Best Adhesives for Papercrafts, Card Making, and Scrapbooking

Let's start with what not to buy!

Before you buy any adhesives for your scrapbooking, card making, or papercrafts, know this ... you need to purchase acid-free adhesives. Make sure the label has the words ''acid-free''. Why? Because acids and photographs do not mix!

If you use any old adhesive, over time, a chemical reaction occurs and you will eventually be left with discolored and deteriorating photographs and layouts.

Want to know how I know? Because like many others, when I first started, I used my kid's low-cost and low-quality gluesticks for sticking bits and pieces down. Rookie error!

These days when I'm purchasing adhesives, I look for words such as pH-neutral, acid-free, or archival safe. Using the right adhesive for your scrapbook is crucial.

The three types of adhesives you need to know about!

Alright, now that you know to only buy acid-free adhesives, let's talk about the different types. There are generally three different types of adhesives used in scrapbooking and papercraft: wet adhesives, dry adhesives, and low tack adhesives.

Wet adhesives are what we usually think of as ''glue'' and come in pastes, liquids, or spray cans. A lot of paper crafters limit the use of wet adhesives as paper that is even slightly too wet turns quickly into warped paper when it dries. There are safer adhesive alternatives out there!

Dry adhesives are tapes, photo corners, sticky dots, and tabs. These are great for scrapbooking and papercrafts and allow you to be just that little bit more creative.

Low tack adhesives are much less sticky and are generally used for temporarily holding things in place. They usually come in the form of sheets or tape.

Now that you know about buying acid-free and steering clear of too many wet adhesives, let's talk about the best adhesives for scrapbooking, cardmaking, and papercrafts!

Glue sticks

Glue sticks are a must-have for scrapbooking, card making, and papercrafts and are often one of the first adhesives you will purchase as they are just so incredibly useful. Glue sticks are usually inexpensive and can be used for attaching nearly any lightweight paper or card together, or even to stick your photographs down.

Most people use way too much as they think this is required to make it stick. However, this will only warp your paper or photograph. Use it sparingly and make sure to buy one with the words ''acid-free'' on it.

Bonus Tip: If you're new to scrapbooking, make sure to check out our blog post on Scrapbook Supplies: 7 'Must-Have' Items!

Photo corners

Photo corners are a beautiful decorative touch when it comes to scrapbooking, cardmaking, and papercraft. They are a triangular-shaped piece of paper or card that comes in a variety of pre-made sizes, colors, and patterns with a sticky adhesive on the back.

Photos corners are used to - you guessed it - attach a photo to your project! They are great because they allow you to stick your picture down without actually damaging the picture. Photos can even be swapped out for another one as it sits inside the triangle itself and it's the triangle that is stuck down to your scrapbooking page or card.

Photo corners also act as a nice design feature on your page!

Washi tape

Washi tapes are addictive. They are nearly as addictive as buying scrapbooking paper. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Washi tape is a durable, flexible tape that comes in a variety of beautiful patterns and colors. It acts as both an embellishment and an adhesive for sticking things down and is often used on the page as a design element whether you actually need to stick something down or not.

Glue dots

Glue dots are a double-sided small ''blob'' of glue that is ideal for adding 3-D embellishments to your pages such as ribbon, buttons, or paper flowers. The dots are applied with pressure and once you push down to make it stick, they usually can't be moved without ripping the paper.

These are a super handy adhesive and a lot of fun. They are great for adding a dramatic 3-D effect to your page!

Spray adhesive

Spray adhesive is a type of wet adhesive and therefore isn't used as much for scrapbooking, however, it has its place when sticking down large areas of card or paper on your scrapbooking page.

I love it for creating backgrounds where I'm basically covering the whole page with another layer of paper. For e.g. If I want to create a background using torn up paper scraps, then I can lightly spray my card stock with the spray adhesive and layer my strips of paper down quickly and easily.

Double-sided foam adhesive

Double-sided foam adhesive comes in a tape-like roll (called foam mounting tape) or in a pack of pre-cut squares. Both are ideal for adding a 3-D effect such as making your lettering or embellishments pop out of the page. Once you buy some, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it and it will become a regular on the pages of your scrapbooks and cards.

Just stick a few squares on your embellishment (or cut a piece from your roll), peel the protective sticker off the side that's exposed, and stick it down. Just make sure it's on the right spot before you press down and completely adhere it!

Glue tape roller

A glue tape roller is such a handy little product! It comes in a little dispenser exactly the same as white out or correction tape but acts as a double-sided sticky tape. Basically, you just hold it in your hand, press down, and roll it over the area you need to apply adhesive to.

It's amazing for sticking both photographs and flat paper embellishments down.

Photo tabs

Photo tabs are double-sided tape squares that are specifically intended to mount photographs. Unlike the double-sided foam adhesive, they can usually be re-positioned for a few minutes when you first stick them down so you can quickly fix any mistakes... like a slightly skewed photograph.

You can even buy them with an applicator box, where you just hold it down on your page and press down to transfer the photo tab to your paper.

Final Thoughts

When you first start out with scrapbooking, card making, or papercraft, you definitely don't need to go out and buy all of these different types of adhesives. Start with a great quality acid-free glue stick and build up from there with one or two options such as a double-sided foam adhesive. Just remember to buy acid-free and avoid too many wet type adhesives.

Happy scrapping and card making!

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Here's some other scrapbooking articles that you may find helpful

Scrapbooking For Beginners: How To Use Embellishments To Create Gorgeous Layouts

How to Make a Scrapbook With That Old Box of Photos

How To Scrapbook With Basic Supplies From Around The House