Ideas for Borders, Seams and Edging on Your Scrapbook Page

Page and element edges provide opportunities for both subtle and bold embellishing, for a strip of contrasting pattern or an ornate punched scallop. Use borders to organize, to frame, to decorate. Read on for border ideas.

A bold patterned paper border along the bottom edge of Kelly Noel’s “Ray’s Baseball Camp” repeats a pattern from the banner above. It also works to keep the viewer’s eye in the page, in effect sending the eye back up to the banner and the photos next to it.

Adriana Puckett says, “The design and embellishing are minimal here with the borderwork the main embellishment. The bottom border is red paper ribbon with a stitched bunting over it. A scallop border is repeated other places, including at top right. I like layering paper or fabric ribbon over punched paper borders, and then adding embellishments to create texture and depth.”

Vicki Walters united the two pages in this spread with a fancy scalloped border spanning the width of both.  Striped borders on the bottom layer give the canvas edges definition and interest. Shorter heart and dot borders accent photo clusters and give the page balance.

Kim Watson uses strips of patterned paper as borders at page and block edges. Each print is different and does the work framing and organizing the many parts of her blocked page.

Meghann Andrew says, “I add a metallic shimmer to the edges of the teal band with washi tape, folded in half over the edge. It adds interest and grounds the cardstock strip housing my journaling and title. Since washi tape isn’t very sticky, you actually get several attempts at getting it straight along the edge of your cardstock.” Check out Meghann’s tutorial for the washi tape feather here.

Debbie Hodge made “Morning Gab” inspired by border prints in fashion. “It reminded me of vintage tablecloth designs with bold patterns around the edges, so I went to my stash of Jenni Bowlin prints because they are always bold and always vintage. I used the repeating ‘ticket’ print along top and bottom edges. I used a deco-edge punch on a red-white-black floral print for the second strip on the bottom and for the circle borders on the sides. I was aiming to almost (but not quite) frame everything in with borders.”

Michelle Houghton says, “I made a double border around my photos.The first is of doodling and two broad columns of patterned paper. The outer border is a purple matte running around the double page layout.  With a double page layout, including a border that encloses the two pages together unites the two sides.”

“If you want to include a hand doodled border on your layout remember you can always work in pencil first to test it out.  If you aren’t sure what to doodle, take inspiration from your photos and patterned paper.  Simplify the shapes you already have on your page.” 

Audrey Tan added borders beneath each photo. She says, “I made use of lace, paper strips, banners and stitching. Additionally, the whole page is pulled together with a digital edging border.”

Ashley Horton wanted a bright, fun layout for these photos of her son playing his first Midway game at the Fair.  She made a washi tape border around the page canvas. She mixed several colors and patterns of tape. She says, “I used different lengths and tore the edges and overlapped pieces.  If you a cleaner look, use full strips of tape.”

 Debbie Hodge says, “I make frequent use of borders on my casual-blocked designs, filling in spots or just capping off an edge. A scalloped border tops my blocked elements and runs the width of the cluster. Shorter bits of ribbon border the bottom of the largest photo. Finally, a full-width border tops the page canvas.”

Amy Kingsford says, “I used borders in a couple of different ways  here. I made a bold scalloped border by enlarging a smaller digital frame. It frames my page and draws the viewer in.  This enlarged frame offers something  unexpected and addscontrast to the page.  I used  a series of horizontal borders below my photo for dimension and interest and to draw the eye to the page’s focal point.”

 Debbie Hodge says, “When I block my canvas, I often add low-key borders as I’ve done on ‘Self-Timer.’ Just a strip of red dotted paper sits at the seam on the left side of the canvas while gold stitching and stamped flowers sit at the seam on the right side of the canvas.”

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