Welcome back to the last day of our scraplifting-yourself discussion! Amy here again, with one more scraplifting idea.
One thing I’ve noticed as the week’s gone on is how the result of scraplifting yourself is that the inspired-by layout really ends up feeling like it was made by you. I mean—take Marnie’s layouts. They each feel like a Marnie layout, the clean lines and even borders and crisp details are true to her style. And yet, the inspired-by layout feels just as fresh as the original.
You just can’t go wrong with scraplifting from your own work!
Sometimes I approach layouts with the idea of a “concept.” Concepts are a way for me to structure most of the parts of a layout, from which pictures I use to the journaling to the title and even, sometimes, the embellishments. For example, in my mind a “highlights” layout is built on a concept. I could make a highlights layout about an entire vacation, a holiday, a trip to the zoo, a random Saturday. ___________ things I love about __________ is also a concept. As is a layout built around “the essential stuff” (what’s essential at the beach? at breakfast? an afternoon at the library?)
Concepts help me to see a way to shape ideas that are sometimes nebulous.
Right when the new fall supplies started coming out (I was really excited to use that leaf paper!) I made this layout about what’s the best things that happen when my daughter (who’s away at college now) comes home for a visit.
“The best” felt like a concept to me, and, a few weeks later when I was putting away layouts, I read through it again and it made me remember something. On holidays, I always try to sit with each of my kids before they go to bed and ask them what the best part of the holiday was for them. I don’t think I’ve ever scrapbooked that little tradition, so I decided to on this layout:
I used photos that illustrate why that Halloween was the best (awesome costume, extra friends when we were trick-or-treating, and time with family) and wrote about it in my journaling. And of course put the word “best” in the title. (Totally unrelated aside: I am in love with puffy stickers! They are…wait for it…the best!)
Using a concept helps me to make layouts that feel more specific and detail-oriented to me. And scraplifting my concepts helps things come together even faster.
Do tell: is the idea of scrapbook concepts something that fits into your workflow?
Happy Halloween tomorrow!
