This week we are looking at some of my favorite time-saving ideas for scrapbooking. We started our week of easy summer scrapbooking ideas with the topic of scraplifting. Elizabeth Dillow, fellow team member and co-founder of WCS, commented on Monday’s post: “I love this idea--and need to staple a big reminder on my bulletin board because I'm always so happy after I do it. But I often forget.”
Her sentiment echoes how I feel about today’s topic – the divided page protector. I love the idea of using divided page protectors in my scrapbooking albums. I have used them many times before, but I don't use them nearly as often as I should. Because every time I do I always think, “I should have done that all along.” You see, often when I decide to use a divided page protector it’s because I’ve been struggling with my layout design. This most frequently happens when I’m trying to scrapbook a special event or a holiday. I think you know quite well what I am talking about. A lot of scrapbookers have a hard time coming up with ideas and designs for Christmas, birthdays and other special occasions. You have lots and lots of photos and you’re just not sure what to do with them. You might find it difficult or nearly impossible to narrow down the selection. Or sometimes, you might find that you don't want to narrow it down.
I struggled to scrapbook my youngest son’s first birthday (he’ll be two in a little over a month – so yes, I’ve put it off for that long). I was having a hard time with the design because I wanted to include so many of the photos from our small family celebration. Not that every photo was a masterpiece, but because each photo added a little something to the story of that day. In the end I decided to make one page focusing on just three of my favorite photos and then I included the rest in a divided page protector. Here is my layout:
And here is the front side of the page protector of extra photos:
As easy as that, my problem was solved. And, I should have done that all along.
Relating specifically to this week’s topic, divided page protectors also make page design extremely easy. I was reminded of this when looking through this month’s galleryand came across team member Beth Proudfoot’s layouts. She didn’t use the page protectors to store extra photos, but instead she built her layout using the page protector as her guide. In her notes she said, “One of the quickest and simplest ways to scrapbook 4 x 6 photos is to use these fun page protectors. Divided into five sections, it’s easy to create custom looks with photos and patterned paper. Depending on the number of photos you use, you can achieve very different looks with the same protector sheet!”
Here is one of her layouts:
Do go and visit this month's gallery to she her other examples: Laugh and 7 Months. Even though she used the same style page protector for each layout, the designs are all quite different. Luckily, these days there are so many different styles and sizes of page protectors available, so the variety of page designs is truly endless. Not only can you make pages quickly and easily, but you can add variety to your albums as well.
WCS team member Monika Wright contributed this page for today’s post:
Monika said she really enjoyed making a layout using a page protector as her guide and approached it as she would if she were making a mini album. She adhered the embellishments to the outside of the page to give it dimension. Monika created the candles on her page by rolling patterned paper around shipping twine - too adorable and so creative!
Even though this week’s theme is easy summer scrapbooking there are lots of times when using divided page protectors can keep you from feeling overwhelmed. They are an easy way to design a page. They can help you scrapbook lots of photos or include extra photos in your albums. They are a great solution to those difficult topic dilemmas like how to scrapbook Christmas and birthdays. Ultimately, they are an easy and fast way to tell your story.
If you’ve made any scrapbook layouts or even an entire album using page protectors as your design guide share it with us in the WCS gallery.
