How to Use Vellum in Scrapbooking

Vellum has made a comeback in the scrapbooking world and for good reason. It's one of the few embellishments that can be used over and over again without making your scrapbooks looks boring. You can alter vellum to make it fit the theme and colors of your pages.

Using Vellum in Scrapbooking: Adhesive

Attaching vellum to the paper seems to be a problem for many scrappers. Vellum cannot be attached with a wet adhesive or it will curl. It must be attached with special adhesive made just for vellum. Creative Memories sells adhesive that comes in small squares. It hides perfectly under Creative Memories vellum, but does show under other brands a little. I have never tried another brand but check your local scrap store or craft store and you should be able to find other brands. Some scrappers run vellum through their Xyron machine. I haven't gotten the opportunity to try this however. I like to attach vellum with brads and eyelets. That way no adhesive shows through and it gives the embellishment a little more depth and texture.

Using Vellum in Scrapbooking: Coloring

Vellum is great to color using scrapbooking pens. Turn it over and draw on the back for a muted effect. The marker lines blend together and it gives a smooth, flat look. Many vellum quotes have open letters and outlined shapes. You can use a scrapbooking pen to fill in the letters or shapes.

Using Vellum in Scrapbooking: Tearing

Vellum tears very easily. I've torn even very narrow edges from a piece of vellum. This gives it a whole new texture which looks great on scrapbooking layouts for boys, water, or other times you need some texture. Be careful to go slowly and really work it with your fingers so you don't tear your quote.

Using Vellum in Scrapbooking: Inking

Vellum also holds ink really well. You can ink the edges of cut or torn vellum to give it some dimension and define the edges. This works very well when you have to put the vellum on a lighter piece of cardstock or patterned paper. It helps the vellum pop off of the page.

Using Vellum in Scrapbooking: Making Tags

I like to put vellum on my tags. It is a quick and easy way to make a tag that's perfect for your layout. You can use ink, ribbon, brads, buttons, or anything else in your scrapbooking stash to further decorate the tags.

Using Vellum in Scrapbooking: Cut Up Quotes

Sometimes you find the perfect quote for a particular layout but the shape or size of the vellum piece just doesn't fit, I use my mini trimmer or even scissors to cut the quote line by line or even by the word to place on my layout exactly where I want it. I've made a border around two edges of a scrapbook layout or used a small sheet of vellum with a quote for a large title that takes up one quarter of the page,. You can also tear and ink the edges for a really unique look.

I hope this gives you some tips on how to use vellum in your scrapbook layouts. Think outside the box and you'll find many more uses for vellum in your crafty life.