Page exchanges are so much fun. I have participated in hundreds over the years that I have been scrapbooking. They are great way to get pages done faster, and get more scrapbooking done. They are so much fun to receive in the mail too.
A page exchange is typically hosted by someone. She will select a theme and then participants sign up. Perhaps it will be baby girl, or zoo, or school or birthday. You sign up for the themes you want. You then typically mass produce layouts of a designated number.
An example: I hosted a baby girl page exchange about eight years ago. I broke it down into categories like: favorites, little princess, my special day, etc. Participants who needed baby girl pages signed up, and then selected one of the categories. We wound up with 8 participants. That’s more than I usually host, but there was no way to break it down any further.
Each participant created 7 (or 8 if they wanted to keep one) identical layouts using their category (mine was little princess). The scrapbook pages are designed completely by you, and you add everything except the pictures. Some exchanges request that you not attach anything at all to the layouts, and others want the completed layout slipped into a page protector. After you have completed your identical layouts, you mail them to the host by a designated dates. She then separates them, sending each participant a layout from each of the other participants.
They are great fun to participate in, and the only problem that can occur is that some people’s scrapbooking levels or styles are not the same as yours. You can wind up very disappointed if they are beginners and you are advanced. Try to only join swaps where everyone has seen each others styles or where they are all at the same level approximately.
Also see:
Finding Layout Inspiration Online
Finding Scrapbooking Sketches Online