How do you use transparent overlays for scrapbooking? Transparent overlays exist to ease embellishing for scrapbooking, They are meant to be placed over layouts and save time and effort especially if you are interested in scrapbooking but are not a great artist yourself. There are plenty of pre-printed overlays to choose from existing on-line companies. You could even go to a scrapbooking crafts shop to select from their designs or even enlist their aid in helping you design appropriate ones for your scrapbook. You would need to pay for their services and hence, you would need to consider very carefully what you want to do before you actually get to the shop.
Nonetheless, plain transparent overlays exist for the adventurous who would like to hand-color or self-design using computer-assisted scrapbooking programs. These programs come with various pictures that you can use to design and print your own overlays. Transparent overlays are thus great for simple scrapbooking as you would have decided on a theme for your scrapbooking and the overlays can be pre-printed using computer software to tie the theme through the pages of the scrapbook. For example, if you are making a scrapbook on an outing at the beach, you could use pre-printed transparent overlays with seashells and little waves fringing the overlays for all the pages.
What you don't want is to create a cluttered and thus confusing scrapbook with meaningless pages that do not say much except that you are a messy scrapbooker. Therefore, try not to stick other embellishments or color all over the plain transparent overlays such that they crowd the actually layout beneath them. Moreover, transparent overlays are not cheap items if you want clear and scratch-proof ones. You are not going to color and later regret your designs. So plan carefully and have a drawn or printed template on plain white paper before you actually color or computer-print on the overlays. 12" X 12" sheets can cost as much as three US dollars per pre-printed sheet.
How then to use transparent overlays to create that professional finish to your scrapbook?
Firstly, decide on the theme of your scrapbook. Are you producing a scrapbook on your grandparents' golden anniversary as a gift to them? You may want to consider wide borders that leave the center empty and show up large close ups of the loving couple through their years together.
Secondly, consider the quantity of photographs and items you would want to display in your scrapbook. Remember that having more does not necessarily produce a higher quality scrapbook. Have an idea of what you want to display as the focal point of each page. Make sure you actually have viewed and made a preliminary selection of the photographs and the items before you run to the crafts shop for your transparency overlays.
Next, browse available transparent overlays for the design and the estimated cost. You need to work in the binding based on the thickness of the scrapbook inclusive of the transparent overlays. If you are not sure, go to an established one-stop crafts shop with experienced scrapbookers to guide you through your production and give you helpful hints that may come free if you look completely helpless and totally lost.
It is easier to decide on the design of the overlays before you actually lay out your scrapbooks - the overlays help you decide where your photographs and embellishments would go. Bear in mind what you have selected as the focal points as you consider your overlays. It is more pleasant to the eye and the peace of mind to have approximately the same design through the pages of the scrapbook than have the position of the focal points at different spots on each page.
However, if by this time you have decided to purchase plain transparent overlays that you can put over the photographs and color up the blank parts, remember to get plenty of acrylic ink pens in the colors you want before you leave the shop with your purchased overlays.
Finally, remember the photographs and items are the things you want to show, not the transparent overlays, so use them to accentuate the right things, not steal the show.