Minimal Scrapping

Morning! Alexa here, with some thoughts on quick and minimal scrapping...
One of the things which I find slows me up - and I wonder if this is part of the whole "I've lost my mojo" feeling for others too - is when I overthink the design. Some part of me feels it needs to be original, not ever been done before and certainly not by me: whatever I produce has to brand new and original. So I'm experimenting with simply letting go of that expectation I put on myself, and focusing on producing clean, minimal pages which get into my scrapbooks and off my hard disk.

One of the simplest, is to have a page of photos and a page for journalling - whether that's two 12x12s side by side (though this feels very big to me) or two 8.5x11s, or an 8.5x11 in landscape and divided. You'll see that I am still trying to scrap last winter's photos before this winter starts!

So here's the quick formula I'm working to:

• choose a page size
• divide in two: 50/50, 60/40, or 70/30
• on the photo side, divide it into two or three columns: could be vertical as above, or horizontal
• fill that side with photos, either edge to edge, or with small gaps in between
• on the other, put a title and subtitle and journalling: the latter could be typed up directly or handwritten, or on a torn-off sheet, or a journalling card, and the title could be typed, or chipboard or rub-ons.
• as a final touch to pull it altogether if you feel it needs it, give it a fine border of matching card, or rub over with an ink pad.
• do not panic about all the 'white' space - let the page breathe!

If you're stuck for a page design this week, then perhaps a minimal one might suffice?
Happy scrapping!

Comments

[Jimjams]

Great recipe for simple, stylish pages!
I 100% agree that we often over-think our pages trying to produce something "new" and noteworthy ... when in fact the page will always be unique as the photos are our own!

Will give this a try with my new holiday album - thanks!

[Carmen]

Definitely - I really struggle with scrapbook pages for the very reasons you say and as a result I've kind of tailed off doing them. I love the look of this and may give it a try when I get some printer ink :)

[michelle]

loving that style!!!!

[Eleanor]

Some very astute points here, and I have several multiphoto LOs to complete, so I will try this approach. But first, I too have some Christmas cake to finish off - fried in butter, with cream I fancy.
xx

[Lynne V]

Thanks for the tips