by Debbie Hodge

Want to find out where scrapbook layout ideas really come from?

Just as trees grow branches and branches grow leaves, I believe that a scrapbook page structure can grow ideas for you–original layout ideas that flow easily once you’ve established a starting place.

The structure for a scrapbook page has two components that correlate to the parts of a tree – the trunk and the leafy branches.

The “trunk” of a scrapbook page is the use of design principles. There aren’t a ton of them, and even if you’ve never formally heard about them in conjunction with scrapbooking, you’re probably already using them as you scrapbook or even arrange the furniture and decorations in your home.

These design principles are:

• Emphasis
• Contrast
• Balance
• Alignment
• Repetition
• Flow

The “branches” of your scrapbook page are parts that you combine (using the trunk to guide your choices and placement of them on the page).

These page parts are:

• Photos
• Journaling
• Embellishments
• Titles
• Canvas

Once you know about this structure, you know how to approach the blank page and your own idea generation (i.e., what are some titles that go with photos of my dog? or what images and shapes would look good embellishing a wedding page?)

Once you understand basic design principles, you know how to approach choosing your page elements (i.e., do I want to emphasize one strong photo or am I going to give them all the same weight? or what color canvas would really make my photos stand out?)

I’ve got a free 12-lesson class (1 intro lesson, 6 lessons on design, and 5 lessons on page parts) that I’d love to send to you, via email. It’s all ready to go. You’ll get the first lesson as soon as you sign up and another one every four or five days.

When you’ve finished the 12 lessons in this class you’ll take a look a layout like this one immediately understand why I made the choices I did. You’ll see that one photo is emphasized over others. You’ll notice the many alignments in this design and understand how they give the page balance and flow. You’ll see the repetitions in color and texture and image and have lots of ideas for how you want to embellish your own pages.

If you’d like to start learning more about making awesome scrapbook pages and get lots of layout ideas, sign up  here.