Top Scrapbooking decorations
You all know I love scrapbooking by now (you can find my past posts right here!). If you’re new to scrapbooking and have visited Hobbycraft, The Range or some online stores before, you may feel a little overwhelmed. There is A LOT out there. There are so many paper collections, embellishments, a huge variety of standard things like adhesives, as well as stamps, inks and all the things in between! I thought I’d write a post today sharing my favourite pieces that I use for decorating my scrapbook layouts.
Letter Stickers
Letter stickers are one of the things that I hoard and seem to have the most of! My collection is quite large but you definitely don’t need lots. Hand lettering makes great titles, so don’t feel pressured to use stickers for everything. If you’ve visited Hobbycraft, they have a rack of letter stickers called ‘Thickers’. These are £4 a pack so pretty expensive, and I only buy these when they’re on sale. Homesense and TK Maxx are a great place to look for cheaper stickers, as well as Hobbycraft’s own range. I even found some ‘Thickers’ in B&M for less than half the retail price so keep your eye out. You won’t know the brand once they’re on a layout anyway! Some of the cheaper letter stickers have adhesive that may wear off, so I’d recommend attaching them with an extra bit of glue.
Stamps
Again, you’ll find a huge range of these in most shops. Instead of using letter stickers for titles, stamping is a great alternative. I have a few different alphabets with different fonts and all varying sizes so they can be used as large titles or subheadings. If you’re using wooden block stamps, remember that it can be a little tricky to get everything aligned straight. Clear stamps mean you can mount the letters onto an acrylic block and create a neater finish, if that’s what you’re after.
I also love using roller stamps – usually between £2-£4 each depending on where you buy them. The sentiments are small but they are good value, and I love adding these to my Project Life spreads in particular. Generally they come with dates as well as phrases and symbols.
In terms of ink, I find cheaper inks work fine if you’re stamping on to matte paper. If you’re stamping onto a glossy finish, Stazon is an acid free ink that is less likely to smudge. Another tip if you’re using acrylic stamps, is to rub the surface with a rubber first so it takes the ink better. It gives a much better stamped result!
Project Life cards
I have a large range of Project Life cards, but they’re not limited to this purpose. You can make some lovely layouts using PL cards as decoration too! I’ve used them in grid layouts, as well as layering pieces. You can also cut them up so they’re smaller or cut around the sentiment on the card. Project Life cards generally come in a huge kit, so you’re likely to have plenty spares. That means you don’t have to be so precious with them, and it opens up a huge amount of possibilities when you see them as decoration, not just for pocket scrapbooking.
Die Cuts
Finally, my absolute favourite decorations to use are die cuts. These usually come in packs and are all cut out for you, but I’ve made my own before too. A lot of scrapbooking paper is patterned and I often fussy cut around the shapes to make embellishments (and it’s also much cheaper). I have various dishes on my desk for the smaller shapes, and then larger boxes to hold the bigger die cuts. They add instant interest to your layout and give a professional finish.
Is there anything you’d like to add to the list? Pop them down below – I never need much of an excuse to add to my growing stash!