FIGURE A

This 2-page spread includes great colors and captures the spirit of the day. Click picture for a larger image.

Before you cut, glue, or measure anything, you should have a clear vision of what you want to create. This is when it should all start coming together. Then you need to ask yourself some questions:

• Who is the viewer?
• Is it for your son or daughter with highlights of their childhood?
• Is it for your sister's wedding?
• Is it for public view?

Knowing your audience will shape the design and components of your scrapbook.

Does everything included in the layout contribute to a central theme? Your goal is to evoke feelings attached to the moment, accomplishment, or event you are recording. Ready-made scrapbook kits can be a big help in this area, especially for occasions like weddings, vacations, birthdays and holidays. Make sure you capture the feelings of the moment!

Is your layout a bit lackluster? In other words, is it boring? Make sure your heart is in your work. You want to grab the attention of your viewers. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine what would attract you. It could be the eye-catching photos with a complimentary color scheme or cool shapes, textures and interactive embellishments that draw someone to the page. Just make sure you have something to draw them in.

Creating your masterpiece
Lay your photos down nearby and imagine them in different sizes or trimmed in a certain way. You could surround a picture of a horse with a frame shaped as a barn or place it by a tree in a farm-like setting. Just imagine what you can do with your pictures. If you have a picture of a mountain range, cut along the mountain tops to create a surreal effect.

If you wanted something a little different, try cutting an entire person out of one photograph and add him into another. Don't limit your creativity, use your imagination.

Once you have your layout in mind, carefully crop and size the photographs using the all-important paper-trimmer to be precise. Many scrappers prefer templates for the perfect shape and size but ithat's just personal preference.

The color factor
What would life be without color? Dull. It's easy to see why color is such an important factor of your scrapbook. The right color scheme will attract viewers, so choose your colors thoughtfully.

You want the page to POP with color, not confuse or disorient the viewer. If you've ever seen red words on a blue background, you know what I'm talking about. Ouch. You want the viewer to look at the page and immediately feel what you're conveying.

If you are working around pictures from your Hawaiian vacation, you may want to focus on the colors of the sand, the deep blue ocean, and maybe even the colors on the cabana. Whatever the theme, make sure your colors are visually-appealing reminders of the subject.

My friend Nancy, who is a hopeless scrapping addict (and who has completed ten scrapbooks of her two kids and is still going strong) will almost always use the colors of her kids' clothing as the color palette.