Scrapbook Page Starters

By Christina VanGinkel

I have put together a list of inspirational page starters I use when creating scrapbook layouts. Some are simple, some are more detailed, but all are meant to motivate and encourage you to come up with the best layout ideas that you can.

Your Typical Day

What do you do on a typical day? Go to work, stay home with the kids, wash dishes, laundry, go to the library, or head to the mall? Years from now, what we all consider typical may not be, and our descendants may enjoy looking back at what we took for granted as normal. Choose a single task, such as that mounting pile of dirty laundry, or that freshly folded stack, and snap a few pics to help you create a layout that will allow you to journal some of your thoughts and feelings about this common chore. Remember that not every scrapbook layout needs tons of pictures either. If you would love to create a layout about your job for example, but would feel uncomfortable snapping pictures on the job, then maybe snap a photo of you at home getting ready for work, or dressed in your uniform if one is required, and then journal everything you would want to recall about the job.

Family

Family members are commonly in the pages of our scrapbooks, but what about your extended family. Interview a grandparent or the younger generation, such as a niece or nephew. Ask them what their dreams were or are, and if they achieved them or how they plan to. Also, try to step out of your normal thought process when it comes to your immediate family members, and consider some of the things you take for granted. Does your teen have a job? Snap a few photos of them getting ready for work or on the job itself, and take the time to ask them to tell you either what they think about it, or have them write down their own thoughts on the subject.

First Thing You See When…?

I have used this page starter a few times, when I find myself in a slump and feel like I have nothing to scrap, but am really in the mood to. It is as open ended a question as you are ever about to encounter, yet it often does the trick for me, so try it the next time you find yourself at odds of what to scrap. I asked myself, with camera in hand, the first things I saw when I got up each morning, when I pulled into the mall parking lot, when I turned off the main highway down our rural road, when I got into our truck, etc. My answers were a framed picture of my brother and son from last spring that my sister-in-law gave me as a gift, shopping carts, fields, and my husband's Bobble Head Buck. I have not scrapped all of them, but I have two of them. No, you will not end up creating a layout of everything you see, but it is a great way to get your mind thinking about all the things you encounter each day.

Internet

Browse the web, visit a few online scrapbook stores, pop into a couple of scrapbook galleries to see what others are doing and scrapping. You can often find enough ideas from within the pages of others to keep you scrapping for many days to come.

Your Own Scrap Supplies

If all else fails, head to your scrap room, or pull out your supplies, and page through the papers and embellishments you already have. Sometimes, this simple process will remind you of an idea you fleetingly had for a layout, or even prod you to take a particular picture to document some event that you would want to scrap. This can be especially helpful if you have tons of ideas, but are not organized about writing them down or making note of them in some manner. You might come across a paper that you think would be ideal for a specific layout for example, only to buy it, bring it home, store it, and promptly forget the idea that originally prompted you to buy the paper in the first place. By looking through your supplies and seeing the paper again, your memory may very well be jogged to recall why you purchased it in the first place.