on this journey to provide personalized stationery solutions. When she's not crafting beautiful paper creations, Dalia is sharing her insights and inspirations on this blog, ensuring that her readers always have a touch of beauty and creativity in their lives.