5 steps to creating the right scrapbook layout for you.

1. Choose photos. Not every photo you took has to wind up in an album. You may choose to place photos in your album by theme (holidays, the great outdoors, vacations we took); timeline (infancy, early childhood, grade school, middle and high school, higher ed., professional life); milestones in one’s life (birth, growing up, achievements, family); repeating subject (Christmas throughout the years, our Hanukkah traditions), etc.

You may choose photos by viewing them on your desktop and printing only the ones you like (less expensive), or you can print out a 'contact sheet' to better see which photos are the ones you want. That way, you can cut out photos and play with the actual images on your table, matching them with various papers and embellishments.

2. Tell/show a story. Treat your album as if it was your personal magazine or book. What would you like to know about? What would be tedious and should be left out? What’s important to the story?

In this example, I knew already I had many photos I wanted to use to tell my story and wanted to keep it at one layout of 12x12", so I printed all my photos out at 2x3" sizes (wallet size).

Here I chose 8 photos that tell my story. There are still too many of them and I know already they won't fit into my layout, so I ordered them in the order of the story to look for duplicates or unnecessary photos. Those will eventually come out and I'll be left with only the most important photos, the ones that 'move the plot'.

3. The layout should upstage your photo. It should help your photo stand out, be the center of attention. If there’s too much glitz and glory

around, the eye gets tired and wonders off the page.

On the left are the photos paired with the various materials I'll use the make the final layout. I chose 'earthy', natural papers as the scene is our visit to the farm.

4. Use color to emphasize your photo. Use the color of attention in the photo - in your layout. Or, if the layout is very colorful, consider presenting the photo in black and white or sepia tones. In this case I used red for background as my daughter is weaing, and dark green to match my son's coat.

5. Use shape to focus. By repeating the same shape or angle in your photo, you will help viewers focus on the goings-on of the photo.

Here the bars of the cow's habitat are repeat in the corrugated cardboard to the left, the hey shapes are repeated on the background paper on the right and the roundness of the cow, plus the cow's eyes are repeated with the bicycle wheels and the matting patterned paper of the cow's photo, as well as the 'farming' title to the right.

Materials credits: Background cardstock 'birthday' by MME; dotted cardstock princess by MME; Glitter cardstock by DCWV; Sticker letters by Memories Complete;Font: Calibri.

Organizing your photos is the key!

You took these photos because you wanted to capture a moment in time. Something looked awesome, felt wonderful or was a one in a lifetime moment. Maybe you knew this moment will never duplicate itself (your baby's milestone) even though, if you really think about it, no moment repeat itself exactly. You might celebrate Thanksgiving with the same group of people at the same place and date, with the exact same traditions every year but so many components did, are, and will keep changing. So the Zen people were right - it's definitely not the same river and we should live in the 'now'. That's precisely what you'd like to capture in your photos - the NOW,encapsulated, to view later and remember, to cherish... sounds like catch 22 doesn't it?

Photos are treasures, and as such they should be kept well.


Here are some ideas to get organized, cherishing treasured moments:

Organize your photos by name -example: I have a file for each one of my kids.

Organize your photos by date - birthdays, school years, months, chronologically etc.

Themed folders, with dated photos in them: holidays, events, outdoors, school, etc. That way, you can retrieve photos for later use at presentation DVD for Bar/Bat mitzvah, a gift mini album for Thanksgiving, grandma’s birthday, etc.

Faces - believe it or not, there are face recognition photo management software out there. sample some at Picasa, iPhone.

Places - if you tend to travel a lot, this is the way to go. Create a folder for each place you've visited.
Divide your photos into subjects - work, home, family, friends and have sub categories files in them.

If you are organizing printed photos make sure all products involved are archival safe. Products with lignin and acid in them (sticky notes, sandwich bags) could damage your photos.