Team Training for January ...

Welcome to our first edition of Team Training brought to you this month by myself.

Each month one of our team will inspire you with a little tutorial, tip or trick to help you in your scrapbooking pursuits.

Embellishing with buttons by Jane Howden.

Buttons used to be a staple in our scrapbooking stash but have fallen a little out of favour these last couple of years due to the rise in popularity of enamel dots and puffy stickers, however we shouldn’t overlook these wonderful little additions because buttons can be very versatile.   I am sure the vast majority of us have containers full of buttons in our over flowing supplies just begging to be put to good use - you can embellish your layouts in many different ways with the use of just a few buttons. 

Make a button border for your photo or your paper panel.  This can look very effective and has the ability to use up quite a number of buttons in one use.

 Use buttons to become the center of your flowers.  They can certainly add a visual impact.

Use them in your clusters along with your smaller stickers and other embellishments.

 Use them either in place of or alongside of wood veneer, brads, enamel dots and rhinestones that you might scatter across your page.  Sometimes a few small buttons will work just as well.

 Of course buttons don’t just come as a round plastic variety.  You can get the most gorgeous novelty buttons in all shapes and sizes and made from many other products.  I love them in hearts, butterflies, smiley faces and all manner of cute animals shapes.  And they are invariably far cheaper than the scrapbooking branded variety.  Try using some of these for your layouts.

And then you can pop a button onto your handmade cards for just that extra little touch. So quick and easy.

 I hope you can rediscover your love of buttons - pull them out and give them a try!

Don't forget to have your entry in for our challenge this month.  Some lovely prizes on offer - one prize by vote, another completely by random draw and a guest designer spot to offer one lucky entrant. You have until 11.55 on the final day of the month to have your submission linked.