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I’m both proud and excited to kick off this year’s summer adventure with our very first challenge. I can already tell this is going to be a fun, inspiring season filled with creativity, beautiful pages, and wonderful moments shared together throughout the summer!
For this challenge, you'll be creating a scrapbook page using one or more of the four design principles reviewed in this post. Your page will introduce yourself and your favorite “camp supplies” - the tools, styles, colors, and creative goodies you always reach for when you scrapbook.
- Please make your page share a little about you as an artist. Consider a photo of you. Consider sharing your why.
- You can interpret the camp supplies piece how you like - by simply showing the items on your supply list in action, listing them out, or going in depth explaining why you love to use them. You can create a color palette for your summer camp challenges or just use your favorite colors. It's up to you! Your page might include your favorite kit colors, go-to fonts, any must-have tools, your preferred scrapbooking style, your favorite elements, or your preferred techniques.
- In your post please make it clear that you put thought into your "camp supplies" by explaining anything unclear from the layout in this thread when you post your page.
Think of it as the first campfire night together sharing our introductions!
Along the way, we’ll explore four simple design principles that help create balanced and eye-catching pages:
• Creating a Focal Point
• Using the Rule of Thirds
• Leaving White Space
• Building a Visual Triangle
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Wanna a little help with this challenge?
To go along with this first summer camp challenge, I've created a new template pack called Scrapbook Foundations. The four templates are inspired by the same design principles we're exploring here: Focal Point, White Space, Rule of Thirds, and Visual Triangle.
If the theory feels a little overwhelming, these templates make it easy to put the concepts into practice. Just add your photos, customize to your heart's content, and let the templates do some of the work for you!
And as a special Summer Camp bonus, Scrapbook Foundations is 50% OFF all through July!
Here are some wonderful sample pages for this challenge by the team
By Jen - Focal Point
JOURNALING: Clean and simple is definitely my style. I am most comfortable outdoors in nature with my camera, sunscreen and no make-up. In many ways, this is reflected in my minimalist art. I am not one for lots of elements heaped on a page. I prefer to let my photos be the star of the page. My favorite tools are drop shadow styles, and one of my favorite techniques is to split a photo across different photo spots.
By Becky - Visual Triangle
JOURNALING: I’m so excited to participate in TLP’s Summer Camp this year as a Camp Counselor, aka Polly! This time last year I was vying for one of the guest spots...now look at me! My name is Becky, but I go by scrapchyck here at TLP. The coastal retreat theme of camp is right up my alley because I love to spend time on the Oregon Coast when I’m not snuggled in with my laptop and Diet Coke creating pages for my digital scrapbook album. I am a scraplifter at heart, so get lots of inspiration from other peoples’ pages. There’s a file on my laptop full of ideas. If I’m not ‘lifting, I’m probably using a template. My go-to supplies are word art, flowers, foliage, and patterned papers when I’m scrapping in my favorite traditional style. I’m looking forward to being challenged and seeing what everyone creates during camp this year! Let’s catch the creative wave and see where we land!
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To help guide you as you create your layout, here are a few additional details and visual examples to illustrate these design principles and how they can help create balanced, eye-catching scrapbook pages.
Creating a Focal Point
A focal point is the first thing your eye notices on a page. This is usually a photo, title, or strong embellishment cluster that immediately draws attention and helps anchor the design.
Here are some examples from The Lilypad Gallery (click to see credits)
There is also a wonderful thread for a past challenge where focal point is explained by Angela : https://the-lilypad.com/forum/threads/closed-winner-announced-challenge-take-aim.97704/
Using the Rule of Thirds
Imagine your page divided into nine equal sections using two horizontal and two vertical lines. Placing important elements near those intersections often creates a more balanced and visually pleasing composition.
What you’re looking for visually:
- the main design NOT centered,
- important elements aligned near imaginary grid lines,
- and the page feeling balanced despite asymmetry.
To help you in your design process I made this little template/guide for the rule of thirds in 2 sizes (3600x3600 / 2700x3600).
Download here: Rule Of Thirds guide
Here are some examples from The Lilypad Gallery (click to see credits)
Leaving White Space
White space gives your page room to breathe. Leaving open or less decorated areas helps your focal point stand out and keeps the design from feeling too crowded.
Here are some examples from The Lilypad Gallery (click to see credits):
Building a Visual Triangle
A visual triangle is created when three elements or clusters guide your eye around the page in a natural flow. These repeated accents help create movement, balance, and cohesion within your design.
Here are some examples from The Lilypad Gallery (click to see credits)
This layout by Bethany uses photo groupings and embellishment clusters to create a strong visual triangle. The eye naturally moves between the top photo, the lower-left photo, and the right-side photo/title area, creating flow and balance across the page.
Notice how the flowers, darker elements, and small embellishments around each section help reinforce the triangle and keep the focus centered within the design.
In this layout by Kimberly, the repeated yellow elements create movement between different sections of the design, forming a soft visual triangle that keeps the page feeling balanced and connected.
Your eye moves from the yellow paper and embellishments on the left, down toward the striped paper near the bottom, and back up toward the title area on the right — naturally drawing attention toward the center photo along the way.
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Recap- Make a page that:
- Introduces you and your creative style
- Highlights your favorite scrapbook “camp supplies”
- Uses one of the design principles above - state which design principle used
Please post your completed layout in The Lilypad gallery, making sure it meets the following requirements:
- Your layout must include at least 75% Lilypad product(templates count as 15%; fonts are exempt)
- Credits must include the full name of the product and the full name of the designer
- Layouts must be new and created specifically for this challenge
- Uploads must be under 250k
- No off-site linking is allowed in credits
Deadline:
To be eligible for the overall Summer Camp prize drawings, submit your page by September 2 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
If you want your layout to count toward monthly rewards, it must be posted by the end of the corresponding month (July 31 or August 31) in your individual tracking thread within Summer Camp 2026 - Layouts & Game Links.
Be sure to log your progress in your individual tracking thread within Summer Camp 2026 - Layouts & Game Links if you are wanting to participate in the additional prizes.
Prize:
One random winner will be selected from the eligible entries to receive $10 Lilypad scrap cash.
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