We’ve talked before at Sprout for Parents about gathering your memories and photos together to begin Scrapbooking in a post called How to get Started Preserving Those Growing Memories. But what do you do after you are organized and ready to make your pages come alive? I have no idea but I know someone who does! Sheila, who blogs at SHEILACAKES, is an avid scrapbooker and here’s her advice for prettying up our pages!—Diana
When you start scrapbooking it is a fun and creative hobby to have. I have never been “artistic”, I can’t draw very well and painting is out of the question so I thought was a great way to express myself. I started out like many other scrapbookers before and after me. I was dazzled by the millions of different patterned papers. The stickers, they had normal stickers and sticker embellishments for everything you can think of from anniversaries to zoo visits. The store even had stickers about scrapbooking it’s self.
Naturally, I bought a pad of patterned paper and some sticker embellishments. I also purchased a trusty glue stick and was on my way to creating some pages. I didn’t know there are so many more embellishments besides those stickers. I thought I would share some of them with you, since they add so many more dimensions to pages, than stickers do. There is nothing wrong with using just stickers, I like to try out different things and other embellishments are another creative way to design your pages.
Ribbon is one of my favorite embellishments, because it is so versatile. Besides using it to wrap packages and presents, you can use it in scrapbooking many different ways. I have used it to make titles on pages; I have also used it as a page border also as a homemade frame. You can also put bows on your pages. It really is a fun and cheap embellishment you can get creative with and a good way to repurpose ribbon you receive on a gift or from a package.
As moms, I am sure we have all had buttons fall off our or our children’s clothes. Well why not incorporate those buttons in a page; perhaps on a page with a photo of your child wearing that outfit? You can buy all types of buttons at the store too. My suggestion is to use what I call flat buttons because the buttons with the loop on the back of them make the page too bulky in the book and can be difficult to attach.
To add to the fact that I am not “artistic” I am also left handed so, me cutting out shapes of items and animals is out of the question. There are wonderful things called Die-Cuts, which are usually cars, stars, shapes, animals, trains, planes and whatever you can imagine precut out. They can add a cool effect especially if your child is wearing a turtle Halloween costume and you use a turtle die cut to give it that extra special look. They are also great in different fonts for titles and lettering. They are also a great time saver when you don’t have to spend the time cutting them out and making it precise. Seriously, who can really get the middle of an o cut perfectly?
Speaking of titles, I really like chipboard. Chipboard can be the thickness of heavy cardboard. It is usually already decorated, but you can find blank chipboard if you want to do a certain color or theme. One thing I learned from using chipboard is, there is normally adhesive already on the back of it. If not it is not hard to attach yourself. You could even make a really cool title using chipboard, ribbon and a hole punch. Chipboard comes in all sizes and colors and even some shapes.
I also like to include stamped images in my pages. You can even use stamps to design your own patterned paper by taking a white or colored piece of paper and stamping all over it in whatever stamp you choose. There are tons of things you can do with stamps in scrapbooking. A couple hints are make sure you let the ink dry before you touch it or put it in your protective cover, and it is easier to use matte paper when you are stamping than glossy. Ink on glossy paper smears really easily and that could possibly ruin your entire page.
Remember when you were a little kid and you made those creatures with the movable arms and legs and you used those little gold things called brads? Those are also a great scrapbooking embellishment but you use them differently. You can use them to attach things to your pages or to give your picture little bit of character by placing them in the corners of the picture. When I first heard of them I went on a hunt for the gold ones I remembered from my childhood. Instead I found brads in different colors, shapes, and even jeweled ones. We have some with planes and cars at my house. They are hidden away from my three year old that would want to grab them up instantly and they would get lost forever.
Eyelets are similar to brads. They are little metal things that you use a tool to smash them. There are a few different types of eyelet setters you can use. They look really good when you use them but they can be difficult to work. I haven’t really had the best of luck with them, but I have managed about half the time to get it right. Like brads they come in all colors and sizes and shapes. They look great when you are attaching a tag to your page.
The last embellishment I want to talk to you about is called a Prima. A prima is a fancy word for flower. There many different kinds of them in all sizes from tiny to huge. You can put a brad in the center as the flower middle or you could use a button, both look great depending on the size of the prima. A thrifty way to have primas is buy some fake flowers like daisies and take them apart and use the petals. You can mix and match the colors of primas to give extra depth to the page too.
There are some other embellishments out there for you to try as well. There are so many neat techniques that you can do that I wish I had time to share with you today. Scrapbooking is just about being creative and having fun and creating beautiful albums that you can show off and pass on throughout the years. It is also a great way to spend with your children, family and friends getting together and making memories while you preserve the ones that you have already made.
Do any of you scrapbookers out there have ideas to share with us? Tell us how you embellish your photos. Or show us by uploading pictures of your pages by following the directions below.