How Do You Use Vellum Sheets?

Lay vellum over bright paper for a softer look.

The light, transparent nature of vellum sheets adds a graceful touch to scrapbook pages. Using vellum sheets may prove difficult for the beginning scrapbooker, however, because the delicate pages must be handled with care--they are less forgiving than tougher paper, such as watercolor paper and cardstock. It's worth getting the hang of working with vellum, though, for the softening effect it brings to your scrapbook.

Things You'll Need

• Scissors
• Photo or other image
• Plain watercolor paper
• Glue
• Colored paper
• Scrapbook with plastic sleeves

Instructions

1. Crop the photo or other image you wish to matte inside your scrapbook.

2. Cut a sheet of plain watercolor paper to the same size as the photo.

3. Apply a thin layer of glue to the back of the image and adhere it to the watercolor paper.

4. Tear a vellum sheet to a size slightly larger than the dimensions of the mounted image, to create a soft, textured border for it.

5. Apply a thin layer of glue to the watercolor paper backing of the image and center it on the torn piece of vellum.

6. Apply a thin layer of glue to the vellum backing, taking care only to put glue in the area behind the photo. If you put glue on the outer edges of vellum, the glue will show unattractively through the transparent material. Glue vellum-backed image onto brightly colored paper.

7. Insert the bright paper with the vellum-mounted image on it into a plastic sleeve within your scrapbook.

References

• Scrapbooking 101: Basic Vellum Techniques