Scrapbooking Ideas for Revealing Setting with Color, Shape and Texture

For some photos and scrapbook page stories the setting is a crucial part of the story. Color shape and texture are all tools you can use to evoke a sense of setting or place. See how the Get It Scrapped Creative Team puts these design element to work in service of setting.

And remember: the basic building blocks of written story–character, plot, and setting–can all be incorporated into scrapbook page storytelling.

 

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Betsy Sammarco says, “My niece learned that if you hum to a snail, it will emerge from its shell.  I photographed her humming to a snail one summer day at the beach. The photos in this layout are all close-up shots of my niece.  The background of the beach gets lost.  Adding beachy color and texture helps to fully illustrate where this event took place.”

“For color, I used natural tans, whites, and weathered grey.  I added texture to both the cardstock and metal embellishments with an embossing powder that has an unusual resemblance to sand. I also used clear embellishments that resemble beach pebbles.”

 

 

Christy Strickler says, “We attended an event in Celebration, Florida which simulated the falling of the leaves up north by dropping tissue paper and confetti leaves from the tall buildings on main street. This photo was the best of the bunch as it was very crowded and hard to capture the falling paper leaves in the darkness. I needed to use scrapbook supplies to reveal the setting because there is nothing within the photo to suggest that this is an autumn story.”

“I cut a circle from paper which had bursts of fall colored dots, then stamped a tree in the center of one of those bursts. I placed this slightly above the photo and over a place in the base patterned paper has a bit of white with yellow ink splatters. I felt this suggested leaves being blown gently off the trees.”

“I added a diagonal flow of leaf die cuts to simulate the leaves floating down to us. I chose a blue patterned paper for the background to represent that the event occurred at night. Muted colors of orange and yellow support the time of the event and suggest fall. I often associate burlap with fall decor. I paired the burlap ribbon with acorns and a pumpkin to further hint at the season. The burlap has soft brown velvet dots, which paired with the wood grain, hint at the desire for cozy sweater weather.”

 

Deborah Wagner says, “This is my son’s first Halloween. As you can see, he enjoyed every little second of the holiday. I used a digital coloring technique to help create a feeling of child-like delight. Textures were added to give depth, interest, and a bit of dark scariness. The composition, colors, and techniques used invoke the playfulness, and spookiness of my son’s favorite holiday.”

 

Kelly Sroka says, “This layout documents a trip my husband, son, and I took to Hanging Rock, a local park with lots of hiking trails. The park is lovely in the summer with its verdant trees and gorgeous flowers. I used a mixture of dark floral papers with lighter patterns to represent the contrast between the sunny and shady areas on the trail. The patterned paper strips at the top of the page are cut diagonally to reflect the many steps we traveled up as we ascended to the top of the peak. I also used a woodgrain background paper and wood veneer shapes to give texture to this page that takes place in the woods.”

“Additionally, I placed the photo of my husband and son below the photo at the top of the peak to show how we had to climb up to reach the beautiful view in the top picture. Using these various colors, shapes, textures, and photo placement gives a natural, organic feel to the page similar to the setting itself.”

 

Karen Poirier-Brode says, “This page is about my visit to the historic windmills of The Netherlands this summer.”

“I the colors and shape of a delft tile for the background. There’s a postcard shaped like a tulip, another strong association with Holland. Kinderdijk means The Children’s Dikes so I incorporated the other primary colors of yellow and red to elicit the emotions of childhood that this color scheme often brings. The pinwheel shapes echo the sails of a windmill and adding the tiny yellow house shapes reinforces this idea. The color and shapes are familiar to most as iconic of Holland. The photo, my choice of postcard and the name of the setting were all clues to the final touches to the layout.”

 

Jana Oliveira says, “This was a page documenting the boys in my life on the occassion of our last trip to New York together before our move. Because it was New York, a city full of shapes, and because it was a boy page, I used shapes to reflect my feelings.”

“I used shape masks and graphic brushes with shapes and poly texture and magic lights to add light in a graphic way.  Using different elements but on the same theme emphasizes the graphic and masculine feel of the page, as well as a sense of an urban city.”

 

Sian Fair says, “I scrapbooked a photo of my daughter standing beside the John Lennon Wall in Prague. It is a big tourist attraction and the graffiti is constantly being changed and added to by the visitors who come to see it.”

“I extended the idea of the painted wall and its decoration out onto my page, whilst at the same time adding more flowers to play up the pose of my ‘peacechild’ daughter and her flowered headband. I hoped that by repeating the shapes and patterns in the photo I could encourage my viewer to read my journaling and find out why they are such an important part of the page.”