This week, I decided to take some time to research more in-depth scrapbooking layouts. Where to turn to but Pinterest?! There were a few key issues that I was running into that I decided to seek out specific remedies for. I have been working on some of these techniques in my next spread, but I will save the reveal for next week! Here are the problems that I was running into and the solutions that I found for each problem:
1. Not enough room for all these stinkin' pictures!
Resource found: We R Memory Keepers
For each trip, I have upwards of 20 pictures. Bigger trips, like Christmas trips, have even more! It's a difficult task to even narrow them down, and I still feel like I'm missing so many! I went through my pictures and I had a folder of over 100 pictures to print out for just this year! The big question was "how do I fit more pictures into one spread?" The answer was this layout from We R Memory Keepers on Wordpress! How elegant of a solution is that? I teach elementary school, so the flip book concept shouldn't be anything new! It looks like this scrapbooker used decorative tape to flip, so I'm going to have to invest in some of this! :)
2. Underutilizing my materials- these punches are too cool to waste!
Resource found: Makezine
I have a ton of these punches that I've borrowed from Mimi, and while I've mastered the whole border thing, I feel like I'm beginning to exhaust it. I don't wanna be a one-trick scrapbooker! So I looked up a few different blogs that talked about the Martha Stewart punches specifically, and I ran across this one on Makezine. I thought it was ingenious that she was using materials that weren't scrapbooking paper. I have loads of maps, receipts, and other papers from these trips that would make authentic decorations! I've decided to take this idea and run with it!
3. To Write or Not To Write- THAT is the Question.
Resource found: Ideas for Scrapbookers
I have been incredibly conflicted by the decision to write on my pages or not to write on my pages. Sometimes I see it and I think it looks tacky, but sometimes it looks great. I think that in this spread above, I learned that the key to writing is to not busy up the page. The writing needs to be legible and not muddled by 50 pictures and a ton of "stuff". I could talk about these trips for hours, so I am going to attempt to write on my next spread. I've got teacher handwriting, it can look good! I'm just going to do what I tell my students- rough draft first, THEN you can have a pen! ;)
These are just a few of the resources that I found.
I plan to work on these three things specifically in my next spread. Coming up on our first Christmas trip, I'm going to have to figure out how to squeeze a lot on a single spread. This first attempt will be with the Food and Wine festival. It's gonna be AWESOME.