Falling leaves, crisp air and pumpkin flavored everything…bring on the fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving scrapbook ideas!

The colors of fall create rich and beautiful scrapbook pages. Choose deep shades of orange, brown, kraft paper and even dark greens and yellows.

Burlap is extremely popular and works very well on fall layouts to add some extra texture. Another popular earthy type of embellishment is jute. Felt and buttons in fall colors are always nice additions as well.

Fall layouts are a great time to try some distressing. Use an ink pad or chalk to give the edges of a photo mat or background paper a distressed look. Randomly ink or chalk around the very edges as you hold the ink pad up to your paper. Brown, deep orange, and black inks or chalks work well for fall distressing.

There is a large variety of fall background papers, embellishments, stickers, and die cuts that you can purchase at your local craft store for your fall layouts. However, you can make some handmade pieces that will really make your layouts pop:

*You do not want to use real leaves in your scrapbook. The leaves will deteriorate and break down over time. Instead of giving you the beauty of the leaf you will have a mess on your layout. If you would like to use a real leaf make sure it is completely dry and then laminate it for safe keeping. Once laminated it would be safe to put in your scrapbook.

*Try creating some leaves, acorns or even pumpkins out of felt. Felt gives you a great fall texture for your layouts. For some extra texture you could even stitch around the edges of the felt.

*Paper clay is another great medium to create some unique handmade embellishments for your fall layouts. You can purchase the clay in different colors or use a solid color and paint it.

*Use a fall colored button and tie a jute knot in the center.

*Use a piece of burlap as a border on the side of your page. Use a needle and embroidery floss to stick your title right into the burlap.

*Make pendant flags out of small pieces of burlap and hang them across the top of the page from a piece of jute.

*Use a small leaf punch to create different colored leaves for a leaf pile.

*Torn paper edges give a nice texture for fall layouts. Kraft paper tears very nicely and can even be distressed using ink or chalks for an even greater texture contrast.

Use some of these ideas to inspire your next autumn, halloween or Thanksgiving layout, cards, or home decor.