Product Shuffle: Vellum

Hello, everyone! Aurelie here to talk to you today about a scrapbooking product that has recently made a big comeback: vellum. Yes, that's right. Vellum. I remember watching my sister scrapbook some fifteen years ago and pulling out some of that translucent paper - I was so amazed at the effect it made when she ripped it! It was so perfect to use when designing winter layouts, oh so perfect when creating snow drifts!! However, lately, vellum has been seen on scrappy projects in smart and innovative ways - used as pockets to stash some floating sequins, die-cut in any shape, title and/or border, overlapped on patterned paper to tone it down when needed, etc. Stitched, stapled, adhered with brads and/or buttons, one can now use vellum without worrying about seeing the adhesive (even if there are vellum adhesives out there!). Just recently, we've seen some of our very own designers and guest designers playing with vellum on their layouts and creating scrappy masterpieces with it (see Elisa Delora's layout here and Zoe Nemburt's layout here) !

When I first started thinking about what I wanted to achieve with vellum for this post, I immediately thought of a monochromatic layout - I wanted to create something totally layered, yet very soft. However, as it happens so often for me, what I thought I'd end up doing totally changed mid-project and ended up being designed with a completely different approach. In so doing, I ended up designing two layouts using vellum. Here they are:

This layout was done at a recent crop hosted by Isabelle Perreault Doucette, LCOM's wonderful owner. It was actually inspired by a Becky Fleck sketch found at Pagemaps.com. Used tons of Basic Grey's Hispter collection - patterned paper, die-cut shapes, wood die cuts, designer chipboard stickers, element stickers and alphas. I also used a Maya Road metal camera, some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze, my very trusty Crafter's Workshop stitching template with some DMC floss, and yes, finally a piece of Studio Calico vellum, punched with my Stampin' Up scallop-edged punch. The vellum on this layout was used to whiten the collection's palest piece of patterned paper (see here) - it would totally have worked as is, but with the vellum layered on top of it, the look of the layout was completely softened to match Louis-Olivier's shy smile and created a better contrast with the layered elements which highlights the journalling. Photo by Philippe Dumas.

The second layout was greatly inspired by a Kelly Goree class I was lucky enough to take at Scrapbook & Cards Today's Crop & Create Moncton event in 2012. In it, we learned how to make those funky squares using a circle punch. Just a few weeks away from the third Crop & Create event in Moncton, I was recently showing the projects I made the last two years to a few scrappy friends who will be attending for the first time this year (insert squeal right about... here!), and thought to myself how perfect that technique would be with vellum. It creates a constrast while staying in the same colour palette. And this vellum is even sweeter because there's already a pattern in it, but if not, you could use it as is or after you fold the circle into a square, you could always pass it through an embossing machine such as a Cuttlebug, Big Shot machine, etc., just to give it some texture.

Once again, I pulled my Basic Grey Hipster collection for this one - patterned paper, mini file folders, alphas, designer chipboard stickers, wood die cuts, and die-cut shapes. Yes, that's Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze you see, but with some American Crafts brads mixed with it. And yes, those are American Crafts alphas in not one, but two fonts you see in my play-on-word title (cute, eh?). And of course, I happily hand-stitched those zigzag patterns using my Crafter's Workshop stitching template and some DMC floss. Crazy to some, I know, but so totally relaxing while watching my latest Netflix obsession! Hee!Hee! Oh! And I almost forgot that random piece of Queen & Co. washi tape on the bottom left of my layout. Haven't used washi tape in the longest time, but was totally inspired by Jocelyne's most recent blog post. Thanks, Jocelyne! And the sketch? A Laura Whitaker original. I love her sketches! Special shoutout to Philippe Dumas for another fabulous photo.

Finally, if you'd like to find out more about vellum and how to use it on your scrappy projects, please hop on over to Debbie Hodge's blog right here. Awesome inspiration for S-U-R-E for all of you hoarding that vellum from all those years ago! :) And for those of you who might not have any vellum, yet, what are you waiting for? ;)

Happy scrapping!