Scrapbooking is a fun way to create a personalized gift, or record your precious memories in a truly unique, gorgeous way.
It allows you to be as creative as you’d like while preserving treasured memories. With scrapbooking, you are allowed to be minimalistic or very elaborate – depending on your style, so there’s no limit on skills or what type of supplies you will need.
If you don’t know what to get when starting your first scrapbook, buying a scrapbook kit can be a great start, but how do you know what to look for when you’re brand new to the fun?
What are the best scrapbook kits? The best scrapbook kits offer a variety of high-quality scrapbooking materials as well a sturdy book of the right design and theme to fit your tastes and preferences.
Here are some things to keep in mind when shopping for scrapbook kits.
Buyer’s Guide To Scrapbook Kits
Depending on your skill levels and how creative you’d like to be with your scrapbook, there are so many different ways to start.
When buying your first scrapbook kits, you should consider the theme, the design of the book itself – do you glue or tape your photos, concert tickets, etc. or stick them in a vinyl sleeve? – as well as all the supplies that are included.
Most scrapbook kits will give you some or all of the supplies in the list below, but first, you should consider the theme of the story you’d like to tell in your scrapbook. The theme of your scrapbook – whether it’s love, graduation, travel, or something else – will help you buy a cohesive set of supplies and help you pull everything together without much effort.
A scrapbook kit can help you do most of the mixing-and-matching of paper, stickers, and embellishments, so you only have to worry about picking a theme, and pick a scrapbook kit that matches your needs.
Once you’ve picked a theme for your scrapbook, let’s look at some of the common supplies that are included in a scrapbook kit.
Album
An album is a staple in almost every scrapbook kit. The two most popular sizes for scrapbook albums are 12×12” and 8.5×11” (A4 or standard printing paper size).
We recommend buying these sizes because it will be much easier to buy filler papers if you need more pages in your album.
Most manufacturers do sell filler papers that accommodate their album sizes, so if you’d like to diverge from the common sizes, make sure you can buy filler papers from the same manufacturer so all of the papers match – unless you’re purposely going for a quirky, mismatched look!
With an album, you will have the option of decorating the cover page yourself or use the default cover page design. If you’d like to customize your scrapbook, you should consider an album that lets you decorate the cover page yourself.
It’s also important to get the right kind of scrapbook for you. Traditionally, scrapbooks are about gluing or taping your photos and keepsakes to the page and decorating the surrounding area with notes, stories, and more. We’ve favored this type when picking out kits below, since it’s what most people think of.
However, there are alternatives that allow you to arrange paper items on a page and cover it with an almost adhesive, airtight covering. These are great for items that may fade with air exposure and are often easier for the less artistic types. Plus, many of these allow you to remove your memories later, in case you’d rather store them another way.
Card Stocks and Patterned Paper
Most scrapbook enthusiasts consider cardstock and patterned paper must-haves in their scrapbooking drawer.
Cardstock is a type of thick and solid paper, commonly used to be the background for your decorations and your photos. Many people also tear up cardstock to create interesting textures and designs in their scrapbook pages.
Patterned papers help you add interesting designs and textures to your scrapbook page without much effort. There are so many different designs that can accommodate different themes, and it is a creative way to elevate your scrapbook.
Stencils, Stickers, and Embellishments
There are so many ways that you can add small details and finishing touches to your scrapbook, but the most common tools used are stencils, stickers, stamps, and other embellishments.
Stencils are cut-out shapes that you can trace with a marker to transfer the design to your paper. You can also use stickers or glue on embellishments like buttons or dry flowers to make your design more interesting.
Washi Tapes and Adhesives
It goes without saying, but adhesives are very important when you put your scrapbook together. You should make sure that the adhesive is dependable and long-lasting, so you don’t have to worry about your designs falling off after a while.
The most common types of adhesives are two-sided tapes or glue, but you can consider other types of adhesives that are recommended for scrapbooking.
Washi tapes are another creative way to stick your photos onto your pages while also adding fun designs to the page! There are a ton of washi tape designs out there, so you can pick out the best ones that match your theme.
Pens and Markers
If you’d like to add notes, share stories, or doodle in your scrapbook, you definitely need a dependable black fine-tip pen, as well as a variety of permanent markers in different colors.
When selecting your pens and markers, make sure that the ink is smudge-proof and long-lasting. This quality will help your scrapbook stay new for a long time, as the ink won’t fade or smudge. If you are looking to invest in serious pens and markers for your scrapbooking, we also have a full article on this.
The Best Scrapbook Kits
Now that you know some of the basic supplies that you can get in a scrapbook kit, let’s go over some of the best offers on the market:
Rank | Product | Kit Includes |
---|---|---|
1. | FaCraft Vintage Scrapbooking Kit | Clamshell album, 15 page protecters, 15 patterned papers, 3D stickers, 3 die-cut sheets, wood flower, 6 accessories |
2. | Adkwse DIY Scrapbook Photo Album | Book, 60 pages, 9 sticker sheets, yellow and white tape |
3. | Our Adventure Book | Book, 50 sheets, 9 colored pens, 6 photo corner sheets |
4. | YILEEY Scrap Book | Book, 40 sheets, 10 metalic marker pens, 5 stencils, 9 sticker sheets, photo corner |
5. | DIY Scrapbook Kit Photo Album | Book, 3D stickers, die cut sheets, adhesive sheets and patterned papers |
Each kit is slightly different. After all, every scrapbook is unique, so even the best kits will need some variety to match your unique needs.
So let’s look at each kit in more detail so you can pick the best starting point for your memory masterpiece.
1. FaCraft Vintage Scrapbooking Kit
This sophisticated scrapbook kit has pretty much everything you can ask for in a scrapbook kit, including an album with 15 page protectors, 15 patterned paper, a 3D sticker, three die-cut sheets, wood flourishes, and various embellishments. You can choose from two options of colors, with all the accessories to match!
The album is 8×8”, which is a smaller size compared to the standard scrapbook sizes. The album has a beautiful vintage-looking lock and you can customize the cover to fit the theme of your scrapbook.
The album has 15 page protectors, so you will have to make the pages individually and insert them into the plastic sleeves. But on the plus side, they will be protected and your design will definitely last longer.
As far as a scrapbook kit goes, this set has all the decorations that you can ask for, and you don’t have to worry about mixing and matching the stickers or paper. However, it does not come with any adhesives or pens, so you will have to pull from your own supplies.
2. Adkwse DIY Scrapbook Photo Album
This scrapbook photo album is a classic choice for those who want to achieve a clean, minimalistic look. The kit comes with an 8.5×11” photo album with 30 black pages, scrapbooking stickers, and some tapes. You can select one out of five color options for your album cover.
Although this scrapbook looks like a vintage album with metal corners on the outside, the inside is structured like a three-ring binder, so you can feel free to add more pages if you’d like. This design also prevents your pages from creasing over time. That’s a great bonus!
The black pages are an interesting choice. You can keep it very minimalist by just using photos and a few accents with stickers and tapes, or you can use metallic or white-colored markers to doodle and write notes on the page. Your design will surely stand out on these black pages!
This set also comes with a box for the album, so it would be perfect if you are making a scrapbook as a present to someone. This chic, classic look is quite timeless, perfect to hold your treasured memories.
3. YILEEY Scrap Book
This scrapbook kit is another black classic design that allows you to be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. The 12” by 9” album has 40 thick black pages. The hardcover is also black, but you can choose to decorate and customize the cover as you please.
Compared to the previous kit, this one has a simpler album design, but it comes with a lot more supplies. In this kit, you will get 10 metallic markers, 5 stencils, 6 sheets of stickers, and 2 sheets of photo corners to hold your photos – so it’s quite a full range kit that can help you be as creative as you’d like.
The album looks quite minimalistic and beautiful, with a spiral-bound and ribbon to tie the whole look together. The spiral-bound will prevent the pages from creasing, and it has a classic look that will withstand the test of time.
Although the album looks like a blank canvas that can be intimidating to a lot of beginners, this kit allows you to test your limit and pour out your creativity, especially with the metallic markers on black paper.
Otherwise, you can keep it minimalistic by just adding photos and small captions underneath, which will create a timeless look without much effort.
4. Our Adventure Book Scrapbook Kit
Our Adventure Book is a modern classic, especially for those who are fans of the Pixar film Up. This scrapbook is a great way to show your taste and sense of adventure and is definitely a noteworthy choice to create a stylish scrapbook.
The scrapbook itself is 10.4×7.3”, and the pages are bound together with two ropes, creating a retro design similar to the scrapbook in the film. The album covers are made of hard cardboards, and the scrapbook includes 50 thick craft papers for you to fill up with your creativity.
In this kit, you will also get some colored pens and self-adhesive photo corners, which will help you attach your photos to the album.
This is a small selection for a scrapbook kit, so if you want to add a bit of spice to your scrapbook design, you will need to buy more stickers, washi tapes, and embellishments. But if you prefer a minimalist or classic color scheme, you may be happy not to have just a few simple options.
However, if you want to keep it simple, this selection is more than enough to help you create doodles, add photos and write small notes. The scrapbook’s design speaks for itself, so you won’t have to worry about adding too much and still get a stylish project!
5. DIY Scrapbook Kit Photo Album
This scrapbook kit includes a 10.25×8.88” hardcover album with 10 page protectors, 3D stickers, die-cut sheets, adhesive sheets, and patterned paper. This set has a cleaner, more modern design with dusty pink as the main color.
You can customize the album with a photo at the front, and be as creative as you’d like with the pages to create your scrapbook. Similar to the first set, you will have to create your design on paper and insert the page in the album, but that means your design will be protected!
All the accessories and embellishments prove to be more than enough to help you create a beautiful, cohesive and elaborate scrapbook. If you want to keep it simple, just use dotted glue and a black pen to doodle some details, and you’ll end up with a beautiful scrapbook without much effort!
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