Finding Inspiration For Your Layouts

by Nicole Humphrey | More from this Blogger

05 Apr 2006 09:29 AM

I'm often asked where I get the inspiration from for my scrapbook layouts. Finding inspiration can often be a challenge for scrapbookers and is often known as "scrappers block". In previous articles I've discussed "scraplifting", browsing magazines, idea books, and web sites and using sketches.

However, inspiration can be found many other places, in many other forms.

I find myself paying closer attention to art on the wall, to magazine articles and to a postcards in the mail. The possibilities are endless if you just begin looking at things differently.

Let's start with an advertisement.

In order for an ad to work or be an effective marketing tool, it has to be aesthetically pleasing as well as clean and bold offering a message or feeling, and capturing the readers' attention. Advertisements are some of the best places to begin looking for inspiration. The layout and design are already done for you. You just arrange your papers and photos to mirror the ad, and add your own journaling and title.

However, it doesn't just stop with advertisements. You can also find inspiration in artwork, as I did in the following scrapbook layout. This was part of a scrapbook challenge I did a few years back. We had to take the artwork and create a scrapbook page using it as inspiration. Although not one of my favorite layouts, I was able to create a layout for a simple photo I had of no particular event.

Original:

My Scrapbook Layout:

When looking at the original piece, I compared my photos and the papers I'd chosen to the designed artwork. I decided to turn the piece on it's side and create my scrapbook layout that way, so that my longer photo would look right. I also added the quote box on the side with the slide holder emphasizing their tiny hands. Since the photo of this layout was taken, I also went back and inked the edges of the different papers to make them stand out bolder, and appear a little more like the original artwork.

The process is fairly simple and is almost like using a sketch. You can see the basic lines of the design, or use the color palette, or just start from scratch using the inspirational piece as a creative resource.

Here are a few more sample pieces for you to work with and get inspired by.

Related Articles:

Finding Inspiration For Your Layouts

Should I Get A Scrapbook Magazine Subscription?

Sketches: A Simple Way To Scrapbook

Learn more about Nicole Humphrey

Nicole Humphrey is a freelance writer, consultant for CTMH and a Sr. Blogger for families.com. She resides in St. Charles, Missouri with Mike and their five children and two furbabies.

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