Die-cuts are a great way to add some flare to your scrapbook page. They can set the mood or theme for the page, or they can just be a nice shape to journal on.
The following is a list of fun ways you can use scrapbook die-cuts to enhance your layouts:
- Do your journaling on velum, and place a die-cut that reflects the theme of the page behind the velum. This will make your page have depth, and it will be a fun way to spruce up your journaling.
- Use scrapbook die-cuts that are atypical, meaning, not what you would usually see. For example, instead of a pumpkin or turkey on a Thanksgiving page use a cranberry. It is still going to reflect the theme of the page, most people have cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, but it is not going to look like every other Thanksgiving page ever made.
- Layer die-cuts. Make your die-cuts work for you. Build a whole garden using grass, flower, and stem die-cuts. You can put the same die-cut in two different colors offset next to/on top of each other to add dramatic effect.
- Chalk the edges: Die-cuts are great for your layout, but they can sometimes make your page too flat. By chalking around the edges you can add some depth and dimension to your page, with very little effort.
- Put your lettering inside of die-cuts to make a border or title. Scrapbook die-cuts make perfect homes for those letters. By spelling out Thanksgiving inside of little pumpkin die-cuts you can create a fun, creative title without too much work.
- Use them to tie pages together. Repetition is the best way to tie similar themed pages together. If for example you are making a scrapbook of your summer vacation, you may want to use a sunshine die-cut on each page, somewhere in your layout. This way you can make different pages for all the different activities, but still show that they are corresponding with each other.
- Attach your die-cut with an eyelet or brad. By layering die-cuts with other embellishments you draw the eye to the more creative and distinctive parts of your pages.
- Use larger die-cuts as frames for your photographs. You can even use them as a way to guide the eye from one photo to the next, or a way to enclose a collage of several different photographs.
- Use them to tell the story for you. Many times where you went is very important, but the people are what matter most, and what you want to take pictures of. SO, instead of taking a picture of the pine trees in the Forrest you camped in, use die-cuts of a tent and trees to indicate that these pictures were while you were roughing it in the Forrest.
- Use a die-cut such as a sunflower in the place of letters like an “O” in a title. This makes the title stand out more, and makes the page look more fun.
You can create your own scrapbook die-cuts using stencils and patterns, you can buy them pre-made, or in some cases, if you purchase paper from a scrapbooking store they will let you use any of their die-cuts and their machine free of charge.
Die-cuts are an inexpensive way to make your pages more fun. But, that is not all they are good for. Most die-cuts do not take much paper, you can get big or small. Because of this fact, they are a great way to use up all those scrap papers you have been saving and telling yourself that eventually you will use even though you never do.