Tizzying Up Your Own Background Page. If you do not want to get into buying prepatterned backgound pages you can fancy up your own pages through using several techniques. Stamping is great because you can use the same stamp but by overlapping it, running it down the page as a trim or colouring it in using different colours you can create quite different effects.

For an overall pattern or a border pattern you can use a sponging technique with acrylic colours and get quite unique effects for a backgound page.

One system that can be effective is using a computer to print off an overall effect on the page and then use that. Just be careful that the ink does not run.

Collecting Embellishiments. It is amazing how many things you will have around the house to embellish your pages - buttons, ribbons, wool, glitter and all sorts of other nic naks in your hobby and sewing boxes.

Really interesting embellishment ideas can be found in brochures and other coloured printed material like cards and calenders. Just keep your eyes open.

If you are doing a scrapbook about a holiday, collect little mementos during the holiday to add into the book - they can be anything from serviettes, match boxes, straws, coasters, cards, note paper and the list goes on.

Lettering. When using bought lettering it can be quite expensive, in that if you buy a set, you always seem to run out of the vowels first and have heaps of letters left over. Of course, individual letters can be used to embellish, they don't always have to 'spell' anything in particular, just scattered on the page.

Learn to make your own lettering on the computer, print it on card and then you can cut out the individual letters, or shapes incorporating the whole phrase. If you are going to cut a shape around a phrase, print onto coloured paper. You may find that you would like to print straight onto your background page. Using a computer can be fantastic because there is such a variety of fonts, line styles and colors. It is really quite endless if you are comfortable with doing this.

Finding Time To Scrapbook. Scrapbook with friends who are doing it too! It is great to be able to share papers and little bits for embellishiments. We all have different tastes. It makes a great afternoon's fun and you will feed off each other with ideas and expressions to write on your pages.

You could even have a scrapbooking birthday party, probably with a wine or two, or three or four. Enjoy, and don't forget that it is easy to paste over something you don't like and start the page again!

Copyright (c) 2008 Kaye Dennan