Scrapbooking Layouts Tips and Tricks and How-To Part I

Hello there!

Have you ever felt overwhelmed with so many products and different designers in our scrapbook market today? Have you felt the need to go back to basics? I feel like that sometimes. And, after talking to some of my crafty friends, I realized I'm not alone. We all have different ways of doing things and different approaches. The beauty of scrapbooking is that there are no mistakes. It's simply our own style, our own inspiration and our own interpretation that makes an art of it all. Nonetheless, I want to share some not so old (just a little bit old) scrapbook layouts and my thoughts on them. Hope you can get a sense of direction back to simplicity and lots of artistic inspiration.

Make your own brads and use the prints on the paper for your advantage
The center on the black flower was made with a glass bead. I simply wrote the word love on a paper of my choice and used a clear glue such as Glossy Accents to adhere paper to the bead. Then cut the excess paper.

The postage stamp on the upper right corner of the photograph is part of the background paper. I simply cut the bottom part with a cutting knife and slipped my picture under. It makes a nice extra accent.

Create your own stickers 

The bee on the upper right corner of the photograph was cut from the same paper used in the background. I glue it with a foam square to create dimension and added Tim Holtz Stickles to it.

Enhance the decorations of your paper
A ribbon bow with button was added to the already existing tree on the background paper for an eye catching decoration. Also, the picture below shows some of the same techniques explained above. Stickers were created from the same paper used in the background. The butterfly on the upper right corner was being blocked by the photograph. I simply cut it out and made a sticker with it. The trees and butterfly at the bottom that are overlapping the photograph were cut with a cutting knife and the picture was slipped under it for a nice accent.

Hand stitch your paper
I created a flower bunch with cut out circles, scallop circles, ribbon, and hand stitched leaves and swirls.

Combined different color, style and textured ribbons

Be adventurous with your ribbon and fibers. Mix and match different colors, styles, textures and even new and old, modern and vintage. It really adds interest to your pages!

Make your own flowers and dress up your pages in simple ways

You can easily make your own flowers instead of buying them. You can make flowers out of so many different mediums such as fabric, paper, vellum, metal, and so on. You can add your own style and twist to it. One place you can check out for hundreds of tutorials on how to make flowers is YouTube. You can also add buttons, lace, pearls, feathers and many other embellishments to your flowers to make them stand out. And you can always use your left overs to decorate your page even further (see lace on the page below).

 And one last thing, it's alright to go simple, especially when you have big pictures. Simplicity is always effortless and beautiful on its own. You also don't need to conform yourself to every trend that's out there. It's your page and it should represent YOU! And don't forget, have fun with it.

Happy Crafting & Cheers!

- (This is the first part of a two part blog) -