Hello!

I've always been a bit afraid of using highly decorated pages but I couldn't resist buying myself the Once Upon a Time stack from Die Cuts with a View, as it is the year of the Frog King in Germany and the paper is themed in this way. My question is how do you avoid making your layouts from looking (for a lack of a better word) cluttered? I don't want to lose the focus on the pictures but I also want to be able to be a little more artistic with my paper choices.

Many Thanks!

You can mat your photos on a solid color piece of paper or stock that is slightly larger than the photo itself. That helps by providing a thin "border" around the photo. I think you will have fun with your new stack. Please post when you finish.

I have an 8x8 pad of this paper and it speaks for itself. I matted the photo and used very little embellishment. It's going to work great for your theme.

Didi Too! By CrimsonMama

There Lived A Beautiful Princess By CrimsonMama

Didi By CrimsonMama

Punches, little bit of embellishing, matting. Wonderful, fun papers!

Thank you! These are all beautiful, I'm already inspired!

Isn't that funny how different people see things differently LOL??

to me, this paper screams out for jewels, metallic ribbon, sparkly letters, gorgeous buttons,,,,anything "royal".

Here's a few pages from a couple minibooks I made using this paper,,,,,

fairyland princess album By CommaHolly

fairyland princess album By CommaHolly

fairyland princess album By CommaHolly

Fairytale princess mini album last page By CommaHolly

and a full 12x12 I made using this paper

A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes/Secret door closed. By CommaHolly

A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes/ 2nd photo shows the secret door open. By CommaHolly

I was going to suggest exactly what Vicki showed you. Large photo to take away the business rather than lots of little ones. Also when I have worked with paper like this I've found it is helpful to add large matts to calm it down even more if the paper is really busy.

If it is busy paper that can be divided easily - pattern that repeats - I cut it and use it on 2 pages or even 4 pages. I'll go to my gallery and see if I can find a page where I did this - be right back.

Holly - you and I posted at the same time! I love what you did with those pages!

Holly- I love the lettering you used on the last page. And the others, their beauty is brought out with the jewels!

I've always been one to try and use a lot of photos on one page, but I'll have to try and reduce the quantity so I can show off the quality of my pages

Thank you all, and feel free to keep the ideas coming!

Stephanie

To me it depends on how many photos there are on one page as well. If I have a lot of photos, I tend to embellish less. But if I have only one photo, I go to town with embellies. In the end, people will look at the photos I think no matter what.

In all honesty, sometimes when I show my pages to someone, they look at the photos and don't even really notice the awesome cool embellies or whatever and I almost get my feelings hurt. But then of course I smile and know that at least I didn't totally take away from the focus of the page.

I love matting and/or framing. Sometimes, if the photo is informal, I even draw a line around it with a marker or paint. Anything that will bring attention to the photo will do. In fact, sometimes I frame the photo with embellishments instead of a "real" frame. Also colors make a difference. If your photo is mostly dark, using a light matting will make a huge difference. Same if its the other way around. I have that same DCWV stack and I love it. Just yesterday I made a layout out using the page with all the fairies floating around. I made it almost monochromatic, but I put a gold border around my photo and I painted a birdcage in gold. That made the photo pop out.

Oh Holly this is so pretty! I remember you said you loved this paper!

Well, I was doing some VERY simple LO's for my Mom who is 86. I was pretty sure she wouldn't get distressing!

To make the photo really pop how about going old school and do a double mat and then you can embellish to death!!!

"embellish to death!!!" LOL

OMG! Love the layouts and the mini album. SO many ideas! I love this site!

I think it depends but I always find that when I have a busy background that matting the photo(s) helps a ton. I also find that I don't use a ton of embellishments with patterned paper because I want the paper to show through!!

I respond the exact same way! I want to shout, but look at how I tied this in with the photo, or don't you see the cleverness of this or that? Almost like the embillies are wasted:( Then, I think, ok, what is your reason for scrapbooking then? Is it for your & your families personal pleasure? Or are you looking for gratification from others? Once I do that, the hurt feelings subside.