Embellishments Lesson

Embellishments Lesson

Tools needed for this lesson: 

Raid your craft boxes and art and office supplies for some great scrapbook embellishments! The sky’s the limit.
Glue dots and strong liquid glue are great adhesives for bulkier embellishments.

Lesson:

The list of items you can use as embellishments for your scrapbook pages goes on and on. Here are a few common (and a few not-so-common) embellishments and some quick ideas on how to use them to decorate your scrapbook pages:

Alphabet Tiles – Use tiles from an old game of Scrabble® for a title on your page. You can also buy imitation alphabet tiles that look similar to Scrabble® letters that come on a sheet of cardstock. Create your own alphabet tiles by printing your letters on cardstock and cutting them into small rectangles. Chalk the edges and you’ve got homemade alphabet tiles without the bulk. Take it a step further, and include different colors of paper and font styles. Use foam adhesive behind your letter tiles to make the letters look three-dimensional.

Beads – String them on wire or thread to create a frame or other design for your page. Glue individual beads to your page to use as confetti, grains of sand, or eyes on a paper doll or paper piecing. You can find beads in craft stores and scrapbook stores in all different colors, sizes and shapes. The possibilities are endless! Mix and match sizes of beads for variety. Attach strings of beads in the same way in which you attach wire.

Beaded Trim – Beaded trim is becoming more and more popular. This ribbon trim has strings of beads hanging from it and can be purchased in craft and sewing stores. It can be found in all sorts of colors and styles with beautiful beads and sequins. Use them to add some pizzazz to a frame, or to create a border on your page.

Brads – Brads are an easy embellishment! Just poke a hole in your paper, stick the brad through the hole and press down the tabs to make it stay. They now come in various colors, shapes and sizes. Use brads to hold down vellum or tags, as the center of letters, or to create a hinged journaling box.

Buttons – Do you have a stash of buttons from your sewing box? They make fantastic embellishments for scrapbook pages! Sew them onto your page with embroidery thread or wire, or glue them to your page. They make great decorative elements and because of the variety of shapes and sizes, they can be used in countless ways. Create borders of buttons in various colors, button-centered flowers, frames, photo corners, and more!

Charms – Charms aren’t just for bracelets anymore. They can dangle on your page and tell a story all by themselves. Charms are detailed metal embellishments that can be found in shapes and themes that fit your life and photos perfectly. Depending on the style of charm you are using, they can be attached with thread, wire or glue and will add an elegant aspect to your layout.

Die Cuts – Whether you choose a basic die cut, or a laser cut die cut with intricate details, die cuts make great additions to your layouts. They are a very quick embellishment and can be decorated with chalks, gems, eyelets, stitching and other materials to add even more detail. They come in a variety of colors and themes and you’ll be amazed at some of the details in the laser cut die cuts.

Embroidered Patches – Look for embroidered patches in the sewing aisles of your craft store or in scrapbook stores. Many embroidered patches are self-adhering and can be added to your scrapbook pages in seconds. There are often detailed patches that are available in multiple themes.

Eyelets – Eyelets are also a fabulous addition to your page. In the eyelet section of this CD, we’ve mentioned some great ways of using them, as well as instructions on how to set them.

Fibers – Beautiful and delicate fibers can be found in rich, gorgeous colors and designs and are a wonderful addition to your scrapbook layouts. Use fiber as borders, frames, to tie tags to your page, to hang charms, or to wrap letters in a title.

Gems – Gems add a bit of sparkle to your pages and can be glued directly to your project. They can also be found in craft and scrapbooking stores and are perfect decorations for royal pages and a princess’s crown. These can also be found in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes to fit your needs.

Glitter – Glitter sold in scrapbook stores is very fine and brilliant in color. A little bit of glitter can really dress up a sticker, title, or die cut in seconds. A liquid glue, or tacky two-sided tape works wonderfully to create beautiful designs using glitter.

Mesh – Whether you use self adhesive mesh, a piece of screen, or any other kind of mesh material, the unique texture and design adds wonderful borders and backgrounds to your layouts.

Micro Beads – Micro beads are small beads that are glued to layouts and embellishments using tacky two-sided tape or a liquid glue. They are used to add texture and color and can add a fun touch to your pages.

Nail Heads – Nail heads look similar to brads from the front, but they have small prongs that go through your paper and flatten out on the backside. They come in many shapes, sizes and colors and are a quick and attractive detail to add to your layout.

Paper Clips – They may seem like office supplies to most people, but to scrapbookers, paper clips are unique designs that make wonderful page accents. Paper clips can be found in different shapes and colors, such as triangles, swirls, and squares.

Picture Pebbles – These transparent stones are wonderful ways to magnify small photos and stickers. Simply cut a photo to the size of the stone and glue it directly to the stone using clear drying glue. The shape of the stone slightly magnifies the photo or sticker beneath it, and draws special attention to a small item. These are also used quite often to replicate drops of water or magnify special words in titles or journaling.

Ribbon – Craft stores always have a large section of decorative ribbons in numerous styles. Satin, sheer, printed, and decorative edge ribbons look wonderful on scrapbook pages as borders, bows, frames and accents.
Raffia – Raffia can add another dimension of texture to your page. It can be used as ties for tags, texture behind a photo or title, or as a companion to paper piecings such as corn husks and pumpkins.

Sequins – Sequins are a great way to add some sparkle to your pages. Use strings of sequins as frames or borders, or use individual sequins to decorate and embellish letters, paper-piecings, and other layout elements.

Stickers – When you walk into a scrapbook store, you’re sure to find at least one wall of stickers. With many different styles and themes, there’s a sticker available for nearly any page. Stickers can be used in titles, as decorations on frames, as a border, in mosaic squares, and even as part of your journaling. Many stickers have a clear background, so they blend into your background paper perfectly.

Tags – Just because your layout isn’t a present or an item for sale doesn’t mean tags won’t look great on it. Tags make wonderful embellishments, journaling blocks, photo frames, and title blocks. Use a template, or create your own tags, and decorate them in thousands of ways to create beautiful page elements.

Tinsel – Tinsel, or thinly cut metallic foil, can be used as grass, behind titles, and behind photo mats to add sparkle and texture to your pages. The best way to attach tinsel to your layouts is to use tacky two-sided tape, letting the ends of the tinsel strips fray out from the tape.

Twister – This raffia-like product comes in a thin strip that can be used as is or unrolled to create a wide piece of textured, colored paper ribbon. It can be used to thread through buttons, as borders on a page, to mat a photo in a special way or to use as a background border for other embellishments.

Wire – Sculpted wire is a great way to create a string-type look, without worrying about whether it will keep its shape. Wire can be bent and shaped into all sorts of things and looks great when it is dressed up with beads!

This is not an exhaustive list of embellishments that can be used. Some scrapbookers use non-traditional elements such as twigs, leaves, pressed flowers, doll clothes, and jewelry to decorate their layouts and to help tell the story. Whatever you use, enjoy creating all kinds of variations and new “looks” for your layouts.

NOTE: Most embellishments are safe to use in your scrapbook pages. Be sure to store your albums upright and be careful about what items actually touch your photos. If you are especially worried about your photos being damaged, use double print photographs or create imitation 3-D embellishments using papers.