YOUR PHOTOS ARE IMPORTANT TO FEATURE
Along with journaling, your photos are the important aspects of your scrapbook layout so you need to find ways to make these features stand out. Try some of these ideas.
A great way to draw attention to a particular spot on your photo is to die cut a circle from a remnant of card to the size you need. Then print off a second copy of the photo, cutting this photo into a circle that is slightly smaller than the card. Layer this second photo onto the card circle. Now mount this in the exact spot on your main photo. If cutting a circle would be a problem, cut your shape into a square.
Another way you can highlight a special part of your photo is to print one photo in black and white and one in color. Use the black and white photo as your main photo and hand-cut a section of the color photo. Put mounting/foam tape on the back (sometimes glue dots are used for the same purpose) and place exactly in the right spot on your black and white photo.
A very simple idea is draw an outline with a marker on your actual photograph around the focal point in your photo.
Circle your photo with an embellishment like buttons, brads or punched shapes like stars.
I find that putting a photo on an angle on the page seems to make it stand out. At the same time, keep embellishments to a minimum to keep the focus on the photos.
Putting a group of embellishments such as flowers in one corner of your photo helps it stand out.
Try putting a group of two or three similar photos alongside each other to give the illusion of movement. This is particularly good if one of the photos is not the best quality as this will be less noticeable.
An idea I really like is to have one or two main photos that go right across the page and have a strip of smaller, relevant photos and make these a border on top or underneath the main photos.
With either chipboard thick arrow shapes (or a cheaper option is to print the shapes from Microsoft Word) point them in the direction of your photo to draw the eye in that direction. The layout below is similar to this idea. The blocks of color lead to the photo.
Frame the photo with Peelcraft stickers or similar (about half an inch from the end of the photo). They have designs in straight strips and things like chain stitch. These are available in various colors – black, silver, gold, red.
Don’t just matt your photo on a plain piece of card, try using a border punch to decorate the top and bottom of your matting card.
For a birthday layout make a big ‘6’ or another number (almost as big as the page) and cut lots of small photos the width of the number, enough to cover all the number so it is all photos showing.
Matt your main photo with more than one piece of card. Two or three matts of different but complimentary colors can look great.