by Catalogs.com Info Guru Rosemary O’Brien

If you like the vintage look for your scrapbook pages, the Christmas holidays are the best time to display those old-timey layouts.

Here are some fun vintage Christmas scrapbooking ideas for you to try this year. It’s all about color and texture.

10. Holiday colors

Paper colors really matter when you are trying to achieve the vintage look. Stick to muted reds, greens and beiges that generally stand for Christmas. Stay away from the bright hues that we usually use and stick with a cherry color rather than fire engine red or try an evergreen rather than a Kelly green. You can even go with blues and whites or creams to illustrate the wintry season.

9. Vintage embellishments

Dimension makes any page pop. Using chipboard in the shape of a Santa or a poinsettia will help your entire page stand out. Scrapbook stores have some lovely sets of chipboard pieces in the vintage Christmas theme. Just pop them out, sand the edges a bit to get rid of the bits the might be left behind from the sheet, and use a strong adhesive such as glue dots to adhere them to your page.

8. Add shading

Shading edges of items on your page and even the main page itself lends an air of age to your layouts. Take an ink pad such as Distress Inks and run it along the edges of everything you are going to add to your page.

7. Old fashioned sparkle

Texture is another medium that adds sparkle to your page. Speaking of sparkle, think glitter accents to jazz up the edge of a photo or one of your chipboard accents. You can spread glue on the section you want to add texture to using vintage and sparkle glitter or use one of the many acid-free glitter glues available for scrapbooking.

6. B&W photos

When it comes right down to it, the photographs are the star of any layout you create. Add an old-time feel to your layout by starting out with black and white or sepia-colored photographs. Even modern clothing will look vintage with this technique.

5. Free printables

There are dozens if not more vintage christmas scrapbooking ideas on the internet and many of them have free Christmas printables. Look around for a few you like and print them out on your computer using thick cardstock to make your own embellishments. Try printing on transparency sheets and spot-coloring the back using markers made for scrapbooking or even alcohol inks.

4. Ad graphics

For inspiration, look up vintage advertising graphics online. Even if you just mimic the layout of a winning or appealing ad from days gone by, you will have a unique layout that harkens back to the ‘olden days.’

3. Shaker boxes

Another great way to add texture and dimension to your layouts it by the use of shaker boxes. You can find them in almost any scrapbooking or craft store. Cut out an image to adhere to the back of the shaker box and glue it down. Now add small confetti shaped like snow or just a colored confetti or glitter and place it at the front of the box. Close the box and you have a neat addition to your page. Be sure to glue it on with glue dots or other heavy-duty adhesive.

2.

Add a touch of handmade holidays to paper embellishments or stickers by adding marker, paint or glitter to the tips of flat embellishments. For instance, paint red balls at the tips of the tree branches on a Christmas tree to make it look like Christmas ball ornaments or try green or gold paint on the skirt of a child’s dress. It is a great way to make more out of the items you have.

1. Letter to Santa

What was your favorite thing to do for Christmas when you were a kid? Mine was writing a letter to Santa! If your kids still do that, you can add one of their letters to the layout. If not, just write one that ties to the theme of your layout. Distressing the edges as mentioned above is one of those vintage christmas scrapbooking ideas that would work very well here.

So get creative and think blurred edges and muted Christmas colors to create your vintage-inspired Christmas layouts. Remember dimension, texture and, of course, start out with the best papers you can find as a base for your layout. You will get rave reviews for your vintage Christmas creation if you add these tips to your stockpile of ideas to try.