by Ethan Johnson
December 20, 2007

As any jaunt through the Interesting and Notable Layouts feature in this section will soon affirm, I'm not very good at scrapbook layouts. I do "OK" work, but in a nutshell, I'm very set in my ways and everything strikes me as the same old, same old. Same linear approach, same matted [something], same painted chipboard lettering, sigh. Considering the embarrassment of riches that is our craft room, one would imagine I'd make all of those tools and supplies sing, man. Mmmm, I'm slowly getting there. In the meantime, I needed something of a confidence booster before tackling the next project (and the next). Here's what finally emerged from my work space:

As I am wont to harangue on and on about, scrapbooking - or any art form, really - should capture something. Huge, minute, fleeting, lasting, obvious, sublime, whatever. Think of it this way, however morbidly: When you're dead and gone, people will tell stories about what kind of person you were. Why not tell your side of the story now, using artsy-fartsy methods to convey something of your essence? What is your sense of humor? What sorts of activities do you enjoy? What's important to you right now? Who is? Here's a way to make it known, even for your own benefit.

I was thinking about the little things that I enjoy; things that normally wouldn't be worth the calories to discuss in great detail but are nevertheless fond memories and experiences. One thing I never got into doing until I met Marlena was "booping" noses. She and I got into nose-booping tussles, which extended over to Magic, my oldest dog. His big black beepy nose cries out to be booped. I thought I'd take a moment to commemorate this popular pastime.

Techniques:

I was trying to cram multiple photos onto a small layout (8x8 inches), and decided that less was more. I scaled back to a single photo, and opted to make the title reinforce the photo and the journaling block. I opted to hand-write the journaling, which isn't completely to my liking but I'm sticking with it. This time I went with a plain 4x6 photo as opposed to cropping a piece of 8x10 photo paper down to 8x8 and working on top of it. The polka-dot pattern was chosen to provide the necessary whimsy and support the "boop" theme with button-ish shapes. In fact, I probably could have stuck some buttons on there as embellishments, but I'll file that away for future reference. Good old painted chipboard rounds out the title and arrow. I got a musical note die for our die-cutter to add a visual cue about the nose booping. Without it, it might look like I'm trying to jam my finger up Magic's nose. Finally, I had a sheet of dog-themed stickers that helped add bonus context to the layout. Magic is my first dog. He's special like that, and don't think he doesn't know it.

Lessons learned:

• Less is more. Again.
• Not everything has to be 12x12 (the scrapbook standard these days). In fact, I toyed with the idea of scaling this down further to 5x7, but decided that it would be too cramped. 12x12 was too much space for this layout (says me), so 8x8 seems to be a happy medium. Feel free to experiment with other sizes for your layouts. Other shapes, too.
• There's a fine line, I think, between lacking imagination and having a personal style. My layouts tend to be linear because I'm cold, unfeeling, and deathly logical. Or, I can't think of any other way to approach the layouts. But not everything has to be a mold-shattering, paradigm-shifting experience. So you made a bunch of samey layouts. Did you convey your message? Will you be grateful later that you put in the time and effort? I expect to be hugely embarrassed, but we all start somewhere.
• Pay attention to the details. Not just when you're making artsy-fartsy stuff, I mean in your life. What kinds of words do you use? What are your favorite moments? What sorts of things do you overhear other family members saying? If I could, I would love to capture the feeling I'd get when I'd stare out of my aunt and uncle's breakfast nook window at the snow when we'd come up to visit them in the wintertime. Not sure how to pull that off, but there's an idea.
• This is worth repeating every so often: There aren't many topics that can't make for a compelling scrapbook project. Ideas are everywhere; make a point to note the little things so they don't get paved over by other life events.

Supply list:

I used photo paper, cardstock, patterned paper, chipboard lettering + arrow, a themed sticker, a die cut design, and a journaling card. Make your own, your way.

(Oh, and don't worry... the other two dogs will have their day.)

Thanks for looking! <EM>

(Want more scrapbooking articles? The full list may be found here.)