There are almost as many types of adhesives for paper crafting as there are types of papers. One thing all adhesives for scrapbooks (or anywhere else photos are used) should all have in common is that they should be acid free.

Some of our favorite adhesives are shown in the photo at right:

Spray Mount is a great way to adhere large pieces of paper to one another, as it sprays a thin layer of adhesive over the entire surface of the paper.

The Pop Dots and Mini-Pop Dots shown next to the Spray Mount in the photo at right are small foam dots with an aggressive adhesive on both sides. They not only adhere papers, but they lift the paper over them off the page, thereby giving the page dimension. If you want some elements higher than others, don't be afraid to stack several Pop Dots on top of one another, before adhering your element to the page.

Pop Dots Tip: Don't throw anything away, once you've used the dots, cut apart the backing materials -- it's made out of the same stuff with the exact same adhesive glue as the dots themselves. Since you always mount the dots on the back side of paper, it doesn't matter if the adhesive mount is round or not -- just use as many pieces of the backing material as you need to glue your project.

To the right of the Pop Dots at the top of the photo is a glue stick, which is a wonderful and inexpensive way of adhering smaller pieces of paper. Glue sticks usually give you a minute or so to reposition your paper, should you not get placement exactly right the first time.

To the right of the glue stick on the photo are Glue Dots. The dots come placed on a roll of paper. They are a strong aggressive adhesive useful for adhering page embellishments or other paper crafting tasks where you need a strong glue. To use the glue dots, simply press the object to be glued against the paper holding the glue dot to transfer it, then press to the paper you wish to adhere to.

Below the glue cots is a roll of double sided tape. This adhesive is invaluable as it can invisibly attach two pieces of paper together.

Next to the double sided tape are adhesive runners. You can use these to place a single line of adhesive, or a line of adhesive dots, exactly where you want to place them -- you simply drag the runner over the area where you want the adhesive to go, and voila, you have a line of glue there. The adhesive runners come with either permanent or repositionable adhesives.

Xyron Machine

One of the handiest ways to adhere paper is by using a Xyron machine. This handy machine turns any piece of paper into a sticker by covering the back with a thin layer of continuous adhesive. In the photo we are turning some paper strips into border stickers. The machine is easy to use and needs no electricity or batteries -- just put the paper in, turn the handle and you've got stickers.

Xyron machines comes in lots of sizes and widths. If you;re going to make the investment in one, I'd recommend going for a larger one (like the model 510, which makes stickers up to 5 inches wide, or even a large model), as these models have interchangeable adhesive cartridges which allow you to use permanent or repositionable adhesives, laminate your paper in plastic, or even make laminated magnets. The cartridges slip in and out quickly and easily. This gardet is so easy to use, a child could do it.

While a little pricey, the Xyron machine makes paper crafting easy and yields perfect results every time -- we use ours all the time and wonder how we ever lived without it.

Xyron Machine Tip: Get the most out of your Xyron adhesive cartridges by making sure you're using as much of the adhesive as possible. For instance, in the photo above, instead of making one border piece at a time, we put as many next to each other as the machine would hold, so that we're using every bit of the adhesive sheet.

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