Planning Your Layouts With Sketches
Do you use sketches to help you to plan out your layouts?
I find that if I'm struggling with the creative process and just can't focus on what I want my end result to look like, sketches are an absolute Godsend.
Of course, the doyen of scrapbook sketches has got to be Becky Higgins. Her books and articles in magazines have really raised the awareness of scrappers to this great scrapping aid. And she creates such fabulous sketches, especially for incorporating multiple photos.
I find sketches especially helpful when I'm doing traditional scrapping. Without the forgiving Undo button of digital scrapping there's much more importance on having some sort of end vision of your layout to plan and work towards. Even if that vision is fuzzy, having a structure for the elements is something I find enormously helpful.
When I have done large theme albums such as the two 40 page Trip albums I did of my last two overseas trips, I found sketching the framework of each double page spread (and limiting myself to a small number of different colours and patterns) enabled me to pull the albums together quite quickly. I was able to keep focused on the photos, memorabilia and journaling without agonizing over the placement of all the elements. An absolute boon when all you want to do is package up a great looking large project in a relatively short time frame.
And just to make life easier there are a number of great web sites offering free sketches for you to download. Some of my favourites are Page Maps, Pencil Lines and Scrap Maps but of course there are many others and you'll also find some great sketches in the large Scrapping web site forums.
Digital templates are now becoming popular and an extension of the Scrapbook Sketch concept designed specifically for the Digital Scrapbooker. These templates are multi-layered element blocks which the scrapper replaces with the digital papers or elements of their choice using their graphics editing software. Effectively the layout structure and design is provided for you and you choose the colours and patterns you want to use, as well as the photos of course.
Both scrapbooking sketches and digital templates help the busy scrapbooker to complete layouts quicker and easier than starting from scratch but still allow the element of creativity in the process that all scrapbookers seek.
Planning Your Layouts With Sketches
Do you use sketches to help you to plan out your layouts?
I find that if I'm struggling with the creative process and just can't focus on what I want my end result to look like, sketches are an absolute Godsend.
Of course, the doyen of scrapbook sketches has got to be Becky Higgins. Her books and articles in magazines have really raised the awareness of scrappers to this great scrapping aid. And she creates such fabulous sketches, especially for incorporating multiple photos.
I find sketches especially helpful when I'm doing traditional scrapping. Without the forgiving Undo button of digital scrapping there's much more importance on having some sort of end vision of your layout to plan and work towards. Even if that vision is fuzzy, having a structure for the elements is something I find enormously helpful.
When I have done large theme albums such as the two 40 page Trip albums I did of my last two overseas trips, I found sketching the framework of each double page spread (and limiting myself to a small number of different colours and patterns) enabled me to pull the albums together quite quickly. I was able to keep focused on the photos, memorabilia and journaling without agonizing over the placement of all the elements. An absolute boon when all you want to do is package up a great looking large project in a relatively short time frame.
And just to make life easier there are a number of great web sites offering free sketches for you to download. Some of my favourites are Page Maps, Pencil Lines and Scrap Maps but of course there are many others and you'll also find some great sketches in the large Scrapping web site forums.
Digital templates are now becoming popular and an extension of the Scrapbook Sketch concept designed specifically for the Digital Scrapbooker. These templates are multi-layered element blocks which the scrapper replaces with the digital papers or elements of their choice using their graphics editing software. Effectively the layout structure and design is provided for you and you choose the colours and patterns you want to use, as well as the photos of course.
Both scrapbooking sketches and digital templates help the busy scrapbooker to complete layouts quicker and easier than starting from scratch but still allow the element of creativity in the process that all scrapbookers seek.
Planning Your Layouts With Sketches
Do you use sketches to help you to plan out your layouts?
I find that if I'm struggling with the creative process and just can't focus on what I want my end result to look like, sketches are an absolute Godsend.
Of course, the doyen of scrapbook sketches has got to be Becky Higgins. Her books and articles in magazines have really raised the awareness of scrappers to this great scrapping aid. And she creates such fabulous sketches, especially for incorporating multiple photos.
I find sketches especially helpful when I'm doing traditional scrapping. Without the forgiving Undo button of digital scrapping there's much more importance on having some sort of end vision of your layout to plan and work towards. Even if that vision is fuzzy, having a structure for the elements is something I find enormously helpful.
When I have done large theme albums such as the two 40 page Trip albums I did of my last two overseas trips, I found sketching the framework of each double page spread (and limiting myself to a small number of different colours and patterns) enabled me to pull the albums together quite quickly. I was able to keep focused on the photos, memorabilia and journaling without agonizing over the placement of all the elements. An absolute boon when all you want to do is package up a great looking large project in a relatively short time frame.
And just to make life easier there are a number of great web sites offering free sketches for you to download. Some of my favourites are Page Maps, Pencil Lines and Scrap Maps but of course there are many others and you'll also find some great sketches in the large Scrapping web site forums.
Digital templates are now becoming popular and an extension of the Scrapbook Sketch concept designed specifically for the Digital Scrapbooker. These templates are multi-layered element blocks which the scrapper replaces with the digital papers or elements of their choice using their graphics editing software. Effectively the layout structure and design is provided for you and you choose the colours and patterns you want to use, as well as the photos of course.
Both scrapbooking sketches and digital templates help the busy scrapbooker to complete layouts quicker and easier than starting from scratch but still allow the element of creativity in the process that all scrapbookers seek.
Planning Your Layouts With Sketches
Do you use sketches to help you to plan out your layouts?
I find that if I'm struggling with the creative process and just can't focus on what I want my end result to look like, sketches are an absolute Godsend.
Of course, the doyen of scrapbook sketches has got to be Becky Higgins. Her books and articles in magazines have really raised the awareness of scrappers to this great scrapping aid. And she creates such fabulous sketches, especially for incorporating multiple photos.
I find sketches especially helpful when I'm doing traditional scrapping. Without the forgiving Undo button of digital scrapping there's much more importance on having some sort of end vision of your layout to plan and work towards. Even if that vision is fuzzy, having a structure for the elements is something I find enormously helpful.
When I have done large theme albums such as the two 40 page Trip albums I did of my last two overseas trips, I found sketching the framework of each double page spread (and limiting myself to a small number of different colours and patterns) enabled me to pull the albums together quite quickly. I was able to keep focused on the photos, memorabilia and journaling without agonizing over the placement of all the elements. An absolute boon when all you want to do is package up a great looking large project in a relatively short time frame.
And just to make life easier there are a number of great web sites offering free sketches for you to download. Some of my favourites are Page Maps, Pencil Lines and Scrap Maps but of course there are many others and you'll also find some great sketches in the large Scrapping web site forums.
Digital templates are now becoming popular and an extension of the Scrapbook Sketch concept designed specifically for the Digital Scrapbooker. These templates are multi-layered element blocks which the scrapper replaces with the digital papers or elements of their choice using their graphics editing software. Effectively the layout structure and design is provided for you and you choose the colours and patterns you want to use, as well as the photos of course.
Both scrapbooking sketches and digital templates help the busy scrapbooker to complete layouts quicker and easier than starting from scratch but still allow the element of creativity in the process that all scrapbookers seek.
Make Designer Scrapbooking Pages
Yep, I called you all 'designers'. That is because each time you create something, you ARE the designer. Maybe you don't think you have an ounce of scrapbooking designer in you and you have to borrow (scraplift) ideas from others. Or maybe you are so fabulous that you probably could be published in next month's issue of Creating Keepsakes or Simple Scrapbooks. Either way, we all want our pages to look great.
Recently I have been using 'sketches' to create my pages. What is a scrapbooking sketch? It is an outline of how to layout your scrapbooking pages. Sometimes a sketch just tells you where to put a title or pictures. Other times, it gives you everything you need (including scrapbooking supplies), except the photos. Now that I have begun using sketches, I am loving how my pages and projects turn out! Oh, and another thing I love, you can get these sketches for free all over the internet.
Below I have listed some of my favorite sites for sketches. My "Layout of the Week" was also created using a sketch.
1.) Little Book of Sketches (www.littlebookofsketches.blogspot.com/) - This site is great because there are sketches for 12Ã?12 and 8.5Ã?11. There are also sketches for 6Ã?6 and 8Ã?8 page layouts (single and double). You can also use their cards and tags sketches.
2.) Creating Keepsakes (www.creatingkeepsakes.com/mag/sketches/) - Becky Higgins' fun, simple, and creative style works for the seasoned as well as beginning scrapbooker.
3.) Scrap Maps (www.scrap-maps.com/) - A site devoted only to sketches with several hundreds to choose from.
4.) Scrapjazz Sketches (www.scrapjazz.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=807) - They have a new sketch each month and scrapbookers send in their take on the sketch. Not only do you get to see the sketch, but you get lots of ideas for creating it yourself.
5.) Queen Geek Sketches (www.scrapforums.com/gallery/index.php?cat=687) - Great sketches by a fellow scrapbooker!
6.) The Scrap Witch Sketch Challenges (www.scrapwitch.com.au/community/mediagallery/album.php?aid=18&page=1) - Join their scrap challenge each month using their sketches and win a prize. Or just check out what others have done.
7.) Scrap Dreamer (www.scrapbookdreamer.com/photos/showgallery.php?cat=591) - Their sketches for tags are amazing!
8.) Digital Scrapbook Place (www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=544) - Lots of different entries - makes for several different styles.
9.) Pencil Lines (www.pencillines.com/) - The international sketch challenge blog. Not just great sketches here. I love the finished pages to give you even more ideas for scrapping. ,
10.) Scrappin' Stuff (www.scrappinstuff.com/sketches/index.htm) - View sketches and the layouts scrappers have created using those sketches.
11.) 3 Scrapateers (www.3scrapateers.com/gallerypp/showgallery.php/cat/572) - I love the updated style of many of these sketches and the wide variety of photo sizes.
Want to see some more great sketches, but hate searching the web? Check out these great books of sketches: Creative Sketches for Scrapbooking by Becky Higgins ($14.95), Quick & Easy Sketches for Scrapbookers ($19.99), and Creative Sketches Volume 2 by Becky Higgins (14.50).
I hope you all can save yourself time and come up with fabulous pages using sketches (or maybe you can create some sketches yourself - please share them with me if you do!).
Starter Scrapbooking Layout Ideas
It's always difficult when you sit down hoping to create a really awesome scrapbook page but have no idea where to start. You've got your pictures. You've got your supplies. But your brain can't put it together or you're afraid to dive in. Don't worry, you're not alone. Here's a few ideas to get you started.
1. Choose a theme
If you don't already have your theme in mind, pick one now. Your theme can be very broad like Baby, Christmas, Wedding, or School Days. Or you can choose something more specific like Maggie's First Tooth, Maggie Learns to Walk, Charlie's New Bike, or Visiting Aunt Amy. Personally, I like the specific ones, but they usually are more difficult to find content for.
2. Choose some main embellishments
Your main embellishments should be related to your theme. If your theme is Baby, you might want little bottle stickers as your main embellishments. If your theme is Visiting Aunt Amy, you might want something that reminds you of Aunt Amy. My Aunt Amy loves sunflowers, so I would want my Visiting Aunt Amy scrapbooking sketches to have some sunflowers. It's always good to have a place to start and a really good place to start is by getting some main embellishments.
3. Get coordinating paper and other embellishments
So now you have your main embellishments. From those, we can pick out good colors for our background color, accent colors, and other embellishments. My sunflowers are yellow and a soft brown color. Those two colors will be my accents. We just have to choose a main color. You might also want to consider what event is in the pictures you'll be displaying. In my case, it's a girls day, so it's safe to pick a light pink for my base color. If it had not been all girls in the picture, I might have went with a bright green.
4. Layout
Some people are born with this amazing ability to make beautiful layouts just by placing items at random on a page. I don't have that ability. I use a book of scrapbook sketches. They're just pencil drawings of layouts. In the book I use, there's 500 of these sketches. I just pick out a sketch and start cutting. It's that simple. If you don't have a scrapbook sketches book, I have some basic rules that might help you out.
1. Make the pictures the main idea.
2. Frame your pictures by cutting a piece of accent colored paper slightly bigger than the picture and putting it down under the picture.
3. Make room for some journaling to explain what was going on in the pictures.
4. Put your smallest embellishments on last. If you start with the smaller items, you might not have room for the bigger items when you get to them.