Hello all!!! I have been a digital scrapper since 2005/6, and started out making month pages for calendars, baby milestones, and siggies at Mommy forums. I always used 8x10, but somewhere along 206/7, I switched to 12x12 because it was easier. The papers and elements were sized to fit 12x12. As a challenge a few years ago, I switched to 8x10 for a while and I had the hardest time getting my ratios and sizing right. How do YOU scrap 8x10 and have enough room for what you want to place on the page? It seems so SMALL of a canvas to work on.
Lol! @michelepixels was just asking the same thing! Me? I don't. I really like the square because it makes my math heart Happy. There are some fabulous templates that either only use 8*10 of the page, or are 8.5*11 and easily adjustable. That might help you get started? I think another suggestion was to use 4*6 or 6*8 templates and make them bigger. Since it's a similar ratio, it might work well?
I did a Disneyland album (100 pages) in 8.5x11 and loved it... it was so much fun working in that size for a change. But, then I tried 8.5x11 for my next Disneyland album and I have completely stalled out. It is hard getting a lot to fit on that size. I do my pages landscape which does help and I do love being able to use full page photos in my albums without losing much of the photo. Oh... I used a few templates for that size... but mainly I adapted 12x12 templates to fit on a 8.5x11 page. A lot of them ended up working for me, but again, that might have had something to do with working in landscape orientation.
Ha ha - I feel that way too. I am feeling like perhaps I need a challenge to actually figure out how to work with different sizes. My preferred size will always be 12x12, I think. I tried ATC Cards for a while. What a disaster! LOLOLOL
Landscape orientation might be a way to try! I remember doing my 8x10 calendars and they were landscape and they seemed easier!
Landscape is a great alternative and might work really well! I have played with different sizes, but just always going back to 12x12. Well, I scrap 12x12, but I print 8x8 because I like the smaller books and albums.
I’ve tried 8.5x11 both in digital and paper and just could not do it well. I imagine 8x10 would have a similar result. lol
I was doing 12x18 layouts for a while, but I just created 12x12 pages, put them on a 12x18 background, and centered my layout on it. I would copy the background onto the new page, and then save it. (This was for printing into a landscape photobook, back when square books were harder to find. Not that the books were 12x18, but I figured it could be sized down and that the sides could be sacrificed if necessary to create the proper ratio.)
I scrap at 12x12, but usually print 8x8 books. I've never considered going to 8x10 because I tendency to scrap with everything on my page oriented horizontally, so losing width would create too much white space on the top and bottom ... but if I did, I would probably scrap it at 2880px x 3600px (vs. 2400px x 3000px) so I wouldn't have as much fiddling to do with the sizing of papers/elements.
I scrap at 8x8 (except for pocket pages) If I can't get everything on an 8x8 I either go for a two pager or do 10x8.
I can't really answer your question, because I have no clue how I do it. I just do. I swear by my 8.5 x 11 layouts. Very rarely do I feel that I need more room. I love that I can print my own pages without the need for a large format printer, although my printer can print up to 13x17. LOL. I have been using 8.5 x 11 since I started digi in 2006. I also love that I can use standard sheet protectors. I do admit that resizing a paper or a template can be tricky, but I have my methods and I just don't even think about it anymore. I just do it. I participated in DYD for the first time ever last month and worked in standard TN size, 8x4 (on an 8.5 x 11) background, and I did run out of room on those, had to do additional pages. I ended up with 52 pages, counting the cover. But I think that the TN size is so gosh darn cute!
