Pattern Paper Basics w/Heidi Sonboul

There are a few key elements that make a great layout:

A few really good photos, super cute papers and fun, well spoken embellishments.

I think by now everyone knows that I scrapbook boys, but the question is... "how you do make a great boy page?" If I was asked this question, my response would be "tell a story and add a lot of details".

A few months ago around CHA, I made this layout for Crate Paper's CHA 2011 Winter Booth. I layered on tons of fun elements and used a lot of pattern papers in the same color family.

I love using a lot of pattern papers on my boy layouts. I feel that it adds a lot of life to a layout, but there are a few rules when doing this and today, I'm going to share my secrets.

Shhhh...don't share it with anyone else!

Pick your photos and pull three colors from them. I used this photo of my Bradley and went with black, green and blue (true boy colors, right?).

Then I pick out my papers to coincide with my color selections. Can you really ever pick too many pattern papers? Yes, and no. If the patterns are overly busy, it's definite overkill! If you keep them the same color family, then you're safe in selecting as many paper's as you want :) I pulled ten papers and used nine of them on my layout.

When you use this many papers, keep the overall look and sketch simple. I used matting to do this.

Now that my photos have a home, I add in more patterned papers. Do you notice that the "small pieces" of patterned paper aren't fighting with the rest of the layout? To make them pop, I inked their edges.

To tie in more black, I simply added it to the bottom of the layout. It's always key to think in terms of 3's via the basic triangle concept.

Once I have a clean base to work with, I can then start adding on all my fun embellishments. I LOVE Crate's stickers and funny enough, the words describe my little peanut perfectly!

At this point, I start to treat the patterned paper as embellishments and begin to use an increased number of smaller patterned paper pieces as room is now limited. Inking the paper's edges makes them "pop", though to make them pop a little further, I incorporate pop-dots beneath them.

Titles are my favorite as I feel they complete a layout and the telling of the layout's story. To ensure I had room for the title, I placed it down right at about this point, prior to the end of the creative process. I love to mix up my font letters, so this is what I opted to do here. As a basic rule, always keep your letters close together so that they compliment one another.

I get asked quite a bit about my journaling and how it is that my writing is so straight. My usual response is that I pull out my pencil, eraser and journal away! This allows me to have a nice clean writing style without having to use a printer! Create guidelines first with a pencil and then erase them after the journaling is complete. I suggest using a good eraser in conjunction with this method as you don't want to leave any marks behind. They can often be found at any craft store!

And last, I added all my small embellishments or as some like to say it, "The final touches!" When done, I've a clean, layered look for my masculine, boy-friendly layout! So, the lesson today is, keep your lines simple and pile on the embellishments in an organized manner.

Now I can't wait to see how you use these quick and easy-to-follow suggestions! Maybe the next time you pull out a brand new project, you'll be inclined to use lot's of similar colored papers like I've done here..and don't forget the matching embellishments!!