Let's Be Clear! - Using Vellum on Your Layouts

       Hey everyone, it's Cathy here, back again with another post.  This month I'm all about using vellum on my layouts.  I know most of us have vellum, and I'm sure we all use it, but for those who want to try a new way to use it, or just want to see it in action I decided to write up a little post showing a few different techniques when it comes to using up your stash of vellum.

       First let me give you a little history on vellum.  I was first introduced to vellum when I was studying graphic design, which was where I learned that vellum was originally made from animal skin, with the highest quality vellum being derived from stillborn and unborn animals, primarily calves. Now that I have sufficiently grossed everyone out we can move on.  Modern vellum is made synthetically, so we can all sleep a little better about that one!

      Back a few years ago vellum was all the rage. I remember seeing it crop up everywhere in scrapbooking magazines and in stores.  I even used vellum on my wedding invitations and that was 10 years ago!  I find the popularity of vellum ebbs and flows, but I personally love it and always have a stash of it on hand.

      Now to move on to the actual projects.  For my first example I used two different types of vellum.  I used a polkadot vellum as a photo mat and I used vellum to create a large banner.  I like to add vellum as a layering piece when I'm looking to add subtlety and a light, airy feeling to my layers. Using vellum as a layering piece can help calm an overly busy patterned paper and can help keep your layout from looking overly heavy or bogged down.

When I created this layout I knew that I couldn't put a heavy horizontal paper across all of my washi strips, so vellum was a perfect choice to show off a large banner and still allow the colours and patterns to come through. (originally designed for Sketch 'n' Scrap)

I have also used vellum to create my own embellishments.  If you haven't made one already I insist you all make a cute confetti pocket!  Mine is filled with sequins, but you could fill it with just about anything, even ephemera.  I don't have a sewing machine so I had to hand-stitch mine, but if you have a sewing machine you can pop one of these bad boys out in a matter of minutes!

I added some phrase stickers to the front of my pocket to dress it up a bit and create the image of a Christmas tree, but it's totally up to you what you do with your pocket.

Another great vellum idea is printing on vellum.  I love the look of images or words on vellum, and since you can easily do it at home it's a great and fun way to switch up your scrapbook page.  If you are printing on vellum here are a few things to keep in mind.  Black and white works very welt, at least in my experience.  In fact I've never even tried printing on vellum in colour, but I love the sharpness of a B&W image on vellum.  Another thing to remember is vellum will need a longer time to dry, so once you've printed your image or words, leave it somewhere to dry. I would say giving it a good hour or so just to be safe, especially with larger or highly saturated images. I also love the idea of printing your journalling on vellum, which is what I did for my next example.  The vellum is actually doing double duty for this page, as it is also acting as a mask for my photo too!

I simply printed my journalling on an 8.5 x 11 sheet, and then stapled it over top my photo and some patterned paper, giving the train image as well as my photo an almost dreamy appearance. 

As I did earlier I again used vellum to make a pocket for some sequins, only this time I also backed a die cut word with it.  I then put patterned paper behind the vellum and stitched it all together to make one large embellishment!

I really love how the vellum mutes the bold floral so that it doesn't compete with the busy background paper.

For my last example I did a similar effect, using vellum to mute a pattern, but this time I did in on a larger scale.  I really like how it added a subtle layer to the background without me having to add layer after layer.

For this I once again hand-stitched the vellum on after trimming it down so that it didn't overlap the background completely.  I could totally see this working with a busy geometric or floral pattern!

Now it's time to break out that vellum and get to work using it in any way you'd like!

   Cathy Martin
  Scrap Your Scraps contributor