Scrapbook, Stamping, and Craft Tips from Laura Childs

Dimensional Paper Images with Rubber Stamps

Take about 6 Kleenex tissues and get them nice and damp. Now lay the tissues over one of your favorite rubber stamps. (A simple image works the best—I used a teapot image.) Press carefully so the image begins to show through. Now carefully remove the tissue and let your piece dry overnight. When the embossed image is completely dry, you can cut it into any shape you want, then paint it, gild it, or leave it plain. These embossed images are a great addition to handmade cards or add interest to scrapbook pages.

Greeting Card Pockets

When you’re scrapbooking a special event—such as Christmas, Mother’s Day, etc.—why not include the greeting cards that you received? Just create a pocket on your page and stick the cards in there. Your photos from that day, along with the cards, will make for a more memorable page.

There’s Life in That Old T-Shirt!

Fun graphic emblems from the front of a T-shirt can make a great cover design for an album. Just cut them out and adhere with hot glue.

A Hot Look!

To achieve a sort of “burned” look on your photos or papers, tear the edges so they have a nice rough look, then use a brown ink pad to color the edges.

Leftover Bits of Paper

Don’t toss out all those smaller, leftover pieces of colorful scrapbook paper. Use them to make napkin rings and place cards.

Adding Instant Age

Want to make a black-and-white photo look like an heirloom? Take a wet tea bag and smear it across your photo. Depending on how much tea you smooth on, you can adjust your sepia tone from very light to a medium tone. And, of course, you have the pleasure of drinking a nice cup of tea!

Wineglass Charms

Have you seen those expensive wineglass charms that are sold in gourmet shops? You can easily create your own using a few colored beads and memory wire! You can even laminate tiny photos and use them in conjunction with your beads. Cheers!

Just Your Type

If you are creating a scrapbook page featuring a certain sport or sporting event, hunt through the sports section of your newspaper and snip out some of the various sports words. (Think WIN, VICTORY, and BIG FINISH!) Arranged as a background collage, they’ll look great with your sports photos.

Repetition’s the Thing

An image is always much more powerful when it’s repeated. For example, a stamped image of a bunny is great on your scrapbook page. But several bunnies hippity-hopping across the page is even more fun. Ditto for images such as pumpkins, hearts, or flowers.

Wraps for Gift Soaps

Small bars of handmade soap become wonderful hostess gifts when you create your own “wrap” to go around them. Just use fun paper and stamp it with images such as flowers, bubbles, or hearts. A short, hand-lettered poem would be delightful, too. For example: Soap smells so sweet when splashing bubbles with your feet.