Have you ever sat down to scrapbook with your pictures at hand and just had a big blank page staring back at you, not saying anything? It just lies there in silence! It gives you no guidance or direction, and just waits for you to get to started with pictures, journaling and embellishments. You keep moving things around, but you just can’t bring yourself to commit those items to the page by actually using adhesive — that is such a permanent commitment! Oh how too familiar this is to many scrapbookers.
The first time I worked on an 8×8 album was a liberating feeling. It took so little time to complete an entire album! When we made some little 6×6 albums, they were just a breeze. There just wasn’t enough space to worry about putting so many things on a page. It was just quick and simple.
When I ran across the concept of progressive scrapbook pages, it just made so much sense! If you aren’t familiar with the concept, here it is. You start with a small size, say 6×6 and use that as your page to complete. Then you lay that on an 8.5×11 page and complete that. Finally, you lay it on a 12×12 page and finish it off! By breaking up the space with the different sizes, you have automatically created quite a bit of balance and variety to your page.
Even doing the reverse can be helpful! Lay out your 12×12 then place a piece of 8.5×11 on next, and then a 6×6 It can break up enough space to give you an idea of something you’d like to do!
Here is a basic page I’ve done to give you the idea. The finished size is 12×12, but you can see where the 8.5×11 patterned paper is, and the 6×6 that is layered on top of that!
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I participated in Lain Ehmann’s Layout-a-Day in February 2011, and it was a challenge, but I did it! There is another one just around the corner starting this February, too! You create one scrapbook page per day, during the month of February.
I am always amazed at how quickly time passes. Whether we are enjoying what we are doing or just muddling through, time slips by day-by-day, moment-by-moment.