Know your sewing machine before you begin. Know how to thread it, maneuver, and be comfortable with the basics before tackling a layout!

Think about the placement of your stitches - do you need to actually sew on the layout itself? Many times you can sew around an individual element and then adhere the element to your layout - smaller pieces are easier to work with! Practice on a scrap sheet first… this might be hard the first time.

If you're using a "regular" machine, rather than one intended for scrapbooking, choose your needle size carefully. Larger is better in some cases - paper is more fragile than fabric, so you want the longest stitch length and smallest number of "holes" possible. A larger needle makes a larger hole, and you may get the desired effect with fewer holes!

Adding stitch work to your layout adds a quilted, homemade feel. If you already have a sewing machine, use a separate needle to paper stitch than you do to stitch on fabric. Try adding several styles of stitch to your page to see what kind of texture and interest it adds.

love the look of stitching on pages and embellishments, but don't always want to take the time to rethread the machine with a different colored thread. Thread can be chalk to give it different colors.

If you love the look of stitching on layouts but don't want to bother with the hassle of a sewing machine, try using staples as an alternative. By stapling carefully along the side edges of a piece of paper, vellum, or card stock with the long sides of the staples oriented parallel to the sides - it looks just like a running stitch up the sides. Another alternative design: stapling in X's, like big cross-stitching stitches. There are lots of different colored staples available these days, so you can coordinate with your pages and achieve a variety of different looks.

Dont just think of stitches as being the only thing to use on your scrapbook page. The sewing department has loads of things you can incorporate into your layout. Farbic, eye hooks, latches, handles, velcro, zippers, fabric to print on, etc.