How To Create A Vintage Scrapbook Layout That Looks Authentic!

One of the hottest trends in scrapbooking is creating an old fashioned scrapbook style layout for your page.

If you attend a scrapbooking party or a demonstration, there's a good chance that you'll get to see some vintage layouts that will inspire you to create lovely scrapbook layouts.

To get a jumpstart on creating your own vintage scrapbook, here are some steps to help you get started with your vintage scrapbook.

4 Vintage Scrapbook Layouts Tips

# 1 Choose your scrapbooking photos

When creating a vintage style scrapbook, either go through an old album and choose photographs that are truly vintage, meaning the old black and white pictures, or transform the look of your current photos to appear vintage.

You can also get a cool app like "instagram" for your iphone, this way you can take photos and then apply vintage filters to make them look old in a matter of seconds. I like to change my photos to sepia or black and white to get that vintage style look.

If you opt to use current photographs, include props that will give the appearance of authenticity. For example, if you're taking a photo of your children then include antique toys rather than today's legos or baby dolls. Keep the background simple in the photo as well. Try not to include modern-day items such as a flat-screen, a computer, or a microwave as it can kill the vintage vibe.

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# 2 Select vintage paper

You'll find a good assortment of vintage style scrapbook backgrounds at your craft supplies store. For instance, you might choose a black and white background that has a pair of vintage gloves as the main focal point or a background with an antique car.

Another great option is to use sample wallpaper. Quite often when a store gets in new stocks, they get rid of their old sample wallpaper books. Talk with the manager and you may be able to get the book for free! Although these paper samples are smaller than the standard 12×12 scrapbooking page, you can still use these scrap paper samples as a portion of your background. A lot of them have a vintage appeal and will add texture to your page.

Be very selective in regards to paper color as you as you design your vintage layout. Think in terms of old fashioned and not bright and bold. Adding a little color as an accent is fine, but don't let a color overpower the page. The majority of the layout should be neutral, brown, gray or green.

If you enjoy digital scrapbooking, you can find a wide assortment of vintage designs. You just need to scan your photos, choose your embellishments, and then download them.

# 3 Cropping photos

With vintage scrapbooking designs, you need to use clean lines. Many of the old photos were rectangular or square in shape. Some of the professional photos were oval in shape.

Use similar shapes—this isn't the time to get creative with zigzag lines and such. Use templates for scrapbook photo cropping.

Use the same matting for all of your photos that you'll be using for a given spread. For an authentic look, use brown, gray, or dark green for matting. These are the colors that were used a lot when the photos were originally taken.

For a special added touch, first mat with a narrow cream border and then a wider mat out of the grown, gray or green.

# 4 Add embellishments

Just as you want your photos and backgrounds to have a vintage look, you need to do the same with your embellishments. Here are some ideas that will work well as you create a vintage style scrapbook:

♥ A flat brooch
♥ An advertising label from an old food can
♥ Antique looking ribbon
♥ Lace
♥ Old black and white postcards
♥ Old buttons
♥ Old canceled postage stamps
♥ Old certificates
♥ Old greeting cards
♥ Old worn out recipe cards
♥ Package of vintage stickers
♥ Rubber stamps that have old logos
♥ fashioned flowers
♥ Vintage style inks
♥ Scrapbooking charms
♥ Tattered love letter
♥ Word or phrase stickers

As you're out and about, stop at local thrift shops and garage sales to search for items that can be used as embellishments. You might be able to get some good finds!

Journal it – but keep it simple...

The more you explore vintage scrapbooking ideas, the more you'll discover that for most vintage pages, the pictures do most of the talking.

Instead of providing detailed explanations, choose just a few words to reflect the main theme of the project or spread.

For instance, if the photographs are all pics of your grandfather, then just a simple "Grandpa" at the top is fine. Consider using phrases that reflect the past such as: "Yesteryears", "Memories", "Remembering when...", "Cherished Moments" or "Fond Memories". For some pages, you may just want to simply put the year.

A vintage style page will stand out amongst your other scrapbooks. There's just something about looking at old photos and feeling as though you stepped into the past. Apply these steps and you'll be able to create a vintage scrapbook that looks authentic!

Happy Scrapbooking!

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