1. Ribbon–Yes, I save ribbon scraps!
2. Buttons–I am lucky enough that the two generations before me saved buttons!
3. Words (that capture the mood of the photo or layout)–you can clip these out of magazines or books, stamp them or a number of companies design tiny letters and words that you can use.
4. Brads and eyelets
5. 3-D items like rhinestone shapes, big brads and more

I’ve been an art docent for years and I have always told the kids that there are no mistakes in art. If you do something you don’t like, work with it. Sometimes those mistakes can turn into your best pages.

But if you are one of those who like the look but don’t feel comfortable using embellishments, hire a scrapbooker who does. I love to have fun making original pages that celebrate your favorite moments, from vacation scrapbooks, summer vacation scrapbooks, to making a Father’s Day scrapbook or a pet scrapbook. If you’re afraid to use scrapbook embellishments, I’m happy to use them for you!

So before you head out the door for your summer vacation, imagine some of the pictures you’d like to take to capture the little moments of your t rip. When you get home and if you find yourself too busy or disorganized to make that vacation scrapbook, hire a custom scrapbooker to make that album for you. We take your photos and create a summer vacation scrapbook that you will enjoy forever.

In this scrapbook page I used one photo that captured the moment of my daughter visiting my favorite place for the very first time. I usually use a shabby chic approach to my scrapbooking and this page was no different. To capture the fun and whimsical moment I tilted the photo on the page then built the colors of the scrapbook paper and embellishments around the theme of happiness and summer. Of course I could not stop myself from embellishing the scrapbook page.

For my daughter’s 12th birthday I created a card and used a current photo of my daughter’s face hinged over a photo of my daughter’s face when she was a baby. The card got lots of laughs and is fun and whimsical. Long after the birthday passed and she recycled most of the cards, she still has this card sitting out. You can see the card here with the two faces, one with the hinge open. When my daughter opened her custom scrapbook card and realized her current face could swing open, she laughed so hard and thought this homemade scrapbook card was the funniest, coolest thing ever.

Here are some of the many great things about custom scrapbook services:

1. We make the time to create a great custom scrapbook for you, freeing up your valuable time to do the things you need/want to do.

2. We prioritize your scrapbook album and have dedicated time that we spend each week to create the scrapbook you’ve always wished you had the time to make.

3. We stay up on current products and bring a fresh look to your scrapbook.

4. We create a scrapbook that is unique to your story and your photos.

5. We make a custom scrapbook for you that you’ll enjoy again and again with your family and kids.

So if you’re wondering about whether or not to hire a custom scrapbook service to make your scrapbook album, consider these things: Do you have the time? Will you make the time? Do you have the money to spend on all the products that go into making an album (including, but not limited to: paper, adhesives, trimmers, ribbons, buttons, stickers, die cuts and more)? Are you on a fixed time line and need an album soon to give as a gift? How fun will it be to get the finished scrapbook delivered to you?

Keep on checking out my blog. I like to bring fresh new pages regularly to my blog so you can see how I record what’s going on in my life. You can follow me in my life as an artist who offers custom scrapbook design services.

In this vacation scrapbook page “a visit home” I wasn’t happy with the quality of the photo of the raft floating on the river nor did I like the random people, towels and ice chests in the background of the photo on the left. I chose a gaffer tape ribbon that would block out some of the elements I didn’t want to see and one that also reflected the colors in the photos and the mood of the photos.

I’ve begun to use these tapes and ribbons with my custom vacation scrapbooking services and enjoy the ease of use. I don’t need to reach for glue dots or liquid glues because the sticky backs adhere nicely to my scrapbook pages.

General consensus: if you’re a professional scrapbooker offering scrapbook services, try these products out. If you’re a hobby scrapbooker and want to try something new and fun, pick some of these products up and play with them. The tapes and ribbon tapes come in a variety of colors and patterns that you can fit to many scrapbooking subjects and they’ll make your vacation scrapbook pages fun!

Here are eight ways you can use ribbon in your custom scrapbook:

1. Line one side of your scrapbook page.
2. Line one edge of your main photo.
3. Cut small strips of ribbon (about 2 inches long), fold in half, then wrap around edge of scrapbook page. You can tack the ribbon down with glue dots or Tombo Multi Liquid Glue. (Tombow glue seems to hold anything permanently on a scrapbook page.) You can also attach the ribbon with a brad.
4. Use ribbon as an accent. For example blue ribbon can run horizontally along your scrapbook page and be “water.” Your ribbon can also be a decorative strip drawing the eye to a part of your page as in Just Being Me layout above where I’ve placed blue ribbon behind the title.
5. Use colorful ribbon to balance your page. Is your scrapbook page too heavily designed on one side? Add a complementary strip of colorful ribbon on the side of the page that looks lighter and you’ll create balance.
6. Fold and bend ribbon to create homemade-looking ruffles.
7. Anchor a straight piece of scrapbooking ribbon with a button on each end.
8. Let the ribbon be an accent behind a photo peaking out from the edges.

Use your ribbon playfully and don’t be afraid to use unique ribbons from pom-poms, to elasticized, to heavily ornate. Be sure to save ribbon that comes on gifts, from packaging, and attached to new clothing. You never know where you’ll find that next fun piece of ribbon to accent the pages of your scrapboook.
 Not up to buying or using all the embellishments yourself, but you love the look? Consider hiring a custom scrapbook service to create your custom designed scrapbook.

There are different approaches you can take with a Father’s Day scrapbook. Here are a few:

1. Create a small scrapbook (I recommend 8 x 8 or smaller) and focus on 1 photo per page. Let that photo shine (as in the example above) to celebrate a moment in time. It’s fun to do one photo per month and create a simple 12-page scrapbook to remember the past year.

2. Create a themed scrapbook of the past year. Focus on different moments in time that happened during the year, where “Dad” was involved: family vacations, family holidays, family birthdays and family weekends are just a few ideas. Each spread of the scrapbook can focus on one event.

3. Create an “as I grow” scrapbook. These are fun! Each single- or two-page spread represents one year in the child’s life. (Age 1, age 2, age 3, etc., up to present.) Have your kids journal notes to dad based on the memories those photos evoke. For example, take the scrapbook page shown above. You or your child (if your child is old enough to write) might journal: “Daddy, piggy back rides are so much fun with you! You always make me laugh.” Let the words be those of your child/children, as if they are speaking to their dad.

No matter what, create your Father’s Day scrapbook and fill it with the love, laughter and the quiet day-by-day moments in your life. This is one gift that will bring tears to a dad’s eyes!