You may have heard that making scrapbooking borders is very important for your scrapbook projects.  You want borders around your photos, the page itself, your wording, and so on.  How can you go about making scrapbooking borders that fit your theme and tone of the page, that won't clash with other elements, and that won't make your page look too busy?  These are important questions because you can easily overdo it when you add borders to any page and ruin an otherwise great project.

There are a few simple things to remember when making scrapbooking borders.  Probably the most important thing to remember is that you definitely don't want to overdo it.  Too many borders can make your page look cluttered and busy.  A good rule of thumb is that there should only be one border element on your page.  Choose a border for your page, photo, or wording, but not everything.  Some people think when making scrapbooking borders that if some is good, then more will be better, but when you have too many elements on your page nothing really stands out at all.

Remember too when making scrapbooking borders that the borders don't need to exactly match everything else on the page but may actually work better if they complement rather than blend in.  If your page has vertical stripes, consider a border of coordinating polka dots.  If your page is a very bright blue, consider a border of a soft pink or other pastel.  By choosing something that complements or coordinates rather than something that matches exactly you'll be able to really allow your subject to stand out and be emphasized, which is the real purpose in making scrapbooking borders in the first place.

It also helps to try a few different creative things without actually adhering anything when you're making scrapbooking borders.  Use yarn or rickrack or a string of beads rather than just paper.  You can also use a line of certain elements, such as buttons in a row, or a zipper from an old pair of jeans, and so on.  Lay out these things on your page without using glue or adhesives so that you can see how they'll look, move them around, take something away or add something else, and so on.  Once you've made your final decision then you can go back and add some drops of glue and have a beautiful finished product.