Happy Scrapbooking!

Since I missed National Scrapbooking day I figured I should post a tutorial on how to keep it simple.  For those of us who stay up all night working on that perfect page, here are 5 tips to keep it fun! Scrapbooking can be quick and easy when you learn to keep it simple.

1. Choose a Focal Point Photo

Rebecca Ludens

Keeping the main thing the main thing is one of the best ways to make sure that you are keeping things simple. In scrapbooking, this means making sure that the focus stays on your focal point photo. Choose one picture that best tells the story of that scrapbook page and make sure that anything else that you add to that page highlights and balances that photo. Read 5 Tips for Creating a Focal Point for help. Also be sure to check out the article Create a Focal Point Before and After Scrapbook Redesign. This article shows a scrapbook page that lacked a specific focal point, and then with a few simple changes the page has much more impact. Also, be sure to take note of how a few quick and ea

2. Keep the Best of the Best

Jennifer Schmidt

With digital photography, we tend to take a lot more pictures. This leaves many scrapbookers feeling pressured to use more and more photos on each scrapbook page layout. A great tip for making quick pages and getting more scrapbooking done is to pick only the best of the best - limit the number of photos on your scrapbook pages. Ask yourself these three questions: 1) Which picture should be my focal point photo? (see above); 2) Which pictures are needed to support the focal point and tell the story?; 3) Which pictures can be eliminated and stored in a separate photo album or photo storage box? This scrapbook page uses only two photos. It is all that is needed to tell the story. The rest of the photos were basically more of the same. We don't need every single picture of the canoe trip to remember this event on the scrapbook page. The rest of the pictures are stored in a photo album where the kids can flip through them whenever they want to look back and see more pictures. A free scrapbook page sketch is available of this page.

3. Scrapbook in a Smaller Size

Want to save time and get more scrapbook pages completed? Try scrapbooking in a smaller sized album. This article contains 5 free sketches for 8 1/2 x 11 inch scrapbook pages. Each page has been designed with quick and simple scrapbooking in mind.

4. Skip the Cropping

Rebecca Ludens

One of the things that takes time when you are working on your scrapbook pages is cropping your photos. For quick and simple scrapbook pages, you may want to consider working with full-size, 4x6 inch pictures. This article, Quick Scrapbook Page Ideas Using 4x6 Photos, has four scrapbook page sketches that are designed so that you do not have to crop your photos.

5. Start with the Basics and Change It Up

Rachel Cooley

Another way to keep things simple and get a lot of pages done is to choose one or two basic scrapbook page sketches and then change them up each time you use them by using different patterned papers and embellishments. In this article, Quick and Easy Scrapbook Page Sketch, you will find a free double page scrapbook page sketch plus 7 different versions of layouts based on that one sketch. You could make an entire album using just one or two Free Scrapbook Page Sketches and most people looking at the scrapbook would not even notice.
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