Recently, medieval scrapbooking has seen an upsurge of interest amongst craft enthusiasts. It’s a fun theme to experiment with and gives you all sorts of possibilities in terms of background papers, stylish borders, embellishments and other decorations.

Medieval scrapbook layouts can provide a unifying theme for holiday scrapbook pages (for example, a visit to historical sites in Europe) or even a children’s scrapbook for a school history project. The topic connects with all kinds of popular cultural imagery, for example the interest in Celtic art and jewelry — the possibilities are endless.

You might have a job finding ready-made medieval scrapbooking supplies, however — so here are some ideas that will help you create your own themed elements to give your scrapbooks an unmistakeable flavor of the Middle Ages!

Stained Glass Mosaics

Who has visited a European cathedral and not marveled at the wonderful stained glass windows? You can take inspiration from the windows of medieval cathedrals such as Ely or Chartres to create luminous scrapbook designs.

Stained glass mosaics give an elegant, regal touch to any scrapbook page. They are also especially pretty in formal scrapbooks or those with a heavily religious theme.

(Side note: there’s a special stained glass museum at Ely Cathedral in England — they have a great website that will give you many ideas: visit www.stainedglassmuseum.com)

Embossed Foil

Embossed foil creates unique elegant accents and highlights on photographs. This adds an impression of age and antiquity to your scrapbook pages.

To make embossed foil, place a piece of carbon paper on top of the foil. Next, place a picture on top of the foil. Then, trace around the picture using an embossing tool. You can also use a rubber stamp. Ready made embossed foil is also available at your local craft store.

Silver and Gold Accents

Beautiful silver and gold accents make a wonderful touch to lettering or tags on your scrapbook page. This is a very elegant touch that also works well on gift scrapbooks or invitations.

To make these accents, stamp a piece of vellum with embossing ink and heat and stick powder. Next, Heat the item. Then, using a small paintbrush, paint this piece of vellum with gold leaf. Brush off the excess powder with a brush.

You can get many of the materials mentioned in this article from craft suppliers.

Next time you’re thinking about an innovative topic or look for your scrapbook, why not plan around a medieval theme? It can suit many different purposes and you’ll find lots of inspiration from online sources.

Here at ‘Create Your Own Scrapbooks’ we’re always on the lookout for fresh ideas for scrapbooking that allow you to use materials and objects you could find at home or might have collected while on vacation. Not only does this help keep scrapbooking a relatively inexpensive hobby but it also helps you to think of new ways to create uniquely personalized pages that will carry even more significance for your family and friends over the years.

These are some ideas that may help you create new and exciting scrapbooking page toppers, borders and embellishments.

Fabric Flowers

Fabric flowers make great embellishments on scrapbook pages. Unlike plastic flowers, fabric flowers look more realistic. They also have a long life span. Flowers are made with fabric and wire. Make a wire loop. This will be one petal. Next, apply glue to the petal, and place fabric on top. Alternately, stretch a piece of an old nylon over the loop and secure with tape. Continue making loops until you have enough to make a flower. Then, twist the wires together. Fold out your flower and secure to your scrapbook page.

Traditional Hawaiian Lei Borders

Leis are the beautiful traditional Hawaiian garlands that are often given as an expression of love and affection and used to celebrate important personal events such as weddings, birthdays, graduations and so on. They can be used to make fancy three-dimensional borders and certainly add an exotic touch to holiday scrapbooks.

A traditional Lei is made using paper orchids, roses, rounded mums and cup and saucer flowers with punched shapes, which are then glued together. To add a richer texture, cut these follows from velveteen paper. You can use ready-made leis or make your own.

Bead Or Shell Lei Borders

Here’s another idea for using leis to make three-dimensional borders in a slightly different way.

A beaded lei is made by stringing large and small beads onto a string of embroidery cotton. Small yellow flowers and red berries can be added to create an even greater effect. Gluing shells together and placing them directly on the scrapbook page makes a shell lei.

Using handmade borders and embellishments like these create an instantly recognizable theme in your scrapbook page and you’ll know that your album is unlike any other! These techniques can be adapted to suit all kinds of projects, from holiday scrapbooks to kid’s scrapbook journals. See how many ideas you can come up with!

Looking for wedding scrapbook ideas or information on baby scrapbook layouts? Check out our main menu and resources page!