When I was asked to share a little bit about my “design process,” I didn’t really know how to start. It seems that usually I’m working on a project that’s an assignment – which means I have certain products or a certain theme that I need to use, and that’s where it all begins. However, I decided to approach this little assignment by sharing the process I go through when I’m creating a scrapbook page “just for me,” with no assignment, no guidelines, no rules. Here’s the rundown:
1. First of all, I begin by choosing a subject – sometimes, especially if I’m scrapbooking an even, I begin with a photo, but oftentimes (and my most favorite type of layout) I begin with the journaling or idea I want to share. It’s not hard to do this because I have a little notebook where I jot down little things the kids do or say that I want to scrapbook about sometime.
2. Next, I choose the photos I want to use. And I pull out a bunch of product that I may potentially use – I ALWAYS pull out way more than I will ever use on one page, but this way I have a lot of options staring right at me.
3. Usually, but not always, I pull out my little inspiration notebook where I have little ideas jotted down. Mostly, my notebook is filled with sketches of layouts. A sketch gives me a starting point, and I start to lay things out according to the sketch, but usually, my finished product looks nothing like the sketch I started with – It’s just something I use as a “jumping off” point.
4. I begin laying things out – and have a pretty good idea of where I want everything to be BEFORE I attach anything.
5. It seems I can’t do anything without using my sewing machine, so next I’ll add a little bit of stitching here and there.
6. Now, I’ll get everything attached and write my journaling. I really like handwriting my journaling, but if I have a lot to say, I’ll type it and print it out before attaching everything.
I love that there is no “cut & dry” way to scrapbook. What works for me might not work for you, and that doesn’t make either of us right or wrong. Scrapbooking is all about recording events and ideas and feelings – the fact that it’s so much fun is just icing on the cake!!
