I love visiting my local scrapbook store for inspiration, but often as I thumb through the elaborate layouts crafted by the shop’s owner I get discouraged. In my mind there’s no way I could replicate the masterpieces she has painstakingly put together using the latest and greatest scrapbooking tools and accessories.
Still, when it comes down to it, scrapbooking is all about the photos. Embellishments are lovely, but they are designed to enhance your personal images. Fortunately, my photography skills are much stronger than my scrapbooking design skills, so what I lack in layout construction I make up for in picture quality.
When I first started out scrapbooking I would feature one or two photos per page. This technique works well if you are scrapping a landscape shot and you use it as the centerpiece of your layout. The best way to make a single photo layout work is to center the picture on the page with a border around it. You could use a traditional frame or create your own border using stickers or stamps. Another option is to place the large photo in the corner of the page (you could angle it or line it up along the side) and use the rest of the space for journaling or other embellishments.
If you can’t tell your story with a single photo, then add a few more. You can stack the pictures in a column and have it run down one side of the page. Doing so leaves you with space to include die cuts, stamps, journaling or other embellishments.
To spice up a layout featuring multiple photos, place your images in the corners of the page and save the center to feature a bold title or a special memento. I like to stack photos diagonally across the page in a square or a circle, and use the remaining space to add quotes or parts of songs or poems.
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