How to use Brads on
Your Family History Scrapbook
Scrapbooking brads or fasteners are versatile and can be used in many ways on your layout.
They add a decorative element to you pages. They also can add functionality by holding other elements to your page, especially if you don't want to use adhesive on your page - such as in the case of vellum paper.
Fasteners are made up of a head and prongs. The head is usually round or square, but there are many shapes and sizes available. You can get them from 1/16 inch up to 5/8 inch and even up to 1 inch.
They are similar to the metal fasteners used in offices to combine many pieces of paper together temporarily.
To attach to your page, simply make a small hole in your papers where you want the fastener to be. You can do this by using a hole punch, an eyelet setter punch or even a sharp knife.
Then you can push the prongs through each piece of paper or cardstock, then flatten the prongs on the back of the paper.
Tips and Techniques
- Some scrapbookers snip off the prongs and just glue the head to the page. That way you don't punch holes in your paper if you are worried it will be in the wrong spot or position.
- They can be used in a line or in a group and can provide a focal point on the page.
- If your fasteners aren't quite the right color, instead of buying the color you need, you can use ink and embossing powder on the head of the brad, or even paint the head.
- They can be used to fasten journal boxes, tags, diecuts, vellum and ribbon.
- They can be used to fasten pieces of fabric or lace and ribbons, string or sewing thread as sometimes these can be hard to secure with glue or tape.
- They can be used as bullet points on journalling or titles .
More brads that can be used for your heritage pages:-
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