One of the biggest arguments in the scrapbooking industry, is which size layout is best. Thankfully, it is not an answerable question because it is completely a personal choice and one to be made by the scrapbooker. The decision is usually based on the types of photographs and scrapbooking the individual does.
For instance, if you tend to only scrap one or two photos, probably a smaller size would work great for you. If you prefer enlargements of those one or two photographs than a larger size would work best. If you tend to take lots and lots of photographs of a single event, than definitely a larger size page would work best.
As a teen, I tended to scrap in those horrible old style scrapbook pages that are about 12”x15”. I noticed that I appreciated the rectangle shape, so when I started scrapbooking in a more modern sense, I began with 8.5”x11”. But it wasn’t long before I found the size limiting for what I wanted to do. I changed to 12”x12” and that is where I have remained for the past eight years. However, I have had to go and create layouts from pictures taken during my 8.5”x11” phase. I wanted to scrap these in 12”x12” size.
I found it was time for me to convert some of the older layouts to my new found size. Converting from 8.5”x11” to 12”x12” is super easy because essentially you can grab a piece of coordinating card stock in the larger size and add the old size to the page and then embellish, create a new title or create artwork down the sides. A lot of my old pages did not include anything but basic journaling, so I was able to use those spots for more extensive journaling.
Converting from the larger size to the smaller size tends to be a bit tricky. I recently helped a scrapbooker accomplish this, and what we did was remove some embellishments and cut the cardstock down to size when we could. A lot of times though, we had to remove the photographs and embellishments and essentially start a whole new layout in the smaller size.
Don’t think that there is any requirement to convert sizes. In fact, you can scrapbook in lots of different sizes on a regular basis. It doesn’t matter how you do it because it is your choice, a personal choice.
Have you ever converted a layout? If so, what did you do to make it new again?
Nicole Humphrey writes articles for the Scrapbooking Blog and for the Frugal Blog. She also guest blogs on a variety of topics. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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