Scrapbook Layout: Beach

(click on photo to see a large version)

This is a layout for Sammy's baby book of his first trip to the beach in which I was working on incorporating more design principles.  I want to improve the way the visual aspects of the page tell the story I want to convey.  I recently joined Paperclipping.com and have been really enjoying the tutorials they have created. This week they are having a festival of layout sharing, so it seems like a good time to share this one - the background was inspired by the tutorial Using Handmade Backgrounds, in which Noell shows techniques to create one-of-a-kind background papers for your layouts.

I wanted this layout to have an open, speckled look to give the big-sky feeling of the beach and evoke the texture of the sand.  To do that, I used my flourish mask again, this time with blue perfect pearls (a sparkly powder that is water activated) in a mini-mister (a handy little spray bottle).  I also chose a cardboard-y feeling kraft paper as part of my journaling area and to fill the corner of my photo block above it.   I also cropped the photo of my husband carrying Sammy in the baby carrier in a way that showed lots of sky to echo that open feeling.

I have very few pictures of my hubby and I in Sammy's book - mostly because I don't have many!  I'm usually behind the camera.  Since I had a shot of the two of us, I wanted to emphasize it.  I anchored it with a lined paper for the bottom third of the photo mat and added a soft ribbon for a feminine touch in a mostly boyish book.

I have found that when I go back to my older layouts they feel very spotty.  I still love them for what they are, but I find myself wanting to group photos to create negative space around the photos.  This grouping and structure is something I plan to continue working on.