Scrapbooking Embellishments

Top 5 Scrapbooking Embellishments

#1 Lettering

DIGITAL: Digital scrapbooking artists have it easier here. All of their supplies are located on their computer, in the form of fonts or dingbats. The keyboard is all they need to find the letters they need to create titles and journaling. A great collection of fonts that are well organized and easily accessible will be a worthwhile endeavor for the digi scrapper. It is recommended that Windows have no more than 500 fonts installed at any one time, so a font guru will tell you to save all of your acquired fonts into a separate folder, and use a font manager program to access them.

TRADITIONAL: One of the best selling scrapbook supplies is letter stickers. These are great for page titles, short journaling and specific words, like a name, on your layout. You can adhere them straight down to your foundation paper or mat them and set them off with accenting papers. They can be laid straight or on a curved path. And if you want to add a whimsical touch, set your letters slightly askew (it can be easier sometimes rather than trying to line them up perfectly!).

#2 Stickers and Clip Art

DIGITAL: Digital Scrapbookers probably use clip art regularly without even thinking about it, even if they wouldn’t normally use stickers on traditional pages. Clip art comes in many forms, and technically speaking, all digital embellishments are a type of clipart. So using digital photo corners, buttons, and ribbon are all an aspect of using clip art. Such additions to the digi repertoire are essential to the digi scrapper. It is also one of the most enjoyable elements of the hobby – picking out and playing with the digi art to coordinate with your project. Digi clip art is all alterable – meaning you can change the color, size, and shape all with a few clicks!

TRADITIONAL: Paper scrappers buy stickers regularly. It is a common embellishment, even considered essential by many. The wide array available in the market today will astound, tempt, and confuse. There are regular stickers (like those your teacher put on your graded papers), and stickers now printed on iridescent papers with holographic effects. There are chipboard stickers and embossed stickers. There are stickers that come in packs, already coordinated with the papers and other embellishments. Many manufacturers make the matching embellishments with a new line of paper, taking the guesswork out. When all of your papers and sticker embellishments match – it makes creating those pages just that much nicer and simpler!

BOTH: Both the digi scrapper and the traditional scrapper have a wide array of options when it comes to stickers and clip art. The digi artist can make her own and drag it onto her layout, and the paper scrapper can simply peel and stick. There is a way to combine the best of both worlds here. Digi scrappers are missing the textural aspect and paper scrappers are missing the ability to personalize the embellishment. The answer is to make your own, and add the tangible embellishment to your layout. Creating your stickers isn’t hard. You simply open your favorite clip art/digital software, choose your graphic, alter it any way you wish, perhaps add a name or phrase, and print. To create the sticker, you only need to creatively cut the sticker out. A punch, a shape cutter template, a die cutter machine will all work, as will a simple pair of scissors – even decorative edged scissors. To make it a sticker you can run it through a sticker maker machine, which lays down an even layer of adhesive, or use a glue of your choice and evenly apply. A brayer will work well to press your sticker onto your paper and smooth the edges. Voila’ – your own stickers!

#3 Tags

DIGITAL: So many kits come with tags to coordinate with the papers. Many tags are actually made from the same digi paper. Adding tags to your layout becomes an attractive way to add content. You can put a photo on a tag, a name, or a phrase. The tag itself becomes the frame, and highlights whatever you set onto it. Of course, it is a decorative element all its own, and can be used as a stand alone embellishment. When using tags in digital scrapbooking, many digi artists add shadowing to give the tag a 3d or raised effect. This helps keep the layout from looking “flat”. In fact, there are many digital embellishments that once printed out look exactly as if they were 3d, and you may have to touch them to convince yourself!

TRADITIONAL: Paper scrappers can create coordinating tags from paper by cutting them out, using a die cut machine, or tracing a template. A tag can have writing, journaling, stickers, and so on, added to it. The tag can be used as a frame or a simple embellishment. There are also many fun tags available on your store’s shelves. Chipboard tags, embossed tags, tags with lettering. The options will truly seem endless once you factor in the ones you can make yourself!

BOTH: Speaking of making them yourself…. There’s no better way to personalize an embellishment than to make it yourself. Whether you add letter stickers to your tag or create something a little more elaborate. Consider printing out a tag shaped graphic, and then cutting it out. Now, you see the potential! If you can print out a tag, then you can add text, a photo, a name – and create a one-of-a-kind tag that will complement your project in a way that no other embellishment could.

#4 Ribbon

DIGITAL: One of the most common embellishments is ribbon. But in the digi world it becomes a little more complicated. There are simple digi ribbons that are basically graphics (in a .png or .jpg format), and these are easy to add to a layout. You choose it as you would any image, and then stretch it to fit your layout. However, sometimes you’ll need to create a row of single images – rather than stretching the original – so the image doesn’t become distorted when stretched. And then comes the even trickier element of creating a 3d image of a ribbon with a charm on it. It is an art to create the pleated look of the ribbon at the point where the charm would be compressing the fabric. Here’s where an appreciation for the digi artists comes to light. When you find a digi embellishment of ribbon with the charm attached, know that it took great skill to create it! It is a work of art, and a great addition to any layout!

TRADITIONAL: Using ribbon adds texture and depth to a layout. The ribbon acts as a border to separate and highlight sections of the page. A decorative ribbon along the left side edge sets the space for the layout, it shows the eye where to look. Ribbon along the top acts as a topper, and makes a great highlight for the title. The look and feel of ribbon gives a page character and a textile medium sure to interest the viewer(s). One tip on using ribbon, use a good adhesive that won’t bleed through the fabric. Since ribbon may fray when cut, it is recommended that you get your adhesive in place before you cut to size. Some people iron on a small strip of fusible webbing to their ribbon before using to avoid some of these difficulties.

BOTH: Fabric ribbon isn’t easy to alter or to fuss with. It tends to fray, and when stamped, the ink doesn’t always take evenly. Digi artist can simply type text onto a digi-ribbon and alter it, but traditional scrappers have to find other ways. The easiest way to combine the best of both worlds is to use digi ribbon, add your text and then print and cut to size. If printing a full size 12” border, this can be accomplished on a regular ink jet printer by using legal size paper and printing the “ribbon” the long way. Your digi ribbon will now be personalized and perfect for your layout!

#5 Buttons, Brads, and Eyelets

DIGITAL: There are many of these digi embellishments available. Clip art programs often have lots of these. And digi scrapping software includes a wide selection of these digi elements. They are a common and popular embellishment, and creating them digitally for scrappers was essential. The digi scrapper can add these to her project and then relocate them with a click and drag. She can get a full view of how the embellishment looks before she prints or saves her final version. With the shadowing effects often built directly into the graphic – these buttons, brads and eyelets look real enough to feel!

TRADITIONAL: Paper scrappers get the textural effect when they add the buttons, brads and eyelets to their layouts. These elements serve as decorative highlights to their photos and the story the layout tells. Sewing a button on with yarn gives a baby layout warmth and depth, for one example. Adding brads to a vellum quote helps not only to secure it down, but to frame it in the corners. Eyelets have a charm all their own, and can create stable holes to run thread through or just use to connect the layers of a mat. Using these embellishments judiciously can create the perfect tone and feel to your project.

BOTH: How do you know when enough is enough, and not too much or too little? It’s easier for the digi scrapper – who can simply click and delete, if she finds she’s added too many embellishment. Once an eyelet has been set into a layout – it isn’t easy to remove it, and is usually better off just left alone as is. Traditional scrappers can take a lesson from the digi scrapper and create a “dry run” of a page, before she sets any eyelets in. If you worry about placement of the embellishments or if you have too many or too few, a dry run is a good place to start. Simply set all of your photos, mats, and embellishments on your foundation paper without adhering anything down. Look at it from many angles, move a few things around. When you have the layout just right – lightly mark the position, and begin layering. Once everything is glued down and the embellishments are set in place, it should look like your ‘dry run’ version – with no unsuspected surprises.

~Barbara Eastwick has been a professional crafter for over 2 decades.  Her passion for paper crafting has led her into the world of Scrapbooking and Card Making.  Come into her world and visit her work on the Kreate-A-Lope.com Blog.  She also writes information articles and tutorials for ScrapWOW.com.