Layouts for the Busy Scrapper

Love scrapbooking—but don’t have a lot of time? Never fear! Designer LeNae Gerig is a self-described Realistic Scrapbooker. She loves the craft but she’s also a busy mom. Her solution? Letting the background paper do the work for her. Whether it’s a pretty pastel spring-time layout or a cool ephemera page, LeNae has all the tips and tricks for 30-minute scrapbook pages. Take a look!

Spring Page
Designer: LeNae Gerig

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LeNae’s Time-Saving Tip: Color-blocked background paper is a real time saving tool. I don’t mean the kind of color-blocked backgrounds you make yourself by cutting squares of cardstock and placing them on the page—I mean the kind of color-blocked background paper that’s done for you. Take a look at this page. You can see the areas for arranging photos and journaling are clearly blocked, and there’s even a few small blocks with flower images in them for accents.

Supplies:

• Paper Pizazz® Busy Scrapper’s Solution 4-Seasons: spring color blocked paper, lime green linen paper, ivory vellum, “spring” definition, flower cut-out and alphabet cut-outs
• Cardmaker’s™ Icy Rainbow Ribbons
• Mini Glue Dots™
• foam tape

Instructions:

1. Computer journal and print onto vellum. Here’s how: Cut the 12”x12” vellum into 8 1/2”x12” and place in the printer tray. Use the “landscape” setting to print (you’ll find it under the on the Page Set Up option). Trim the vellum into a thin strip and place glue on each end of the strip. Place the strip near the bottom of the background paper as shown.
2. Cut the ribbon into three 3” lengths. Knot the center of each and trim the tails at an angle. Place a Glue Dot™ on each knot and attach one bow at each end of the vellum strip, covering any glue that may show through the vellum.
3. Mat your photo on green linen paper, leaving a 1/8” wide border. Glue the photo in the blue color blocked area as shown. Cut out the alphabet tile letters and numbers to spell a name and the date. Arrange and glue to the page as shown.
4. Cut out the “spring” definition and flower cut-out. Attach the flower cut-out to the page with foam tape and use a Glue Dot™ to secure the remaining knotted ribbon to the top of the flower cut-out as shown.

Family Page
Designer: LeNae Gerig

Click here for larger image.

LeNae’s Time-Saving Tip: Do you love the distressed, shabby chic look? Then you’ll really like this shortcut: ephemera patterned papers, printed with shaded and faux-aged edges. It gives you the shabby look without requiring you to ink, sand or distress the paper. Once I found this paper, I realized all I had to do was mat my photos and cut out a few embellishments, then add my journaling. It’s great—I get the style I want without all the work!

Supplies:

• Paper Pizazz® Busy Scrapper’s Solution for Ephemera Pages: notebook patterned paper, solid black and brown, “family” definition border, black word fragments, alphabet and number tiles, tag
• Cardmaker’s™ Classic Ribbons
• silver star brad
• black fine tip pen
• foam tape
• stapler and staples

Instructions:

1. Double-mat each photo with brown and black solid paper, leaving a 1/16” wide border on both. Arrange the photos as shown. Cut out the alphabet and number tiles for the year. Glue and foam tape every other tile, starting with the “t” attached on foam tape.
2. Cut out the “family” definition border and fragments. Arrange them on the page and secure with staples at each end as shown. Cut out the tag and journal with the black pen. Fold the ribbon in half and insert the star brad through the ribbon fold and the tag. Secure the brad at the back. Glue the tag to the page.

For more fast and fabulous layouts, check out LeNae’s book, 30-Minute Scrapbook Pages. And don’t forget to check out the Busy Scrapper’s Solution series—there’s a collection for almost every theme, from Wedding to Vacation. And of course, our Busy Scrapper’s Ephemera and 4-Seasons, the two collections LeNae used here.