Power Planning:
Pre-planned layouts
This is the method that I have used for my personal scrapbooking for
over 2 years.
Original concept by Jennia Hart
Benefits of pre-planning your pages
- Great for beginners or expert scrapbookers!
- Makes it easy to plan for two-page spreads before mounting.
- Makes it easy to choose your colors that will appear on facing pages more carefully,
coordinating colors on facing pages, or place theme colors throughout a series of similar
pages, if desired. Also helpful if you want to plan Peek A
Boo Pages.
- Makes it easy to collect 'orphan' pictures that don't fit with any particular theme in
order to make a page of miscellaneous photos.
- Saves time!! When you're finished with this few hours of
pre-planning, you will have pages ready to mount into your album. Now your album
can be completed one page at a time if that's all you can do, whenever you have a few
extra minutes. You can mount a page or two a day, or maximize your workshop time with this
preparation work so that you can complete more pages at every workshop you attend.
** If you are planning a gift album, you might want to layout the whole album at one
sitting.
Saves money!!! If you do not buy
scrapbooking supplies for your pages until they are in the Power planning box, you will
only buy what you need. You can take the box with you to stores and shop SMART!! I highly
recommend this method!!
Materials needed:
30 layout sheets numbered 1 through 30 (These are pieces of paper the same size as your
album page. Either 12 x 12 Cardstock for 12 x 12 users and 8 1/2 by 11 for 8 1/2 by 11
users. They will be re-used every time you pre-plan your pages.) Do not use
cardboard, it is acidic and will damage your photos, paper and memorabilia during storage.
A page keeper- several are available on the market (do not use an acidic album gift box
for storing your pages!!!)Highsmith 12 x 12 page carrier or Leeco 12 x 12 Cropper
Hopper Tote for 12 x 12 page users.
The 8 ˝ by 11 inch version of the Highsmith Page Carrier or the Cropper Hopper Case
for 8 ˝ by 11 users.
Again, don't store your pages in an acidic album box- spend a little money and KEEP
your supplies acid free. If you are trying to keep the cost low, you can use and re-use 2
gallon size Ziplock Bags available at many grocery stores. Ziplock bags are safe for short
to moderate term storage. There is also a product available that is like a large envelope
sized to hold 12 x 12 or 8 1/2 by 11 pages for those who are more cost conscious.
Large Table
15 layouts/ 30 pages worth of photographs in chronological order
Memorabilia to go with those photos
Magazines and Idea Books
Decorative supplies: i.e., patterned paper, cardstock, colored photo mounting paper,
stickers, die-cuts Cropping tools: i.e., trimmer, templates, scissors, circle cutter
Post- It Notes
Pencil for notes
How to do it
Make a planning sheet. Make 30 squares on a piece of paper and as you go through the
photos write in what you will be placing in the layout in pencil (remember this is a
planning stage!!). Start at page chronologically with page one and work to the end. If
this is a new album project, start with the first page as the title page and then layout
the rest of the pages in groups of two.Example of starting an album from the beginning: (
the colors are used to indicate 2 pages that face each other.)
Title Page
Drew's Baby album1 |
On the way to the hospital 2 |
At the hospital after birth 3 |
Going home 4 |
Father's Day at Grandma Sharron's 5 |
Misc. baby pics2 mo. 6 |
| Misc. baby pics 3 months old 7 |
misc. baby pics 4 months old 8 |
misc. baby pics 5 months old 9 |
thanksgiving 10 |
thanksgiving 11 |
baby pics 6 mo. old 12 |
| baby pics 7 mo. old 13 |
Christmas 14 |
Christmas 15 |
Christmas 16 |
Christmas 17 |
Drew 8 mo. old 18 |
| Drew 9 mo. old 19 |
Drew 10 mo. old 20 |
Drew 11 mo. old 21 |
Drew 1 yr. b-day party 22 |
Drew 1 yr. b-day party 23 |
Drew 1 year old misc. pics 24 |
| Drew 13 months old 25 |
Drew 14 months old in pool 26 |
Drew 14 months old in pool 27 |
Drew 15 months old family get together 28 |
Drew 15 months old family get together 29 |
end of 2 page spreads |
If you have an album in progress, check to see which page you will need next-left or
right-so you can adjust the first layouts accordingly. The example below shows an album
that was ready to start with a left hand layout, so I started off by creating all 2 page
spread layouts. Example of starting an album in progress (like colored blocks indicate a 2
page spread or multiple page layout.):
| Summer 98 Drew swimming 2 |
Summer 98 Drew swimming 3 |
Summer 98 Drew at the Beach 4 |
summer 98 Drew at the Beach 5 |
July 98 Drew's bedroom in new house 6 |
July 98 Drew's bedroom in new house 7 |
| Drew's new school 8 |
Drew's new school 9 |
Park 10 |
backyard 11 |
swimming at Grandma Sharron's 12 |
swimming at Grandma Sharron's 13 |
| Sea World 14 |
Sea World 15 |
Sea World 16 |
Sea World 17 |
misc. summer photos 8/98 18 |
misc. summer photos 8/98 19 |
| B-day for Mom-B 20 |
B-day for Mom-B 21 |
"Back to school" photos 22 |
"Back to school" photos 23 |
Playing at the park MOMS Club 24 |
Playing at the park MOMS Club 25 |
| Swimming lessons 26 |
Swimming lessons 27 |
Swimming lessons 28 |
Swimming lessons 29 |
Swimming lessons 30 |
Swimming lessons 31 |
2. Rough layout: Page by page, place photos onto all 30 layout sheets as you
think they'll fit and in the order that you think you will use. As you go, fill in your
chart with the name of the layout and basic info as shown above. As you do this you
will decide how many photos will fit on a page and how many pages a layout will need.
Stack the pages up with page #1 on the bottom and stack until all 30 are done.
- Don't worry about exact placement of photos yet.
- If you have a large number of photos, you can divide the pictures between pages, but
still don't worry about which ones go on which pages.
- Fill all the layout pages and/or use all the photos.
- This is the time to determine if your pictures will really fit on one page, or if you
need a two-page spread, etc. Also, do you need a whole page, or can you combine those
pictures with another page? Would you like to add a poem or memorabilia to make a 2 page
spread from some photos if you feel that there just aren't QUITE enough photos.
3. After finishing those steps, you are ready to put the pages away in your
storage box as you go. You will now begin with the LAST page (which should be at the top
of your stack) so that it will end up on the BOTTOM of the box.
Start with the first page and eliminate any photos you don't want or need, crop
pictures and arrange on the page to make sure they fit.
If you will be using a background paper or cardstock add it at this time.
Gather any memorabilia and place it with the appropriate pages. If you already have an
idea of the layout you want, and plan any decoration of your pages at this
point and add the necessary items. If I do not have an idea, I usually just place some
sheets of paper in that have coordinating colors, I do not spend hours at this point in
time struggling with an idea.
Check for 'orphan' photos that don't really go with any others. Consider making a page
(or spread) containing all the miscellaneous pictures, perhaps at the end of the season.
Use your Post-it Notes to jot down specific ideas that you want to use on the page,
titles or captions or to transfer the writing from the backs of photos.
If there are ideas that you want to use from an idea book or magazine you can make a
note of it now on a Post-It note. Or take the books/ magazine to a copy shop and get black
and white copies made to place in your file to jog your memory. As long as you are making
this copy for your own use and you have bought the magazine, you are not infringing on a
copyright.
Choose your photo mounting paper and place it on the sheet with your
photos and memorabilia as you want the finished product to appear.
Lay any strips of stickers and/or die-cuts on the layout page-
When you have all of this together place the layout sheet in the box and all of the
supplies you will need for the page on top of the sheet.
·Stack your layout pages in order, with the first to go into your
album ending up on top, and the last on the bottom.
·Place this stack of pages into your 12 x 12 or 8 1/2 by 11 storage
box of choice so the pages remain laid out as you designed them.
4. Mounting
Congratulations, you are done! You are now ready to mount everything
onto your album pages at your convenience!! Tackle them at night when the kids are in bed,
take them to a crop, use them to enter a scrapbooking challenge, etc. and when you are
done, start all over again and make 30 more layouts. Each time you use this method, it
will go faster and faster for you. think of all the layouts you can do with all the time
you have saved!! You, too, will get hooked on this time saving method!!
|
