I'm coming back to scrapbooking- need advice

[karebear1]

It's been 4 years since I last scrapbooked anything and boy have thing schganged in the scrapbooking field since then!! I'm ready to start up again- and have tons to do! Can you scrappers help me out? What can you not do without for your scrapping days? Any new gadgets, pens, embellishments you absolutely must have? What about glues? Any advice would be greaqtly apprecited. OH! When you post, if you would please tell me what you use these things for I appreciate that as well! TIA

[patchchild]

I'm so into metal! Brads, eyelets, metalic words, frames, shapes. Anything that adds a bit of something solid and tangible to the pages. It's absolutely amazing what's out there.

[graygables]

I love (L-O-V-E) the tape runner by 3L. It is the best by far for my dollar. I also use the flat glue dots for things like ribbon and heavier embellishments. I've gotten more into ribbons, fibers, and brads (don't like eyelets that much). Magic mesh is great for adding a dimensional layer under, say, alphabet tiles. I seem to be tearing paper a lot and using inks or chalks around the edges of pages, tags, etc. I've also been using "pop dots" (foam squares) under die cuts to give them a bit more dimension in addition to the ink/chalk on them.

I love the coluzzle cutting system (use the mat for brad placement, too), but the CM one is nice, as well. I recommend a 12" trimmer with a ruler that opens to the side as well as a smaller "guillotine" for photo trimming (I don't like "sliders" for this as it dulls the blades faster, then tears the photo) One tool I get a lot of use from is the CM multi-tool (I think?). It's great for placing stickers, moving things that got put down wrong, and rubons.