| Vintage images can add a nostalgic dimension to your | | | | embellishment! |
| scrapbooking. Whether they are illustrations from an | | | | 4. Create frames or borders from the images. Many |
| artist's hand, early photographs, or antique paper items | | | | vintage postcards and greeting cards were designed |
| like advertisements, newspapers or other ephemera, | | | | with fanciful decorative borders. Resize and print them |
| they lend instant artwork to your scrapbooking project. | | | | on your computer, cut out the center, and you have an |
| These pictures from the past also capture the | | | | ornate vintage frame for your photos or text. |
| essence of an occasion or an emotion, verifying that | | | | 5. Use vintage written sentiments as inspiration for |
| the important things in life don't change over time. | | | | your journaling. Long before Hallmark, Victorian-era |
| Many kinds of vintage images are available digitally | | | | postcards were created for all occasions (even Leap |
| through simple online downloads -- just try a Google | | | | Year) with snippets of poetry and flowery sentiments. |
| search for "vintage images." Though most will be in the | | | | Incorporate these texts and artwork into your |
| public domain, be aware of any usage restrictions you | | | | scrapbook page for a touching message from the |
| find. | | | | past. |
| Here are eight ideas to spark your imagination! | | | | 6. Borrow the colors from an image to set the palette |
| | | | for your scrapbook page. Choose an image that |
| 1. Use the full image as a centerpiece. Choose an | | | | attracts you with colors, bright or subdued, or even a |
| image that reflects the theme of your page; a photo | | | | striking black and white or sepia-tone photo. Use those |
| of an antique car for your page about your son's new | | | | colors and shades in your background, matting and |
| car; a jolly Victorian St. Nicholas for a Christmas page; | | | | texts to create a harmonized, coordinated look. |
| a vintage Eiffel Tower photo for your Paris vacation | | | | 7. Alter vintage images with paint, ink, rubber stamping |
| page. Place the image centrally and lay out your | | | | or other treatments. "Altered art" is both fun and |
| photos around it. | | | | trendy. Take a basic image and add your own |
| 2. Enlarge the image as your background. Many | | | | touches with paint, foil, cutting, folding, stamping, |
| images are perfect for backgrounds, such as | | | | embossing, burning -- pretty much anything. What you |
| handwriting on aged paper or a pastoral scene. If the | | | | add and how you do it can make an image comical, |
| digital image is high resolution (150-300 dpi), you can | | | | provocative or nostalgic. When in doubt -- it seems -- |
| probably enlarge it to the size of your scrapbook page. | | | | put butterfly wings on a baby photo. |
| Use the background colors to determine your photo | | | | 8. Let your personal photos "interact" with vintage |
| matting palette. Layout your photos, text and | | | | images. Find a vintage photo or illustration that fits your |
| embellishments so the background image peeks | | | | theme -- perhaps a picture of a seated Santa. Now, |
| through. | | | | size and cut out a silhouette of your child, and place |
| 3. Cut out "scraps" as embellishments. A major | | | | her on Santa's lap. Or, start with a vintage beach |
| pastime for Victorian women was cutting out small | | | | scene, with everyone posing in long-legged bathing |
| illustrations (called "scraps") and pasting them in books | | | | dresses. Add your daughter to the lineup in her bikini. |
| - hence, scrapbooks. Many vintage images include | | | | You are limited only by your dexterity with scissors or |
| comical figures, holiday symbols, good-luck charms, and | | | | your prowess with your computer's graphics software. |
| more. Simply resize and print them from your | | | | These eight ideas are just a start. Virtually any |
| computer and cut them out with manicure scissors. | | | | scrapbooking technique can be applied to vintage |
| Glue them onto your page where you need a nostalgic | | | | images. Happy scrapping! |