by Anne Montgomery Working With Clear Elements (Dec. 07)

If you’re anything like me, you soak up all of the "latest and greatest" the scrapbooking world has to offer. The newest products, the hottest trends…all are must-haves! But after the excitement dies down, I am sometimes left sitting at my scrap table with a pile of STUFF I have no idea what to do with…

One such pile contained a variety of "clear" products; transparencies, acrylic hearts, stars, and snowflakes, clear buttons, see-through letters. They were all a bit intimidating at first, but once I started playing with them, I realized how much I could do. The beauty of using clear items on your pages is that they are a blank canvas, you can do so many things to make them yours!

The Booya girls did some amazing work with a variety of clear products to inspire you; here are some ideas on what you can use and how to incorporate these many transparent items into your scrapbooking:

*TRANSPARENCIES: attach with eyelets, staples, brads, sewing; bring out the edges with Staz-on or alcohol inks; fold them in half for a unique card; create a mini book; embellish with rubons; Lacintha used some gorgeous pre-printed transparencies to create her card. To see Lacintha's Card with product listing click here.
*BUTTONS: another chance to use some paint, add a splash of color by threading with a bright ribbon; stitch them on with embroidery floss; Debbie backed hers with patterned papers to match her layout To see Debbie's Layout with product listing click here.
*ACRYLIC EMBELLISHMENTS: glam them up with glitter, paint, or microbeads; back them with patterned paper to customize them to your project. Alissa altered her snowflake ornaments with alcohol inks to add a pop of color. To see Alissa's Ornaments with product listing click here.
* "OTHER" clear products: another hot ticket item these days: Pageframes; Kristi highlights her gorgeous family in an equally gorgeous circle Pageframes. To see Kristi's Project with product listing click here.
*More Ideas: (check out Alissa’s gorgeous glittered ball ornament!)
I created this Holiday Planner using regular 8 1/2"x11" transparencies, patterned paper, ribbon, and a few embellishments.. To see Anne's Holiday Planner with product listing click here.		Alissa made this ornament out of a glass ball ornament, some glitter, and a few embellishments. To see Alissa's Ornaments with product listing click here.	Laci created this amazing card with a pre-printed transparency, cardstock, and a few embellishments. To see Lacintha's Card with product listing click here.

It’s "clear" to see that the possibilities really are endless. There are so many things you can use in so many different ways, try some of these tips and "see" what you can come up with!