Scrapbook Design Ideas for Two-Page Layouts with the Shelf Foundation

The “shelf” is a scrapbook design idea scrapbookers turn to again and again for making scrapbook pages, and we’ve shown you ideas for the shelf to make a one-page layout. Here, we’ve got scrapbooking ideas for using the “shelf” foundation on two-page layouts.

Using a horizontal “shelf” (of paper strips or ribbon or even a series of elements) provides a base to build up from and it simplifies the scrapbooking process because it gives you a starting place — and a direction.[hr]

Susanne Brauer says, “This two-page layout showcases lots of photos of my little boy in his first year.  I gathered up pictures with all kinds of happy facial expressions, and cropped them in close.”

“The shelf extends across two pages and connects them even though each has a different background. I made a substantial shelf substantial to support two rows of photos. This shelf has banners, hexagons and flags, all topped with scattered buttons The repetitions guide the eye across the entire length (and the two pages).”

[hr]Stefanie Semple says, “I  made this layout for my best friend. It shows her daughter’s birthday celebrations and her absolute fascination with her cake.”

“I used three strips of three different patterned papers to visually support my series of photos. I used different sized photos  to create a visual hierarchy  (in other words, to give some photos more importance than others).”

[hr]Brenda Becknell says, “These photos are of my youngest niece, who just turned twelve.”

“To make the shelf foundation, I fussy-cut strips from a ruler-motif patterned paper. I included the portion that said happy life, which I thought was a nice fit to a birthday celebration page.  I added a chipboard circle around the numbers 1 and 2 to show that this was my niece’s 12th birthday. To balance the chipboard circle and title on the left page, I added sticker banners and a sentiment sticker on the right. 

[hr]Heather Awsumb says, “This page documents the collection of t-shirts I’ve gathered through my participation in the Maseru Hash House Harriers.”

“When I use a shelf foundation I almost always place my title and a cluster on the shelf. For this page I made the the shelf simple because the photos and patterned paper had already introduced a lot of color and pattern.”

[hr]Marcia Fortunato says, “This layout shows a gallery of photos from my son’s Senior Night for the University of Minnesota men’s gymnastics team.”

“I wanted to include lots of photos and decided that multiple ‘shelves’ would give me homes for groups of photos. I showcased a picture of a collage my son received and a photo of him preparing to compete. I placed those larger photos on the left-most shelf, and then added two more shelves for smaller photos of his Sr. Night competition and his family, friends, and coach.”

“I had the basic layout complete but felt there was still something missing. In Scrapbook Coach #1 | Shelf, Debbie mentioned that photos needed something to ground them to the background. I accomplished this with bits of black-printed transparencies as embellishments.”

[hr]Andrea says, “This is a collection of my favorite photos from last spring”

“Using a 2 page format gave me plenty of room for all my photos.  The Scrapbook Coach class #1 On a Shelf helped me with composition. The shelf composition was used to not only support the upper photos but also to hang photos from it.”

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