There are common ways to fasten a photo or element to a scrapbook page, but there are some less common ways. What you can use on a traditional layout, made of printed photos and papers is somewhat limited by the size and weight of the fasteners. However, in digital scrapbooking, this is no longer an issue since elements have absolutely no thickness or weight, and will not damage the photos! Let’s look at some more ways to hold elements on a digital layout.
Hinges
Hinges can be so varied in shape, color, material and style. Unless one was to use very small hinges, they would not be practical in traditional scrapbooking, but with a digital page, one can choose just about any type of hinges to hold photos, elements, papers, and more.
Nails and screws
While staying in the “hardware” section, screws and nails are also useable to hold photos and elements. Of course, we would normally see only the head sticking out, but the illusion is usually pretty good. You might find some “new” screws but also some older ones, rusty ones, even some damaged ones. But they all "hold" something!
Snaps
The sewing room is often a source for small fasteners in traditional scrapbooking. This is no reason not to use the same ones in our digital layouts. Snaps might sometimes be scanned or digitally created but they always give that fun feeling in holding things that are perceived as fairly lightweight.
Rubber bands
We might think of elastics as a way to hold some objects in the home that have thickness. Of course, wrapping light photos with such a stretchy elements will usually bend them which would be damaging, but we can definitely use them on a virtual layout. Flat or twisted, we can also have only parts of elastics to tighten photos and elements.
Strings, ropes, cords
Somewhat similar to the use of elastics, strings add the option to make a knot or a bow. Strings, ropes, rafia strands, wool fibres could easily be wrapped several times around elements, or placed flat and have photos, tickets and other thin objects simply slipped underneath.
Safety Pins
Another sewing notion that is commonly use in traditional scrapbooking and just as easily applied to digital scrapbooking. Whether it is a baby theme layout, or not, safety pins are versatile. You can use them to hold papers, elements and photos. They can also be embellished with fancy heads or even beads (like for those friendship pins kids used to exchange).
Wax Seal
Traditionally made to hold and seal the opening of envelopes, wax seal are a perfect choice for holding photos, elements, ribbons and more. Their sticky characteristics make them natural fasteners. By their nature, you can add imprints to customize it to the theme of the photo or layout.
Paint or glue
Although paint would usually be thin and at the most, used to stick pieces on it, if one has thick enough paint, it could be used as a visible fastener on top of the element. You can have paint splat, or dripping paint. They could surely hold small, thin and lightweight elements on your digital pages.
Glue would be very similar in appearance but it would probably be more translucent than paint.
This is still not the end of our list of fasteners that you can use creatively in a digital layout. If you are a designer, you might want to keep those in mind to add to your kits. If you are a scrapper, you might want to look for those less common types of fasteners or even consider creating them yourself. This would allow you to make layouts that will be unique. You can now showcase your pictures just as much as the fasteners since they can often become part of the embellishments.
Do you have a favorite unusual type of fastener? Link us. We might even showcase your layout in the next post.
Check the first article on 8 Common Fasteners in Digital Scrapbooking
If you want to consider creating your own fasteners, check our tutorials to create your own elements.
