Newbie Questions!!! Please Help!!!!

[Pooh_Girl]

Hey everyone!!! I'm pretty new to this board having just gotten into the whole scrapbooking thing. I just bought all my supplies last weekend (OMG EXPENSIVE!!) and am in the process of sorting through ALL the pictures of my niece. There are TONS of them!!!
Since I am new I do have a few questions for all you experienced scrappers out there...

1) What is the best way to get started??? Do you just lay everything out, pick some random pictures that kinda go together and dig in, or is there a certain method you guys use to get started???

2) On some of my pages I would like to use titles, but I want my title to blend in with my paper. I'm not doing these digitally, all by hand, but I want it to look smooth and fluid. I don't want to be using Disney themed paper and have like a big blue banner across the top. Is there a certain technique to use that might help with that???

3) Is there a certain number of photos that you generally use to put on a page?? I don't want to make it look crowded. I have A LOT of 4x6 pictures. Some I do plan to cut down, but that's the general size that I will be using.

There might be many, many, many more questions as I start diving into this monster. Thank you soooo much for any feedback you all can give me.

 

[Faerie]

I generally go by occasion or theme.

My pages are starting to have less pictures or smaller sized (I'm loving planning ahead and printing to a design) so I can be more artsie. I've gotten where I design the page and print pictures to size to fit my design. I'm loving this!

Titles, well depends on my page really but I like my titles to stand out more times than not.

 

[LindaBabe]

If you're a planner - Simple Scrapbooks magazine has a fast formula sheet that I find very useful. I do some albums - like a cruise, for example - preplanned with all the same color cardstock, paper, lettering style, etc. Other albums are just 'as they come'. Most recently I've been cutting a lot of my photos down to 4X4 or 3.5 X 3.5. I have a friend who photo shops hers to fit 4! into a 4x6 space and then gets them printed. SHE sure gets a lot of photos on a page.

My advice would be to cull your photos very carefully - really bad ones to the trash immediately! If you have 27 photos of your two year old in the bath, I think keeping the best three is probably adequate. lol otherwise you wind up with photo overload!

 

[Kim1964]

I just started in January, and I sorted the photos I had by occasion and went from there. I scrap chronologically. I scrap 12 x 12, and about 3 4 x 6 photos is the max I will try to fit on a page. Like Faerie, I've started planning my pages (I use good old graph paper) and then printing the photos to a size that will fit. I can fit 5 or 6 photos on a page when I make them smaller.

I also like my titles to stand out, so I can't help you there.

 

[pjlla]

) What is the best way to get started??? Do you just lay everything out, pick some random pictures that kinda go together and dig in, or is there a certain method you guys use to get started???

I think it would be best to start with an event you are excited to scrap. If you are scrapping an entire trip, personally, I would start with day #1 (but I am ANAL about scrapping in chronological order). If you can break the event into particular section (for example, with a b.day party , if I had LOTS of pictures, I would do a 2 page L/O of guests arriving and all of the decorations, then another 2 page L/O of the birthday girl/boy opening gifts and blowing out candles, then another 2 page L/O of party games, etc... you see where I am going with this. If just a few pictures, like 5-8 I would just do one 2 page L/O for the entire party.)


2) On some of my pages I would like to use titles, but I want my title to blend in with my paper. I'm not doing these digitally, all by hand, but I want it to look smooth and fluid. I don't want to be using Disney themed paper and have like a big blue banner across the top. Is there a certain technique to use that might help with that???

You need to decide on what the title will look like (colors, paper) at the same time you are picking your background paper and accent/patterned papers, so that they all flow together well. It helps to pick three papers.... one main background paper, one major accent color and one minor accent color. (I think most experts would tell you to use the "gallon, quart, pint" thing... a gallon of your main color, a quart of one coordinating paper, and a pint of another accent color.) This way your title will coordinate nicely no matter how you are doing it.... and BTW, there are pre-cut diecut letters that you can buy by the pack out there if you want to use something different. There are also rub-ons that can be used for titles. I do lots of my titles on the computer also.


3) Is there a certain number of photos that you generally use to put on a page?? I don't want to make it look crowded. I have A LOT of 4x6 pictures. Some I do plan to cut down, but that's the general size that I will be using.

Take a look around at some L/Os online and in some scrapping mags. You will get a general idea of how many photos work on a page and how many are TOO many. If you are having trouble with the actual photo layout, try using a "sketch".... either one of your own or someone else's.... Becky Higgins has two books called "Becky Higgins Sketches" where she show sketches and examples of layouts, organized by the number of photos on the layout. That maybe helpful to you, especially as you get started. I find that I have trouble fitting any more than 8 full size 4 x 6 photos on a 2 page L/O. If I want to fit more, I usually have to crop many of them down, or buy them as wallet size photos. HTH..............................P

 

[Pooh_Girl]

Thank you all soooo much for all the advice!!!!! I can't wait to get started!!!!

 

[RBennett]

Thank you all soooo much for all the advice!!!!! I can't wait to get started!!!!

I still say you have WAAAAY too much stuff, but that's just me. By the way sweetie, I love you!!! (This is Pooh_Girl's DH). Happy though that you found something you love!!! (Other than me!)

 

[MazdaUK]

Awwww! My DH says I have too much stuff too, its something genetic with husbands She's only just started, enjoy the space while you have it

I love the Becky Higgins sketchbook, I also use Simple Scrapbooks magazine a lot for ideas - and living over here in scrappers desert it gives me good ideas for what to buy

 

[Faerie]

No such thing as too much scrapping stuff!

 

[LindaBabe]

here are some free sketchs divided by the number of photos used per page

http://www.scrap-maps.com/

http://www.pagemaps.com/pdfsketches.htm

 

[Pooh_Girl]

here are some free sketchs divided by the number of photos used per page

http://www.scrap-maps.com/


This site is AWESOME!!!! There's a lot of good ideas on here!!!

 

[aroyer]

No such thing as too much scrapping stuff!

What she said!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I still say you have WAAAAY too much stuff, but that's just me. By the way sweetie, I love you!!! (This is Pooh_Girl's DH). Happy though that you found something you love!!! (Other than me!)

Awe that's so sweet!!! Just remember you said that in, say, 3 months when scrapping has taken over the dining table, the floor, the computer, the bed, all your free time.......

Welcome to the club Pooh_Girl and her DH!!!!

 

[Raenstoirm]

The amount of photos all depends on the mood you want to create on your page. Sometimes one pic per page will do or other times MANY pics. The contemplation page I wanted to be unique and yet simple and the driving and splashing pages were supposed to be fun, and bright. In fact I did that whole trip with the same motif of randomly sized photos with one or two large ones and many little, each with a heading (touring, exploring, boating, drinking, etc). They turned out exactly as I wanted, but they were harder to do then expected with all the resizing and reprinting of the pics to fit their spot!