Designer: Lisa Storms

At times it can be frustrating finding embellishments for my boy pages. It isn't as easy as popping on a pretty flower or butterfly. Stars are usually my go-to boy shape, and luckily Fiskars has lots of stars to choose from in various sizes and designs!

So I decided to put together a mini-album with favorite photos of my boys growing up and create my own embellishments for each page. I hope it can inspire others to do the same. I'll share a sampling from each age group here.

For the cover, I found a quick and easy way to make gears (or sprockets ... what are they called anyway?). If you are one who doesn't like to use flowers on boy pages, maybe this will change your mind. Chop off half or more of each petal and punch a hole in the middle. Instant gear! Here I used a combination of squeeze and pop-up punches, as well as a shape template flower cut using the Ultra ShapeXpress for a variety of sizes for interest.

So let's start with a baby page. This adorable snail is as easy as he is cute. All shapes needed are included on the 2-piece Flowers & Fun Shapes Set. Cut out the spiral shape using the Ultra ShapeXpress and adhere to another sheet of cardstock and simply cut around with a pair of scissors.

Cut out the other two shapes as shown from the same shape set and adhere behind shell trimming off excess to the right of the head. Top with two googly eyes for an extra dose of cuteness!

Moving up to toddlers on the move. From playing with cars to becoming mobile themselves, tire embellishments can come in most handy! The flame border at the bottom of the page is a layered set of Boundary Water border punches in red, orange, and yellow!

To create the tire, punch a scalloped circle and trim off the rounded tips from each scallop with scissors. Using the Ultra ShapeXpress, cut the smallest circle from the Circles-1 template and layer the next circle in size over the negative shape and cut again. Layer this over a punched Oopsie Daisy over the trimmed scalloped circle, and you have a tire!

For a fun background I created my own stamp to resemble tire tracks. Load a pinking blade into your rotary trimmer and cut three lines into self-adhesive foam being sure to keep the design even by starting at the same spot each time. Trim and adhere onto a scrap of acrylic packaging and you're ready to stamp!

For my elementary school boy, life revolves around Legos! Luckily these embellishments are super easy to make.

Using self adhesive foam, cut a 1" x 1" square or 1" x 1.75" strip with trimmer. Punch either four or eight circles from same foam using ¼" circle hand punch. Remove adhesive backing and adhere to square or rectangle as shown. For the Lego border, punch a row of 'Leave it to Weaver' and trim to Lego height

And finally, for the teens we have a skating page. With so many cool patterned papers on the market, making skateboards is fun!

Cut a 1" x 4" strip of patterned paper and round each corner using ½ Round Corner Squeeze Punch. For the wheels, punch four circles using pop-up circle punch and trim off each side as shown. Gently bend each end of the deck up and adhere to page using foam adhesive at the center to keep the shape.

So next time you are frustrated with what's in the crafting market for boys, reach for your tools and create your own!