by Cindy Hartzell

Created on: June 15, 2009   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Transparent overlays are one of the latest offerings in the world of scrap booking and paper craft products. These overlays are very versatile and can be used for digital scrap booking and traditional scrapbooks. They are actually easy to use and make embellishing your page layouts quick and light work. Transparent overlays are easily found in craft stores are usually sold in packages of multiple sheets. There are also several companies that sell transparent overlays on line, which is an easy way to purchase a single page design that is uploaded to your computer. Popular sizes are 8.5" by 11" and 12" by 12" and they are acid free - perfect for scrapbooks!

Plain:

Some overlays come plain and can be decorated to suit any theme. They can be placed in printers and uploaded designs and a variety of other images from your computer can be printed on them. The advantage of plain overlays is that you have complete control over where and how images appear on your overlays. For example: any sentiment you want to add can be printed in your choice of font on your overlay. You can decide the size of font and the position of the words as well. Transparent overlays also work well with stamps, which gives you even more options!

Pre-printed:

For quick and easy projects, purchase pre-printed sheets that contain various words, quotes, and a multitude of designs. Pre-printed overlays can also be used as a background page by itself or can be added to a plain backing page, with photos and other embellishments on top. There are some overlay designs that have several frames on one page. This type of overlay can be used as is over a scrapbook page, or each of the frames can be cut out and used separately with selected photos.

Transparent Overlay placement

For an easy added touch of elegance or sophistication, just fasten a full sized complimentary themed overlay to a basic scrapbook page by using eyelets, ribbons, brads, colorful staples and/or special clips. To attach the overlay with eyelets, you will need an eyelet tool to make holes in both your scrapbook page and the overlay. The tool will also secure the eyelet(s) to hold the two pages together. Brads are a little easier to use. After making a small hole with a needle or push pin, insert the brad, and spread open the prongs on the backside of the attached pages. Using ribbons will require a hole puncher to make a smooth hole large enough to accommodate the ribbon. Tie a knot or bow to anchor the ribbon

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