Lately a lot of my scrapbooking has been what we call ‘Off The Page’. You can achieve some truly beautiful creations that are not traditional scrapbook pages. The advantage of this way of scrapbooking is you can show off your creation all around your home and not have to get your albums out all the time. Check out these ‘Off The Page’ scrapbooking ideas.
Canvas
You will enjoy decorating a canvas and love the finished product. They come in many different sizes and shapes and are quite inexpensive. The canvas itself can be painted, covered with another product (like the sample below), or my favorite thing to cover a canvas with is napkins/serviettes as they come in beautiful designs and there is sure to be something to suit your layout. The tissue flowers are so easy to make. Just get tissue paper in your color choice and cut as much as you need for the size of flower, while the tissue paper is folded. Other than that, all you need is a circle about an inch diameter of jac paper (double sided sticky paper). If you don’t have that, just put double sided tape on the circle and peel off the top. With the end of the tissue paper place this about the center of the circle and work your way around the circle, folded the tissue paper like a fan as you work your way around. You may need a glue dot to hold the tissue paper to the circle once you have completed the full circle. Place a large brad in the centre of the flower (this will cover any joins). If you have jac paper then just peel off the back and stick it on your project.
Hang your canvas on the wall (you can even put two or three in a group if the colors work well together). They also make very good gifts.
Clock
A piece of MDF or custom wood can be turned into a clock reasonably easily. Alternatively there are a number of companies such as Kaiser Craft who offer the base clock, together with the mechanism. Below is an example of a clock I made, but unfortunately I cannot remember which company made the base pieces.
These three pieces came separately and strong half inch wide ribbon top and bottom was used to join the three sections together. You could ask your husband/partner to cut you a piece of material in any number of sizes or shapes (round for instance) that you could turn into a clock. Most craft stores will sell the clock mechanisms. Also don’t limit yourself to crafting a clock from wood. You could use chipboard or clear plastic, depending on the thickness. You just need to be able to make a largish whole in the middle for part of mechanism. Give it a try, I am sure you will love the challenge and be pleased with the results.
Box Frame
Department stores will sell box picture frames and I normally get these in 12 x 12 inch to take my finished layouts. Having the box frame means even your thickest embellishments such as flowers and even little baby’s booties if you are doing a baby layout can be included on your page. Another great gift for your family and extended family.
Hanging Frame
This hanging frame was made from three pieces of stiff plastic and a CropADile tool was used to make the holes (a drill would certainly do the job also, or even your eyelet tool).
For the reverse side of the plastic, I have used the same piece of scrapbook paper to cover the back, but you can leave the back plain if you wish.
Tiles
The tiles can be used either singularly or in multiples and of course, come in a few different sizes. Purchase these from a tile shop near you, decorate as you wish, and cover with Modge Podge to seal the tiles.
Tissue Boxes
I am not sure if plastic ones are still available, but my local scrapbook shop supplied square, plastic tissue boxes where each side had a slot for you to slide your decorated piece into. Alternatively there are wooden tissue boxes available that could easily be decorated.
Tins
I have decorated a number of ‘paint’ tins made especially for scrapbooking. It was a little bit of a challenge covering the tin but they look great.
There are lots of other tin shapes you can decorate. All of my embellishment folders are in a small tin I decorated just for that purpose, as are all my tools for scrapbooking and cardmaking. I like to cover the finished layout with Dimensional Magic which gives it a clear varnished look and also protects the layout from damage.
Tins make great scrapbook albums. Yes, they really do! Whatever the size of your tin, make a concertina album to go inside. Cut your card slightly smaller than the height of your tin and score the card to slightly smaller than the width. Keep scoring and/or adding card (by joining to your first piece) to the album until you have enough ‘pages’ for your album, or cannot fit any more due to the depth of the tin.
Albums kept in tins take up very little room and never get damaged! Don’t forget to decorate the front of the tin. I could go on and on about tins because I love doing them. In fact, I’ve inspired myself to do a few more!
Coasters
Similarly to tiles, they can be decorated and covered with Modge Podge to seal them. They also come in different sizes and shapes. They are more lightweight than tiles.
Picture Frames
Your scrapbook store is likely to stock some different picture frame options for you to decorate. Kaiser Craft have many wooden frame designs available.
Altered Books
This is a very inexpensive but fantastic idea for making an album from scratch or at least almost from scratch! Find an old book that you have been tempted to throw out and which is the approximate size that you would like to make your album. I purchased an old cookbook from my local secondhand book store.
Either decorate the cover first, or once the rest of the album is completed. To cover the printed pages you can either use scrapbook paper, or in my case I have painted the pages with a dry brush (you may need 2 coats). This gives a good surface for your layout. You can still use embellishments but try to keep them fairly flat.
Once you have completed your first layout (double page spread), use your craft knife to cut out a few pages near the center of your book so it won’t become too thick. When you have completed the album the book should still sit flat. If not, just remove some more pages. Rather than do a layout every double page, glue half a dozen pages together with paste or Modge Podge, between layouts. This gives your page a good thickness to turn over. Here is an example from my altered book about my family.
Notebooks/Diaries/Recipe Books
I am always decorating notebooks to give away as gifts. In come cases it might be for someone going overseas so I will decorate it with that in mind.
I keep a few notebooks on hand for my craft work to jot down notes when I think of ideas.
Lots and lots and lots more ideas…!
I am sure the things listed above will give you other ‘Off The Page’ ideas but here are some extra ideas. A lot of these items come raw from Kaiser Craft.
Mirrors, clipboards, big numbers/letters and words (such as DREAM, ART, INSPIRE, CHERISH LOVE), plaques, wooden albums, boxes, purses, trays, door hangers, banners, hat boxes and organizers.
Wow, if that lot doesn’t inspire you…nothing will! Hopefully I have also helped you come up with some ideas for birthday and Christmas presents, etc. Do give some of these ideas a try and I am sure you will be hooked on ‘Off The Page’ projects.