Essential Tools to Take to a Crop Event

Important Items to Pack for a Scrapbooking Workshop

Aug 5, 2009 Colleen Boudreau

Scrapbookers who have an abundance of tools can have a difficult time deciding what to bring to a crop. The following tips will help these artists choose what to pack.

Knowing how to pack for scrapbook crop events and workshops is largely a matter of taste. While each scrapbooker has her own unique design style, there are some basic items that should be included in the packing list. Taking care to include the following essential tools will help ensure scrapbook enthusiasts have everything they need to create basic layouts.

Cutting Tools

One 12-inch paper trimmer with replacement blades is generally all a scrapbooker requires to meet the majority of her straight edged cutting needs. Bringing additional photo or personal sized trimmers will take up extra packing space as well as extra surface space that could be devoted to other essential tools.

One pair of straight edged scissors will be beneficial for those trimming jobs that are too small for a paper cutter. Those that regularly use decorative edged scissors would be wise to narrow their choices down to the one or two pairs most often used as the chances of using more than that in a 4 to 6 hour period of time are usually slim.

For those crafters that prefer some variety in the shape of their photos and photo mats, one set of circle or oval cutters is generally sufficient when attending a shorter crop ( 4 to 6 hours). Hexagon and other shaped cutters would be optional depending upon the users design style and taste and the the amount of crop time available.

Journaling Utensils

Scrapbookers have different tastes when it comes to writing tools. In the interest of saving space it is best for those attending shorter events to pack only the type of journaling utensils they use most regularly plus one extra in case the other runs dry. Scrapbookers should also bring at least one pencil and a good quality pencil sharpener for lightly marking placements on layouts.

Choosing Scrapbook Paper

Deciding on what papers to bring can be one of the most difficult parts of the packing process. Scrapbookers can narrow down their paper choices considerably by first looking carefully at their choice of photos and then picking colours and patterns that fit the theme and colour scheme of only those photos.

Choosing a maximum of 3 solid and 3 patterned or specialty papers per double page spread will greatly reduce the amount of excess paper to be packed. Scrapbookers that want to save sorting time can purchase pre-assembled kits from their local scrapbook store that fit the themes of their layout pages . Alternatively, scrapbookers that have extra time can create their own layout packages.

Deciding on Embellishments

Scrapbookers will save space by narrowing down the type and colours of embellishments to use to enhance their layouts. While it can be tempting to bring an assortment of every embellishment in the craft room, it is possible to scale down the amount of embellishments and still have a few extra to experiment with.

If one's brad and eyelet collection contains a variety of hues in many different colour groups the scrapbooker can choose from the following options to reduce the amount of embellishments to bring along.

Pick one hue of each colour needed such as candy pink, baby blue and light lilac and lemon yellow, or
Choose only 2 colour groups — blue and red for example — and take all the hues that belong to those two colour groups.

All brads and eyelets of similar colour groups can then be packed together in one mini craft compartment.

Templates and Stencils

This category includes shape stencils for photo mats, embossing and chalking stencils and alphabet, title and phrase stencils. Since these items are very thin in size scrapbookers can bring as many as they want that will fit into one archival safe folder depending upon the users needs. This folder can then easily be slipped between other layout or project folders.

Trying to scale down ones personal scrapbooking inventory to a few essential tools can be difficult. The key to deciding what to bring lies in how long the event will last and how many items can realistically be used in that time frame. Reducing the number of tools packed allows the scrapbooker more space for designing her pages and idea sharing with fellow artists.

The copyright of the article Essential Tools to Take to a Crop Event in Crafts is owned by Colleen Boudreau. Permission to republish Essential Tools to Take to a Crop Event in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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