Combining two big projects, "Embellishment" and "DIY Scrapbook," into one is a fantastic idea, loved by many scrapbookers and hobbyists with and without a smart cutting machine. Only imagine what you can make yourself to decorate your scrapbooking album pages with a wide variety of embellishments, from stickers to ribbons to cardstock pieces and labels to 3D flower cut outs and much more!
Making craft embellishments is fun since such decoration pieces can be made of any scraps you have at home. Let's look at some of the most impressive ideas and talk about the most popular types of embellishments you can create. Let's turn scrapbooking into a beautiful adventure filled with memories, imagination, and freedom!
Embellishment
Whether you use embellishments for crafts or work on your new scrapbook album (page), you can create a fantastic piece of art that tells your story, adding a touch of love to it. Without embellishment pieces, your DIY scrapbook turns into a regular photo album. But do you really want to make just another album with pictures? Or would you rather decorate your favorite photos, add lovely frames, scrapbook labels to commemorate the event, exclusive cut outs and character pieces, texts, signs, etc.?
Imagine you come to a bakery where all the cakes are plain without icing, delicious fruit pieces, chocolate bites, sprinkles, nuts, or cream flowers. Will you buy it? Or would you find a different place where a cake is not just a cake but a masterpiece?
In a DIY scrapbook, the embellishment is the decorations, and the album is the cake. It's up to you how to decorate it, but having decorations is a must unless you are a big fan of minimalist styles and don't want to spend extra time finding the scrapbook labels and pieces to match your theme and event.
Read also: How to Make a Gift Card Holder with Cricut and SVG File.
DIY Scrapbook
Scrapbooking decorations play an essential role in crafts you make with your own hands or find exclusive scrapbook pieces designed, cut, and assembled by somebody else. Even if these are mass-production stickers or things originally designed for something else (clippings, memorabilia, tassels from your mortarboard, cut outs from magazines or brochures, pieces of clothing, etc.), you can consider them to be the embellishments that help you lay out everything in the perfect way, highlighting the original style, theme, and idea.
What is a DIY scrapbook? With the invention of photography, families began to take pictures and print them to keep in their albums. It was a popular method to preserve memories and pass them on to the next generations. Modern scrapbooks appeared years later, when crafters thought of ideas to make photo albums look more appealing and tell a story not only through images but through decorative pieces.
Still, the first 'scrap book' ideas were found as early as the fifteenth century, when English crafters used to keep various clippings and pieces of paper (poems, recipes, love letters, etc.) in 'commonplace books.' They called those papers 'scraps.' The other books with blank pages old generations used to make were called 'friendship albums,' which are more like yearbooks, preserving notes, poems, drawings, and quotes from different house guests.
When you buy a photo album, you usually end up getting a pretty book with transparent pockets for your photos, and those pockets are usually of the same size. You slide the pictures in and enjoy turning the pages, remembering different moments from your life.
When you buy a scrapbook album, it usually comes as a spiral, 3-ring, or post-bound book with the ability to add refill pages. All the pages are clear and acid-free. Inside, you can place your cardstock sized 12x12 inches or 8.5 x 11 inches (these are the two most common dimensions used in DIY scrapbooking), customized with glued photos, embellishments, labels, titles, characters, etc.
The main difference between photo and scrapbook albums is customization, which can be achieved through personalization with different styles, themes, color schemes, layouts, design ideas, handwritten notes, typed memories, character pieces, twines, buttons, ribbons, magnets, and other things.
Read also: How to Make Princess Birthday Invitations on Cricut Explore Air 2.
Types of Embellishments
An embellishment is defined as a 'decorative detail' designed to add attractiveness to something. It's a feature adorning your DIY scrapbook album pages, making them stand out and look elegant, stylish, funky, adorable, stinking cute, or extraordinary.
These are the main types of embellishments used by crafters and scrapbookers all around the world:
1. Stickers.
They are a popular way to decorate numerous projects. No wonder many scrapbook pieces you see on top Pinterest and Instagram scrapbook layouts are stickers. Anything that sticks can be used in crafts. It can be paper, chipboard, clear vinyl, thin plastic, etc. The ideas of scrapbook stickers can include animals, characters, alphabet, names, quotes, nature, flowers, and anything else, presented in all possible styles, shapes, sizes, and colors. Most scrapbookers prefer using thicker stickers because they create an extra dimension and usually last longer than regular thin paper stickers. You can combine different designs and mix & match patterns, ensuring you can tell your story most beautifully.
2. Scrapbook labels.
They are also called scrapbook titles. These are popular phrases written in a lovely way using block and cursive words or letters and various decorative elements. Some of the cute ideas for scrapbook titles are:
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3. Scrapbook cut outs.
They are also generally called digital scrapbooking embellishments or scrapbook pieces, which you can cut out yourself using high-quality SVG files or free SVGs or purchase ready-to-ship cut outs made by someone else. Most of these decorations are made of textured, glittery, and smooth cardstock or felt. It's common to ink the edges to make it look more alive and adorable. Some hobbyists also like to use white gel and black micro pens to add accents, highlights, and additional features, such as eyelashes, mouth, cheeks, etc.
4. 3D Flower Cut Outs.
Just like regular pieces, 3D flower cut outs can be made of anything, from cardstock and thin paper to felt and acetate sheets to fabrics and wood. What makes it one of the most popular types of embellishments is the 3D effect you can see yourself. Usually, a flower is assembled of several layers, some of the petals have curled edges, and the pistil can be made of beads, sequins, cardstock, etc. Scrapbook flower embellishments are extremely handy with nearly any type of layout.
5. Ribbons.
Even though scrapbook layouts are laid mainly on cardstock, paper embellishments are not the only material you'll find inside. Enthusiasts enjoy using ribbons of various colors, lengths, and widths. They can come in a brand-new or used roll, a box, a gift package, hair accessories, and anywhere else. Create ribbon photo frames, add them as your borders, or make a bow! It will look fantastic in your DIY scrapbook.
6. Magnets, Metal Pins.
These big or small embellishments can also decorate a scrapbook page, especially when they are associated with the event you want to cover or illustrate your story.
7. Twine, Threads.
If you consider ribbons too wide, you can add thinner twine or threads of multiple colors. Twine is strong and can appear incredible, helping you to either bind pages together or add decorative elements, such as sail ropes, mason jar wrap, frames, etc. Those who prefer colors should select thick threads that can work as borders, photo frames, sewing patterns, and various finishing touches.
8. Washi Tapes.
Coming from a hobby of journaling into the fun of scrapbooking, washi tapes can turn any background into a fairy tale. These rice papers are paper versions of ribbons you can turn into colorful backgrounds, corner accents, frames, and other elements.
9. Buttons.
Types of embellishments come from so many different hobbies that it's unsurprising to see buttons in scrapbook albums. They can be made of wood, resin, plastic, metal, and other materials. Add some color, find a unique shape, and choose the best size - and your embellishment will add a lovely effect to your layout.
10. Fabric Creations and Patches.
Decorative patches and fabric creations are also popular embellishments for crafts. They can come from your Girl Scout troop ceremony (or Boy Scout event), be a graduation gown and cap created in miniature size from fabric, or anything else made of fabrics of multiple colors, designs, and shapes.
11. Sequins and Beads.
Can you sew sequins only to decorate your kid's outfit? No! These tiny sparkly disks, just like beads, can be sewn onto anything, even your scrapbook page. If it makes a difference in your story visualization, go for it!
12. Acetate Sheets.
Your die-cutting elements can be made of transparent acetate sheets, which you can turn into lovely butterflies, flowers, letters, exclusive shapes, frames, and more, adding watercolor effects, metallic shine, and other touches.
13. Notebook pages.
Sometimes, the best scrapbook embellishments are the ones you ripped with your hands from an old notebook. If you think you can't rip "pretty," find a special ruler that helps to rip paper with elegant edges.
14. Wood Veneers.
Creative embellishments can be cut from any materials, and wood veneer is among many options. They can be self-adhesive, or you can glue them yourself. They are long-lasting, look beautiful, and are paper-thin. They can be signs, labels, flags, and other creations.
15. Ephemera.
Collecting movie and plane tickets, as well as other memorable papers, known as ephemera, is an excellent idea for scrapbook decorations. Anything you keep as memorabilia is perfect to use as embellishments in a DIY scrapbook. From guitar picks to concert tickets to coins to anything else you collect, use these pieces in your crafts to make them truly unique.
Read also: Make a Cute Pineapple Vinyl Cup Sticker in Five Minutes.
Scrapbooking Decorations
Understanding embellishments better, you can now return to scrapbooking and make your projects more impressive, since it's possible to embellish your layouts with almost anything. The only rule you should probably consider is to try to avoid bulky pieces because you'll have to insert your 12" x 12" or 8.5" x 11" scrapbook pages into the transparent files, and bulky pages will make the album way too thick to go through. The easiest way to avoid bulkiness is to add cardstock scrapbook titles and embellishments. They can look 3D-like and still take less space than metal pins or heavy pieces fastened with brads. Cardstock is also easy to adhere to the page with regular or craft glue.
Here are some embellishments SVG files and simple SVG designs you can download to cut the labels or character pieces yourself:
Also, remember to check your nearby craft stores because they can carry some affordable scrapbook pieces, cut outs, labels, stickers, and themed decorations to help you customize your pages and enjoy scrapbooking to the fullest!
Big and small embellishments are available in so many color options, styles, and sizes that you will always find something perfect just for you!