Scrapbooking Basics, Part 14

In going through my albums and walking through the scrapbooking store I figured I should touch upon some more embellishments to include in albums. I've touched on a lot of the basics with adding different colors and shapes of paper and then of course stickers. I also like other easy to use tools, like buttons, brads, and metal accents.

Buttons can be used for so many different themes and there are different routes to use in placing your buttons. You can actually purchase buttons and thread them onto your scrapbooking page. This would look very nice on a heritage album page. You could use this for a baby book page, using the title "Cute as a Button", which should be included at some point in every baby book, and you could even use the buttons for shapes, say for wheels to a car or other vehicle, or to shape Christmas trees, ornaments, birthday presents. The imagination here is endless. Back to how to include the buttons.. You could sew them on physically, or you can get those with adhesive on them. You know me, I'm all for the pre-adhesive buttons. They will cost a little more, but they will be super easy to use. There are even stickers that look like three dimensional buttons. This tool is pretty limitless when it comes to how to use them or include them in your album.

If using buttons isn't your cup of tea, you could even get a small template, or make a circle out of strong card stock and create your own buttons. You could cut them out of paper, or simply trace them onto your existing pages. They could be used in this form easily as borders to pictures or even to your actual page. This would be a great technique to add to shaped borders, making your circle border look like buttons. A penny would be the ideal size, but you could use any coin or size of your choice.

On to brads. These I like sparingly to add a little hint of subdued color. I tend to use very drastic colors and change them throughout my pages, so adding something that unifies an album is a great resource for me. Brads are sold in different sizes, the smaller the brad, the easier it is to get through your paper and to fold back on the other side. The smaller the brad, the less space you will have to cover on the other side of your paper that you are poking the brad through and the opposite is true for larger brads. Usually brads are colored in silver or gold, however I'm sure these can be found in any color of your choice. Brads are being heavily used in scrapbooking and they are fairly simple to use. They can be used to add accents to your pictures along the corners of a picture, mat, or even the album page and can be used throughout an album to create unity.

Brads are often easier to use when you have a small hole punch handy to assist you in starting a hole. Often, depending on placement along your page, brads may be hard to poke through without folding or even tearing your page. A hole punch can assist you with starting a hole, as can sharp scissors or a knife, just be very careful.

Other metal accents available I have seen are actual metal plates in rectangular, circular, or square shapes that have the months of the year, sentiments, or other characters imprinted on them. I haven't actually used the metal accents, but I did purchase the month rectangles to include in my album pages. In working with a timeline album, especially with my kids, it is nice to include the detail of what month the event took place, especially when kids are younger to emphasize time. I purchased a set in silver because I find that this color will better compliment the colors I tend to push toward in working on my album pages. This will ensure that I will use the silver metal accents and not have them sitting in my scrapbooking supply box for a long amount of time.

I also saw other frames and tools that would be interesting to include in albums. The only negative that I have when purchasing pre-made frames is that if you don't cut your picture or have a picture to use of this exact size, you will have one more accent that you struggle to use and perhaps never will. That is why I tend to look at the months written out or simple sentiments that can be added to a good selection of pages.

I don't really have any creative suggestions or alternatives to purchasing the brads or metal accents. Metal is pretty hard to re-create or work with on our own. I stick with tools that will be easy for me to maneuver, to include in my albums, and that I can justify spending the money on. Buttons are fairly inexpensive and can be used in a variety of ways, as explained above. Brads would be a great tool to incorporate into an entire album at a very minimal cost. Metal accents would be the most expensive and probably take the most conscious effort to use, unless you use it as I've explained of the brass brads to keep the same type of accent across your whole album.

I hope that I've introduced you to perhaps a new accent that you are excited to try or even an idea that will work in your album.