Scrapbooking, Then and Now - Handmade Embellishments

I want to clarify that I am no scrapbooking guru.  Sharing about scrapbooking then and now is my way to document how I have progressed as a scrapbooker with few supplies and little experience to one bombarded with myriad embellishments and patterned papers, tools and gadgets.  I still may not be that good a scrapbooker, unknowingly flouting lots of design principles too, I can imagine.  Putting up old layouts is one way to laugh and learn from myself.  I will not redo those pages, they are every bit as precious as current ones.  But I want to encourage newbies that we all go though a learning curve.  Don't strive to emulate anyone and feel inadequate in doing so.  Imitate the great masters, as apprentice artists do, but the aim should be to find yourself while exploring.

Okay I'll get off the soapbox now to bring you Handmade Embellishments Then and Now.  Embellishments were hard to come by, and with a grad student budget, I made a lot of embellishments by hand.

In the double layout below, I made the gift boxes using patterned paper and embroidery floss. See, I told you patterned paper then REALLY looked like wrapping paper!

Across the top, I strung Christmas lights and made picture hangers using wires, attaching the photos to them like a wall hanging. To continue the theme, the lower half of the pages were wallpapered (okay, that's also what patterned paper looked like too) with a fake chair rail between.

I stuffed the memorabilia from a trip to the Field Museum in a "bone folder". Haha, bad pun. It's a see through pocket pieced with four pieces of cardstock shaped and coloured to look like bones.

I did a lot of paper pieced embellishments to match the photos, to give the pages a unique look you cannot accomplish with store-bought embellishments. Of course today, I'm all for store-bought embellishments - saves time and you cannot create the same quality economically - you're likely to end up buying several big pieces of paper to use 1"x1" from.
In this layout, I copied the elements from the photo - right down to the green car with luggage racks and blue sweaters.

Ferris wheel paper pieced to mimic the ones at Navy Pier.

Paper piecing need not be elaborate. Another fun handmade embellishment - this time in the title. A magnifying glass with just black cardstock circle and vellum.