7 Secrets of Collage Scrapbooking

Make your ordinary scrapbooking to extraordinary collage scrapbooking. I love to create a collage while doing my painting or drawing. A collage can be done by using vintage set, cigar box, cloth, puzzle, rubber stamp etc. Here I share some of my tips on how to make your ordinary scrapbooking into an extraordinary collage scrapbook.

Secret #1 Collection of rubber stamps.

When you purchase rubber stamps, look for rubber stamps manufacturer to custom make your family photo rubber stamp. You can create collage that is family topic related using your custom make stamps.

Secret #2 Collection of music note or song lyrics.

I noticed a lot of songs lyrics are with nice poem, and lovely sentences. All this lyrics are very suitable for collage scrapbook. It helps to create the artistic atmosphere, with added one or two lines of musical note or lyrics.

Secret #3 Acrylic paint to add glaze to your scrapbooking.

Buy some acrylic paint in metallic, earth tone or bronze color to paint in your scrapbooking background. This is actually creating historical look for your scrapbook that worth value as collection.

Secret #4 Image transfer technique to create unique design of your collage scrapbooking.

There are many ways to do image transfer. One of the easiest cheapest way is using packing tape to do a packing tape transfer. It is done by cutting your image out and paste it to packing tape, then soup in warm water for five minutes, then put the no sticky side on table with the sticky side up, rub the no sticky side paper with your finger, until you can see your image on the packing tape.Remove the access of packing tape, and using glue or double side tape to paste your image on your collage scrapbook. Another image transfer technique is heat transfer using a heat transfer tool. You can invest this method which is more straight forward and cost effective in long term.

Secret #5 Collection of beads and buttons or leftovers from other projects.

I would like to call this "Rojack Art". "Rojak" is Malay term, meaning local salad of Traditional Malay in Malaysia and Singapore. It is make of mixture of fried bean curd, fried snack, pineapple, cucumber with local made prawn gravy. If you are chilies lover, it will taste most yummy with some chilies added. Back to my topic, "Rojak Art" is something like using some leftovers from other projects, with beads and buttons, spread it on your scrapbook paper corners. First spread some adhesive on your scrapbook paper, then spread the big items, such as buttons or seashell. Then, add some adhesive, spread small item to fill up the gaps between the big items. Finally put your photo and you are done!

Secret #6 Stamps collage scrapbooking.

My husband's hobby is collecting stamps. He collected many duplicate copy of same stamps. I borrowed some from him for my collage design. You can do this by purchasing a simple design wooden frame, then using adhesive to paste your stamps around the photo frame. Last add some light brown or metallic bronze color acrylic to make historical look.

Secret #7 Make aging technique with coffee and tea staining.

This is nothing new methods. Lots of people are using this technique to create aging look of photos in your scrapbooking. I like to use tea to create aging or historical look in my photo. This is done by putting your photo in the tea, place it for long period, depending on the tone hue you want. Then air dry your photo before you use it in your collage scrapbook.

Hope you enjoy the above secret method of collage scrapbooking!