Scrapbook rules? | Pad Patter 2 July

Discussion in 'Chatty Pad' started by bellbird, Jul 3, 2021.

  1. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    Do you have any particular rules you follow when scrapping?
    Here's why i ask:
    So in watching other scrapbookers do their thing on youtube and such, Missy Whidden often says the way the people are facing in the photo is the main deciding factor in where her photos get positioned. Her rule is that they have to face into the centre of the page and this has been a 'rule' for me too, for so long that really i don't even think of it as a rule. You know how some rules are made to be broken? Well, that's one i can't really break! Like it feels wrong for the the person or all the people to face towards the outer edges of my page unless it's a double page and they're essentially 'looking' at the next page.
    My only other 'rules' are i like having a title somewhere on the page and that on dimensional items the shadows should look somewhat realistic, like if something is flat in real life, say a sticker, versus a floofy thing like a layered fabric petal flower, the shadows would look different. Beyond that, i think anything goes.
    How about you?
     
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  2. StefanieS

    StefanieS Think it over, think it under

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    I have gotten over not using digital goodies if I wouldn't have used the actual thing on a paper layout - think gears, screws etc.
    I will position the photo of the person according to where they are looking just like you do.
    Shadows for me are always at 120 degrees and I usually don't layer flat goodies like stickers over floofy in a cluster.
    I don't always add titles and journaling - which I would have 5 years ago.
    I like grid designs with broken boundaries, or overlapping things which they wouldn't be able to in a real pocket layout.
     
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  3. ad77

    ad77 Well-Known Member

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    The same with the realistic shadows. My inner Sheldon can´t see pages with not shadowed dimensional elements or plain text layer soaring illogically above the objects...
    Then matching colours.
    And I also need some visible movement on the page - some arrows or alike, or movement you can percieve just from the orientation or layout of the page...
     
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  4. AJK

    AJK I plead the 5th ...

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    I have things I like, but no , not "rules". I approach this from an artistic view- depends upon what I am wanting to convey or emphasize. So rules don't fit that for me. When I first began paper scrapping and then moved to digital I had them. But not now.
     
  5. Nemla

    Nemla Stretching my skill set

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    My photos face inwards to, unless I am trying to make a statement of some kind. I do not as a rule like titles,but usually challenges call for them, And I am fine with my date just being the year.
    Also I have a hard time using 3 d stuff as photo mats ( like fluffy flowers and angled objects ) but I really like it when other people do.
     
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  6. umyesh

    umyesh President of the Hangry Ladies Supper Club

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    I’d never thought about the photo facing inward! I will be more observant now.
     
  7. bcgal00

    bcgal00 Say, "birdseed!"

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    I don't have any rules other than always shadowing unless its paint/overlay, etc. I have no specific rules about photo placement and don't know if I have the subject facing inwards or not, never paid attention to that. Now I want to go look at my LOs and see.
     
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  8. HavaDrPepper

    HavaDrPepper Space. The final frontier

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    No rules but things that I always do. My program does shadows different than PS and PSE and I do use a very small shadow on all my journaling which is 99% of the time black text. The shadow makes the journaling appear even bolder than it does since I always bold it anyways!

    I don't care about which way people are looking in photos unless it is a double page layout then I want it to flow nicely from one page to the next.

    There are things I will not use/do on my layouts but that's another subject entirely!
     
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  9. zakirahzakaria

    zakirahzakaria Making to-do lists CHECK. Checking to-do lists...

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    Not really a rule, but more of a preference.. but I wouldn't scrap a photo that is not edited or straight from the camera. I would at least adjust the brightness, contrast or saturation (basic editing) so that the photo looks good on the page.
     
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  10. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

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    I'm gonna go with nope. Okay, 1 - I don't put text (think journaling/typewriter) over large flowers or other bulky elements. I will put what looks like alphas over them, because that's what pop dots are for!

    Photos facing inward - yes and no. There are times I like the photo facing out, especially if it's a window, because it emphasizes the way the person or pet is looking. I do notice some of the graphic design rules I learned in my photos now, along with some of the photography rules in my photos. But overall, I just go with what feels right on my page.

    Oh! I thought of one more - no trapped space. It doesn't feel right to me, so I avoid it. I may layer photos/elements more, or space them out more, but I don't like the trapped space feeling on a page.
     
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  11. rach3975

    rach3975 Well-Known Member

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    Depends on the type of page. I am conscious of which way people are facing in photos, but on a multi photo page I let it go so that I can position things where they work best. I shadow realistically and don't layer objects in ways that wouldn't work in real life. I want the photos and journaling to be the focus of the page, so I tend to keep photos large (or use a lot of them) and not use busy backgrounds. Other than that I don't think I have rules for most pages. Titles and journaling are optional (they didn't used to be), but almost every page gets dated with a month and year. I keep design concepts like visual triangles in mind, but they're not hard and fast rules for me.

    For my project life pages on the other hand I have lots and lots of rules. It's mostly so that they all look relatively uniform. I use the same set of templates (though many different layouts), I use the same fonts, same date card, and so on and so forth.
     
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  12. SeattleSheri

    SeattleSheri Movers, cleaners, great hair. I'm a socialite!

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    • My shadows are almost exclusively at 45 degrees
    • Layer order: items that would naturally "sit" on (or closer to) the background are ordered that way and the shadows are shorter and more dense the closer to the background
    • If I'm using a template (or even if I'm not), papers are oriented in the same direction as the shape
    • I customize templates to fit my needs, I don't to force design components that don't work for my page
    • I have a specific way I like colors to work together on my pages, so I tend to recolor items to make that happen
     
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  13. Cherylndesigns

    Cherylndesigns All glasses should be bigger than 1.5 oz

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    Since I love candid photos, I don't have any real "rules" for them. Depends on the story I'm trying to tell. For everything else, the photographer in me looks at the light. Which way it is coming from?
     
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  14. LivyBug

    LivyBug I should be considered yarned and dangerous.

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    A rule I've recently picked up is to custom shadow photos and papers (and sometimes other things). @gonewiththewind got me on that train lol. I use a 120 degree shadow as well, and I've become more interested in really deep shadows, maybe not very realistic. But better than the nearly flat shadow styles I had been using for years.

    I don't really care too much about layering say a sticker over a flower; I'm with @bestcee that it could be held up with pop dots or foam in real life!

    Other technical rule is that I always scrap 12x12", and when I'm done with a layout, I immediately save a print version. I lost layouts before, and I think if I'd had them saved as JPG and not PSD I could've retrieved them more easily from Backblaze.

    I always include a date and title/word art.
     
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  15. michelepixels

    michelepixels A pun is not fully matured until it is full groan.

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    Hmmm, the first thought that comes to mind is that the main rule for me is that my page must have some meaning to ME.

    I also try to shadow realistically.

    I used to have a rule that a page isn't complete without journaling, but I may be losing that rule since I've become so prolific at keeping a digital journal (using Day One; highly recommend!). I still put a few sentences on my pages but it often feels superficial or redundant. But my printed scrapbook pages are probably more likely to last far in the future than my digital journal, so maybe I will never give up this rule completely.

    A page with only one or two photos long felt wrong to me too, but it doesn't bother me much anymore, especially since I discovered I love scrapping 8.5x11 so I can print in Blurb magazine format.
     
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  16. Ferdy

    Ferdy Heavy Metal Head Banger

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    I agree with the shadows, I try to keep it realistic. One other detail I've learnt is about journaling, to edit my font so it just don't look wrong or floating on the paper, and never write over an element that would be impossible IRL. Never add shadows to a font.

    and I need to have title, date and lately at least one line of journaling.
     
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  17. IntenseMagic

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

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    Hmmm. I was going to say that I really have no rules, just throw stuff around until I like it. But, I guess I always do some of the things already mentioned :). As far as the photos, I am not too particular about where people are facing, at least not consciously, but there have been times I've flipped a photo that I wanted to use so that it better fit the page.
     
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  18. mcurtt

    mcurtt give me all the paleo brownies

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    Rules??? Pretty much anything goes, but I ALWAYS "sign" with my first name and year of the layout in either the left or right lower right hand corner.
     
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  19. LoveItScrapIt

    LoveItScrapIt I'm a poet, and everyone knows it!

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    No specific rules ...I do many of the same things mentioned above. Shadows, etc....never paid attention to facing of photos, now I want to go look to see if I do it unconsciously. lol

    I approach my pages as art...so I take creative license with lots of things people might say "no" to. lol
     
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  20. BevG

    BevG If I can't remember it, it didn't happen

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    As a photographer, you rarely want your subject to be on the edge of the photo, looking out of the photo. So I have always tried to use the same rule on scrapbook pages. I am also very aware about pictures contrasting with their background colors. So I love mats to give them a more subtle match.
     

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