Let's Talk DYD Foundation Albums!

Discussion in 'Document Your December Layouts' started by scrappyjedi, Nov 9, 2017.

  1. scrappyjedi

    scrappyjedi Patience you must have, my young padawan

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    If you're wondering what in the world a foundation album is or why you would want to make one, you've come to the right place!! I started my scrapbooking journey in the paper world, and one of my favorite projects each year was making my December/Christmas foundation album. I've carried that love over into the digital side of my scrapbooking and am so happy to be here to share it with you this season!

    A DYD foundation album is actually very simple- as one of the Pollys in the back room put it, it's basically a set of layered quick pages that you scrap for yourself ahead of time, leaving just the photos and journaling to be added later. We all know how busy the Christmas season can get, and how difficult it can be to find time to sit down and make a fresh layout from scratch every day (or even just a few times per week!) during December. Making a foundation album ahead of time gives you a head start on each of those pages. You can still add/move/delete things on your layout as needed, but you'll have done the majority of the work for yourself ahead of time!

    Another reason that I love making foundation albums is a truly geeky one- I love to be efficient and batch tasks together! For an album, that would mean going through the entire set of pages and performing the same task on each page, then starting back at the beginning and performing the next task on each page. Some of those tasks for me are:
    • Adding larger embellishment areas such as premade clusters and paint.
    • Adding background paper
    • Adding paper to smaller areas
    • Adding smaller embellishments (flowers, word labels, etc.)
    • Setting up journaling spots with my favorite font, size, spacing, etc.
    • Adding journaling and filler cards
    Not only does completing one task at a time on the whole album make the process more time efficient, but it also helps the whole album to have a more cohesive, even feel to it. I think that we've all been there with a project that started out with a big, elaborate opening set of pages, and then toward the end became noticeably less embellished. Completing tasks in batches helps to combat fizzling out creatively toward the end of an album.

    I've been playing with some of the DYD items this week and put together three sets of foundation pages as an example to share. I did a very quick set of task batching to work through these and am looking forward to working on the remaining spreads over the next couple of weeks! (You can click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger version in the gallery, complete with product links!)

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    I'm doing a 6x8 album this year, and I started with a set of 6x8 layered templates by Scrapping with Liz, new for this DYD release! In my paper days I almost always made these albums with a mix of paper and pocket pages, so I pulled in some 6x8 pocket templates from an older set by Just Jaimee to emulate that look.

    Pollys @lcpereyra and @mrs2a50 Are also joining in the foundation album festivities this DYD, and wow, have they made some amazing pages!!

    @mrs2a50 Is doing DYD in a traveler's notebook format this year using Paislee Press's Travelogue templates and papers and elements from Sabrina's Creation's Document Your Memories kit.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    @lcpereyra Is making a larger format album using using the Document Your Month templates and Document Your Memories collection by Sabrina's Creations. She is keeping her album consistent and repeating papers and elements throughout for flow and cohesiveness. She knows that her photos will be colorful, so she's kept her pages on the neutral side, and since her holiday decor is often neutral with green elements, she's chosen that color scheme for her foundation pages.

    [​IMG]
    Now that you've learned a little about foundation albums and have seen a few examples, are you excited to try making one? Do you have any questions, comments, or tips for your fellow DYDers? Let's get the conversation going and chat our way into a fun, stress-free DYD season!
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2017
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  2. IntenseMagic

    IntenseMagic Some grannies cuss a lot. I'm some grannies.

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    I love having foundation pages done in advance! It really helps me to not fall behind!! These are awesome examples! I'm hoping to work on some this weekend!
     
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  3. Angela Toucan

    Angela Toucan I keep looking for THAT wardrobe

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    foundation pages sounds like a good idea, thank you.
     
  4. jenn mccabe

    jenn mccabe She's OUR sunshine!

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    These are gorgeous girls! I love the look of a cohesive album! Beautiful!
     
  5. keepscrappin

    keepscrappin ScrapWithTheWind

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    Amazing examples ladies! :heartslub

    I love the idea of foundation pages. I've been struggling with my son's mission scrapbook and foundation pages may be just what I need to get over the hump. Thanks for the inspiration!
     
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  6. bcgal00

    bcgal00 Say, "birdseed!"

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    Wonderful examples and such a time saver to get these prepared ahead of time!
     
  7. Rikki

    Rikki Next I'm going to look up naughty limericks

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    Those foundation pages look really awesome. I think I will start going through my stash and start working on mine. On the one hand I love the idea because December is really busy and it is efficient scrapping. On the other hand I don't WANT my scrapping to be efficient. I want it to be fun and play and being efficient somehow works against this. So I am torn...
     
  8. Tree City

    Tree City Get a stepladder, I'm busy

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    Rikki, I've had the same back-and-forth with myself. But I finally realized that making a foundation page is fun... it just "breaks up" the fun because I add the photos and journaling later. So making the foundation page fulfills the "be creative" need I have (while also being efficient, that's true), and then there's the fun/excitement of reliving the event I'm scrapping via the photos and journaling once I'm ready to use the foundation page. It's like a more prolonged fun. :)
     
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  9. Rikki

    Rikki Next I'm going to look up naughty limericks

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    Oh, yes, I like the way you look at this. :)
     
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  10. Rikki

    Rikki Next I'm going to look up naughty limericks

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    OK, I started with my cover page today. For the four photo spots I am planning to take pics of the four of us with Santa hats -the others don't know that yet, but, oh, they will be thrilled :)

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. Ga_L

    Ga_L Well-Known Member

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    foundations pages look a great idea, but how to know in advance how many pictures you will have for a day ?
     
  12. Tree City

    Tree City Get a stepladder, I'm busy

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    Here's one from me! It's pretty simple, but I used a grid so I can easily add more photo spots or have a big rectangle below for journaling. Thanks for helping inspire my DYD! I'm going to make a few more foundation-type pages this weekend...if the kids behave and I get a chance to scrap lol!
    [​IMG]
     
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  13. IntenseMagic

    IntenseMagic Some grannies cuss a lot. I'm some grannies.

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    So, I'm still settling on exactly the kinds of pages I want to do. Playing around with some new foundation pages

    [​IMG]
     
  14. bbymks5

    bbymks5 Where oh where can it be?!?

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    Love the examples!

    I had big plans on getting pages ready this weekend...but the weekend had other plans so that hasn't happened...maybe this week :)
     
  15. Angela Toucan

    Angela Toucan I keep looking for THAT wardrobe

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    I've been shopping for my album. I've picked up Lynn Grieveson's Frostel Album to start off my foundation pages. It will be paired with the sparkly season by Pink Reptile Designs, because I wanted neutral colours for everyday scrapping with the seasonal touch for the later part of the month. Elements from other kits in my stash will be used to add any finishing touches, for example a birthday.
     
  16. Rikki

    Rikki Next I'm going to look up naughty limericks

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    With my 6x8 templates there are 1 to 11 photo or paper spots. So what I'll do is I prepare the pages without any days or numbers or titles and then choose the page that fits best with the photos I have. And if I can't find a page that fits because of orientation etc. then I just change the size of the photo spot or use paper on a photo spot etc. The foundation pages are not set in stone so I can be flexible.
     
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  17. Mrivas

    Mrivas I know how to spit like a man

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    I like the idea of foundation pages and it might work for me on some things I know we will do for December. Great examples here!
     
  18. Mrivas

    Mrivas I know how to spit like a man

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    I was inspired to create foundation pages! Here are my first 4 pages and I am working on more, I love the idea fo working ahead and just tweaking and adding images and journaling later.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. Mrivas

    Mrivas I know how to spit like a man

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    Pages 5 to 8, having fun making these!
    [​IMG]
     
  20. Rikki

    Rikki Next I'm going to look up naughty limericks

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    @Mrivas They are so GORGEOUS! Absolutely stunning and they don't even have photos and many papers in them yet! LOVE them!
     
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