Quick and easy three-dimensional embellishments—created from any kind of paper, and always acid-free! Susan’s secret to making her own 3-D accents? Foam tape!

Susan mounted her Alphabet Tile Cut-Outs with varying layers of foam tape.

Q. You often refer to "foam tape" in your layout instructions. Could you clarify exactly which product this is? I do have some foam squares, but sometimes they’re too thick for the look I want to achieve. Is there a roll of foam tape on the market, thinner, that is safe for photo scrapbooks? Thanks for your help!

Susan Says: There are many foam tape and foam “dot” products on the market, with various sizes, shapes, and thicknesses for every use. My favorite is the Scotch® brand foam mounting tape. It’s strong, permanent and actually quite thin—you can get a little lift, or stack two or three pieces of foam tape on top of one another for more dimension. I use a lot of foam tape, simply because it’s an easy way to get the three-dimensional look—in fact, we get it directly from the manufacturer on a HUGE roll (it’s about 12” across!).

I really like how I can personalize any piece of paper or ephemera, especially when layering a variety of images for a collage-style page. Foam tape is great with alphabet tiles, too—here, I attached some letters with one layer of foam tape, other letters with two, and even more letters with three layers of foam tape. This way I can place some letters slightly overlapping the others.

One trick when putting foam tape on a piece of paper: If the piece of paper is small (like these alphabet tiles—say 2” or smaller), simply place a piece of foam tape in the center of the paper. If the paper is larger than 2”, place a piece of foam tape along each edge and some in the middle of your piece. If you don’t put some foam tape in the center, your piece of paper will sag in the center!

Best of all, foam mounting tape is inexpensive and easy to find— either at your local craft or scrapbook store, or through Paper Wishes.com, where it’s just $2.49 for a 75” roll!