Educational Articles and Tips - Fibres

Using Fibres in Scrapbook Layouts

One of the most frequent requests we hear at Treasured Memories, is for ideas on how to incorporate fibres into layouts.

The possibilities are limited only by your creative imagination. We offer these ideas as a beginning, to start you on your way.

Have fun!

Find the parts of your layout that lend themselves to lines, in any direction. A few examples:

Hangers for Christmas ornaments
Tie around “packages”
Braid into basket handles
Grass, in gift baskets
“hair” on animals, dolls and even, people
Bows, everywhere they are needed
Laces, for shoes, roller skates, boots, ballet slippers, tap shoes, costumes, dresses
The tassel on a graduation cap
Kite string, kite tails, kite bows
Fishing line from a pole, fishing net
Weave a spider web
A clothesline
Snowmen scarves
Scarecrow hands, feet and hair
Fencing
Wisps, for clouds, birds in flight
Chimney smoke
Steam from a kettle, cooking pot or hot drink
The wire to hang a picture frame with
Ocean waves
Seaweed
Wake from a passing boat, water skier
The path in the snow from skiers or toboggans
The route of a walk in the woods, or a hike
Balloon strings
Dog leashes, horse tack
Vines, flowers, stems and leaves
Trellis
Thread through a button to ‘sew’ it on
Fringe a kilt, a hat, a shirt, a skirt, curtains, jean hems
Hide a seam where two papers are joined
‘filler’ in a bouquet of flowers
Dirt in a garden or flower pot

Fibres can be functional or architectural in a design, helping to ‘build’ the page. Some examples:

attach all manner of embellishments and journaling tags to a page
Braid or twist two or more for a rope or picture frame, border or ripple in the sand
Apply over a line of clear drying glue and have the fibre take any direction or shape
Lay the fibre in a way that leads the eye around the page and onto the next one
Embroider’ flowers onto a page with stitching or stitching affects
dangle items from a fibre, such as Christmas lights or icicles
Create a word or two, in a title or narrative
create a path for small photos or photo pieces
group a set of loosely related photos and journaling blocks, separated with fibre on the same page
outline a die cut shape or letter
all day lollipops, pinwheels, wiggle worm candy

Set the ‘feel’ or ‘mood’ of a page, using fibre or a group of fibres

mix different textures, thicknesses and/or colours. Lay them along side each other, gather in a bundle and give a little twist…just enough to bring them closer together, and still allow each fibre to be seen
earth toned, rough textured are great for camping, outdoors and masculine layouts
soft chenille, pastel colours are wonderful for baby pages
frayed-edge in soft denim colors are perfect for teen pages
bright crayon colours are playful on toddler and preschool pages
sparkling metallics enhance Christmas season and formal layouts

Attaching fibres to a page

glue dots are great for simple designs
glue drawings make it possible to lay the fibres into any shape. Be sure the glue is acid free and dries clear
eyelets create inlets and outlets to bring fibres onto and off of a page
brads will pierce the fibre or provide a tie down
loopy brads a specially made to thread fibres through

The possibilities for using fibres are as long as a piece of string….endless!

So go ahead, string some fibres onto your layout, and enjoy the wonderful results!

Complements of your team at Treasured Memories…scrapbooking life’s precious moments www.treasuredmemoriesscrapbooking.ca 250.748.8054