Scrapbooking Nature

As we all wish for Spring to come sooner than later, you may be adding more nature to your scrapbooks.

One of my favorite embellishments to add is a homemade tree.  They add texture to your page and look pretty darn impressive.

The trick for the bark is the paper.  You can generally find this type of paper in Michaels or other major craft stores that carry paper varieties.  You might end up paying $1-2 a sheet, but you can cut it up for many uses....animal skin, trees, or picture borders.

It comes in different shades.  In addition to blue and other bright colors, there is a leathery looking brown and a bronze brown.

It isn't a flat paper, but rather a crinkled, folded, hard paper with spots of darker and lighter brown mixed in.

Trace you tree trunk with several limbs shooting out and adhere it to your background paper.

Next, add your leaves.  I didn't make them.  I bought these leaves.  They are paper, but they have a fabric feel.  Find your own version in the craft store.  The fabric feel is important.  Paper leaves just don't have the same effect.  Then, one by one, add those leaves to your branches.

I really love how this page looks because it combines the picture of real tree branches with the base of the homemade tree.

Instead of using the whole picture, I cut out the excess space and let the branches within the picture, frame the subject.  The snapshots are lovely in this layout....but the tree steals all the attention.