Eniko's Playhouse

SCRAPBOOKING 101: Part 7

 

An Introduction to the Art of Scrapbooking (cont.)

 

STEP 7: BALANCE  Use the basic principles of graphic design to ensure that your layout is in balance and visually pleasing. I will get into more detail of these basic principles at a later time, but most importantly, just step back before you proceed to step 8 and glue everything down, take a good long final look at your layout. Do you find the layout pleasing to look at? Do your eyes flow across the page easily? Does your layout successfully tell the story of your photos? The following tips will help you achieve balance on your pages. Once you are satisfied with your design, move on to STEP 8: ADHERE.

There is a nice balance to the layout below. The eye moves comfortably across the double page spread and the story I am telling is clear to the viewer: "Take time to explore our vast world through the eyes of a small child". The title, embellishments and journaling  are all used effectively to support the photos, and the layout is enhanced by the effective use of lines, mass, shapes, texture, and color. The result: BALANCE.

 

The five elements of design that govern most everything in the field of publishing and apply well to Scrapbooking are:

• Lines: Lines may be used to keep photos, embellishments, journaling, and other components organized on a page. They can be used to enhance or emphasize the story that is being told.

• Mass: Each photo or journaling block or other element has its own physical mass. In the design world, mass essentially means size, and every item that you add to your page has its own relativity to the whole piece as well as a relationship to all the other components of your layout. Often, this is the element that most likely will make or break a successful design. Take care to give more mass to photos that you wish to emphasize and less to secondary items.

• Shapes: There are 3 basic types of shapes – geometric, natural and abstract. Shapes may be used in any number of ways on a layout, and because of it’s strong attraction to the eye, bold shapes are often best reserved for emphasis. Sometimes a repetition of shapes can be used successfully to move the eye along the layout.

• Texture: Texture has become a very important element in modern Scrapbooking, since 3-D components and textiles have become popular additions. Textured paper and embellishments such as ribbon and fibers – buttons and metal brads – can add great interest and whimsy to your pages.

• Color: While not essential to a good design (many heritage layouts are beautifully scrapped in black & white or shades of browns), color has the power to evoke emotion and to make a powerful statement. The values of the colors you choose are as important as the colors themselves. Some designs work best when soft, lighter hues are used, and others require the strength of a darker or more vibrant hue.

STEP 8: ADHERE  Adhere the elements onto your page in layers with adhesive. I will address the issue of adhesives in future posts. One would think that gluing items onto pages would not require tutelage, but there are so many types of adhesives on the market that it can be quite intimidating for beginners. I prefer a tape roller above all others and use glue dots when a more aggressive adhesive is required, but often recommend inexpensive glue sticks to novices. Just make sure that whatever you choose is acid-free and photo safe.

STEP 9: PROTECT  Place in acid-free page protectors and into your photo album.

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This post concludes my SCRAPBOOKING 101 series, but I will be getting into more detail of many of these steps in future posts. Most importantly, remember that these bits of advice are merely tips for those of you who are having trouble getting started or would like to perfect your design skills - they are not RULES! Scrapbooking enthusiasts often laugh as they exclaim: "There are no rules in scrapbooking!"

SCRAPBOOKING 101: Part 6

An Introduction to the Art of Scrapbooking (cont.)

  

STEP 7:  JOURNALING 

I didn’t always journal, but when I heard that a friend tossed away her deceased mother’s old photo albums because she didn’t know who the people in the photos were, I went back and identified all the subjects of my photos and I began journaling my recollections of past events to include on my pages. When journaling, think of the 5 “W”’s: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. It is important to jot down names, dates and locations, but don’t forget to personalize your scrapbooks by including your personal thoughts and feelings about a particular event or gathering. If you are shy about sharing your personal thoughts, you may include them in envelopes or pockets on your page to be read only upon invitation. Many scrappers prefer to use poems, captions or lyrics instead of their own words, but it is nice to use a mix. Also, no matter how you feel about your handwriting, know that it is a distinct part of you and your character and be sure to write at least some of your journaling in your own hand. You may write directly on the background paper, or work a journaling block into your layout using a tag or a piece of cardstock, or anything that will hold text.

The double page spread above illustrates a simple journaling block on the upper left corner of the page on the right and if you look closely, you'll notice a clever technique that I use quite often. There is journaling on the blue vertical line that runs in the center of the two pages - subtle, but effective and certainly interesting. There are also some by-line type of comments under or to the left of some of the photos. See? -No rules! Just be sure to let viewers know the "who, what, where, when and why" of your story.

STEP 8:  MATTING
 

 Mat your photos and journaling, if desired, to make them pop, or to give them emphasis. A mat is simply the layer underneath a photo that helps it stand out by giving it an all-round border. Matting is a great way to introduce another color to your layout and photos may be double or triple matted to give them extra dimension or emphasis. Naturally, titles, journaling and embellishments may also be matted, depending on your preferences. The photos in the layout above "Cherished Charmers," all the photos were matted in a lively color that made them pop from the page. The photo of my dad was double-matted and punched on four corners because I wanted the viewers eyes to keep going back to him.

 In the example below, the colors used to mat the photos of this wedding were chosen carefully to reflect the soft colors of the photos. The double matting is very effective here.

(photos unknown)

 

 

SCRAPBOOKING 101: Part 5

An Introduction to the Art of Scrapbooking (cont.)
 

  STEP 6: EMBELLISHMENTS

If you have memorabilia from the event that you are scrapping, find a place for it on your layout, or choose embellishments that compliment or strengthen your theme. For example, you may want to use a doily crocheted by your grandmother, if she is the subject of your Scrapbooking page, in your layout, or you may use old-fashioned-looking lace remnants that evoke the memory of seeing lace on your grandmother’s garment or in her windows. There are no rules…simply follow your heart and your instincts, or your style. Popular embellishments today include buttons, ribbons, stickers, silk flowers, brads, eyelets, and just about anything that dresses-up your page.

In the example below, thank you notes written to a caterer were incorporated in a clever way into the pages of her portfolio. For more whimsical examples of embellishments, refer to previous postings in my Scrapbooking 101 series. (photos unknown)

 

SCRAPBOOKING 101: Part 4

An Introduction to the Art of Scrapbooking (cont.)

   

STEP 5:  LAYOUT:    

 Decide on a general layout based on the number of photos you plan to use and the size of the photos. -This is where you may decide to crop certain photos to fit your layout better. A word of caution: It is recommended that you not crop original, irreplaceable photographs and take care not to crop out interesting details that may interest future generations, such as the family car, or furniture or lamps typical to an era. As an example, don’t crop out the orange lava lamp from a sixties layout.

 

 This colorful layout illustrates several elements of scrapbooking design. Let's review -

In Part 1 and 2, I speak about sorting your photos according to a theme. This layout is about a toddler's enjoyment of the final days of summer and photos were well chosen to tell that story.

In Part 3, I discussed how to use color and paper to your advantage. Here, the bright colors of the paper reflect the mood of the colorful flower garden and the bright sunny day.

Part 4 focused on choosing an appropriate title for your page. I used the word "Sweet" on a die-cut of a butterfly for my main title and enhanced it by adding a strip of the words "The Sweet Days of Summer" underneath it -sort of like a subtitle.

This layout illustrates several elements that make the layout work, as I've discussed in this post, Part 5 of my Scrapbooking 101 lesson. Notice how cleverly the large photo on the right is cropped. By enlarging the image and chopping the top right off, the focus is placed on the child's point of view...we are invited to see the garden from a small child's perspective. The photo on the bottom of the left page shows us why he is so mesmerized - the flowers are, in fact, taller than he is. These two photos in juxtaposition tell us the story of why this is such a sweet day for this child. The other two photos show Rigel exploring the garden path and stopping for a moment on the garden bench to read in the glow of the warm sun, enhancing and supporting the theme of the story.

In future posts, I will be discussing the principles of layout in more detail, but for now, I just want to bring your attention to the powerful use of threes. Notice how the red journaling block on the left, the red banner on the upper right, and the red silk flower embellishment on the lower right move the eye cleverly around the entire layout of the double page spread. (Remember that trick!)

In Part 6 and 7, I will be sharing my views on embellishments and journaling. The silk flowers mimic the real flowers in the photos, giving them even more impact, and the flower brads add color and whimsy. Notice how the journaling block on the left gives the viewer the "what, when and where" of the story and the journaling under the large photo on the left actually tells the "why" as it describes the final sweet days of summer that are giving way to the chill of the coming autumn. 

What we have collectively is a great layout that tells a complete and delightful story. Go ahead, now you try it. I'd love to see what clever layouts my readers come up with!

 

 

SCRAPBOOKING 101: Part 3

An Introduction to the Art of Scrapbooking (cont.)

STEP 4:  TITLE  Choose a title for your page and decide on a placement.

 Why should your layout have a title? Well, remember that the purpose of each layout is to tell a story. The intention is to communicate as much information as possible in one quick glance - the title enables you to do that very effectively.  The viewer should feel the emotion of the experience that you are scrapping instantly.

In the layout above, the "Happily Ever After" raised glitter lettering on the paper tells the story well. The viewer can surmise from the empty pair of decorated wicker chairs that the bride & groom have gone off to live their lives happily ever after, just as the title suggests.

Choose a title for your page that highlights or summarizes your theme or event. You may use names, famous quotes, simple phrases or even the name of a song – anything that you feel communicates the message of your theme instantly. Titles can be written out by hand, or printed out on a computer, or created by stamping with ink, by using alphabet stickers. I am fond of finding pre-purchased titles that I simply match with my theme. Once the title is decided upon, you must decide where it goes. The most popular placement is either on the top or the bottom of the right-hand page on a double-page spread, but again, there are no rules, only preferences.

To give you an example, I once used a line from a Crosby, Stills and Nash song on a page I designed for a client about his newly renovated vacation home. "Our House is a Very, Very Fine House" was the perfect title for the story I was intending to tell.

 
In the double layout below, the word "Magic..." says it all, so it is enough. Normally, I would have also included journaling & pertinent info, such as the date, but this layout was used in a portfolio for a caterer, so the impact of the photos and the title were sufficient. (For other examples, please see titles used in layouts in Part 1 and 2 of Scrapbooking 101.)What title can you come up with to enhance your next layout?

(Photos by Nichole Friedler and Eniko DeLisle)

  

SCRAPBOOKING 101: Part 2

An Introduction to the Art of Scrapbooking (cont.)

  STEP 3: PAPER

Once you've selected a theme and the photos that you wish to use in support of that theme, you need to choose your paper. Generally, this will be the background to your layout. Usually, I work on a double-page spread all at once, so I need matching or coordinating papers that work well together for the 12 x 24 (2x's 12 x 12) layout.

I like to keep a good stash of 12 x 12 paper on hand at all times to avoid having to run to the store or to avoid interruption of the flow of the project. It is wise to have a good base of solid colors -neutrals, pastels, brights and of course, black & white. Patterned papers come in a huge variety of styles these days. Choosing what to purchase can be overwhelming for the beginner, so don't get stressed out. Relax and enjoy the process! Many companies offer paper "stacks" that are grouped together, usually coordinated by theme or color. Find a couple of stacks that appeal to you and start there. I recommend starting with smaller patterns at the beginning, since larger patterns can compete with your photos and are a little trickier to use. (I will discuss the multiple uses of larger patterns in STEP 6: EMBELLISHMENTS).

Decide on a color scheme based on the event itself (for instance, you may want to use orange and black for a Halloween-themed layout), or allow yourself to be inspired by colors that appear in the photos (for example, you may want to choose a couple shades of blue that match the shirt of your subject and the water behind him), and chose papers accordingly. I discussed my point-of-view on this topic in a previous post (see 4/26/2010 Scrapbooking the Promise of Spring / Color Concepts in Scrapbooking).

In the layout below, I chose grass photo paper combined with a coordinating solid green background paper and a solid yellow for accent. The patterned paper (grass photo) was chosen to match the grass beyond the picture window. The solid green matched the hue of the plants and grass in the photos. The solid yellow was chosen to add a nice contrast.

In the next layout, I chose to use patterned paper on both sides of my layout. The paper on the left has a small repeat of boyish toys and a toddler running around with wild abandon, much like the subject in the photos. On the right, I chose a vertical stripe pattern that coordinated with the colors on the left side, and also contrasted beautifully with the horizontal stripes created by the repetition of the stairs in the photos I was intending to use.

There are times that you will want contrast and there are other times you will prefer the paper to blend with your photos. In the layout below, I wanted the emphasis to be on the beautiful relationship between the subjects in the photos and I wanted as little distraction as possible, so I chose to match the color of the father's shirt in my background paper. Although the pattern is large, it is not loud, so it doesn't call attention away from the photos.

The best advice I can give you is to try a couple of different papers with the photos that you have selected for your layout. Be conscious of the effect that your choices have on the story that you are telling and ask yourself: Does the paper compliment the photos, or does it distract the eye away from them? As long as the photos still remain the most important element on your page, you should be all set.

SCRAPBOOKING 101

 An Introduction to the Art of Scrapbooking
 

Wanting to scrapbook, but just don't know how to get started?

 STEP 1: PHOTOS

First of all, you need to make a commitment to organize your photos. As you sort through your photos, try to record the date the photo was taken and the name of the people in the photo on the back with a soft pencil or post-it notes. Place your photos in an acid-free photo organizer box (shoe boxes work, but store photos in them for a very short time since they are not acid-free and may discolor your photos in time). Use index cards (or photo journaling cards) to separate your photos chronologically. First by year, and then by event or theme. –That’s the hard part…once you do that, you’re ready for the fun.

The standard and most popular size for scrapbooking today is the  12 x 12 inch format. There are many albums to chose from. Generally they house 10 acid-free vinyl page protectors which will give you a total of 20 pages. The most popular method is to compose double-page spreads in which the layout of the two pages are designed to compliment each other and carry through the same theme (as illustrated above).

 

 

STEP 2: THEME

After organizing your photos, decide which date or theme you will work on and sort through your photos to decide which ones tell the story best and which ones work well together. Do not feel that you have to include all of your photos! Edit wisely -use the best or most relevant ones.

 

Below are the eleven steps for creative scrapbooking. I have touched on the first two steps above, and will attempt to cover at least one step every week. Now get started! Organize those photos!
 

 

 

Follow these steps for easy, organized, creative Scrapbooking:

 

1. PHOTOS: Organize, date and label your photos.

 

1. THEME: Choose an event or a theme & edit the photos that apply.

 

1. PAPER: Decide on a color scheme based on the event itself, or allow yourself to be inspired by colors that appear in the photo and chose papers accordingly.

 

1. TITLE: Choose a title for your page and decide on a placement.

 

1. LAYOUT: Decide on a layout based on the number of photos and the size of the photos. This is where you may decide to crop certain photos to fit better.

 

1. EMBELLISHMENTS: Choose memorabilia from the event or choose embellishments that compliment or strengthen your theme.

 

1. JOURNALLING: Decide where your journaling block will go and work that into your layout. Complete your journaling, using the 5 “W”’s: Who, What, When, Where, Why.

 

1. MATTING: Mat your photos and journaling, if desired, to make them pop, or to give them emphasis.

 

1. BALANCE: Use the basic principles of graphic design to ensure that your layout is in balance and visually pleasing.

 

1. ADHERE: Adhere the elements onto your page in layers with adhesive.

 

1. PROTECT: Place in page protectors and into your photo album.