MAKING A COHESIVE ALBUM THAT FLOWS

Sharing a walkthrough of my December Daily 2021 Album

There are so many options out there when it comes to all the designs, products and fun stuff you can use in scrapbooking. If you're anything like me, you'll love it all and be tempted to buy everything!! But let's be honest...can you (will you) actually use all of it? Probably not. I put together this post to share how I used a few repeating products + page designs to create a cohesive look to my 2021 December Daily album. ​

SO MANY IDEAS

As a guest instructor, was fortunate enough to have the products in the main kit this year, as well as the entire release digitally as these were featured as part of the Create with Canva class I taught at Ali Edwards Design Inc. This years release (2021) was jam packed with products and the ideas from the Prep Day & Product Play classes were fabulous! Honestly, I was a bit overwhelmed with the all the awesome page ideas from the talented designers. Since I got to play with so many of the designs teaching the foundations of Canva using the digitals, I knew I could recreate the pages easily. But for my own album I wasn't sure I wanted each page to have it's own look. I was learning towards creating pages that flowed together.

FOUNDATION PAGES

Traditionally I don't do foundation pages. If you're new to December Daily, the "foundation page" concept are pages that you create for your album in advance of December. Then during December, you only need to print your photos & add some journaling. For me, I most often use the photos I take as a jumping off point for my pages, so having a lot of pages prepped in advance, that I may (or most likely may not) use isn't something that fits the way I scrapbook. But I did really love this one by @freklepickle that plays with weaving ribbon and just had to give it a try. Totally took me back to paper weaving in grade school.

I knew that I could easily add a photo or even pattern paper to the back of the tag. When working on my album during December I ended up backing the woven ribbon tag with a photo of ornaments that I love to put on our tree. I added the curved arrows + journaling in Canva before printing out the photo. It worked out perfectly and is absolutely one of my favorite pages ever!!

MAKING IT FLOW

As I was putting my pages together I noticed that I kept reaching for, or gravitating to, a few specific items. Plastic Hearts + Canvas Word Strips + smaller embellishments like felt & glitter stars were really easy to work with. Also I love to use journal cards that have repeated titles or a constant feel & font to them. Using them throughout the album creates cohesiveness right off the bat. I also noticed I preferred using a smaller prints or pattern paper, picking ones that didn't have a lot of colors going on. I've grouped the photos below as examples of how these repeated elements helped create cohesion in my album.

1. Big Photos + Sentiments

Big photos that fill the page really make a statement. Adding word art to the photo makes the page fun! I finished these pages off by adding a transparent heart to make your eye travel the whole page. Black & white photos are always an option when the colors in the photo are challenging to work with or the lighting is just off. In the zoom photo the room lighting made the photo really yellow, by making it black & white you can't tell, and the colored hearts just pop on these pages.

Here's a couple more full page photos with just the hearts added which creates a clean & simple look with the full page photos.

2. Journaling Templates

I really liked a journal card in the In A Creative Bubble digital kit, so I set it up as a template to use as a place to hold longer stories. I thought of this as a place to check- in over the month and share an overview of what was going on. I ended up journaling three times, once at the beginning, once in the middle and again on Christmas Day. Since each card was created digitally it was so easy to change the color of the word art to blend with the photos on those pages. I added a simple sentiment on a canvas word strip at the bottom of each card. ​

Here's how these 4x8 templates look set up in Canva. I made a couple of modifications to the digital image; I covered the original title on the card with a rectangle, then recolored it white to match the base color of the card. Then I added with a handwritten title that represented the "facts & feelings" of what I was wanting to say. I recolored the title using the duo-tone feature in Canva. (select both color swatches to be the same color to get the solid color change)

3. Group Small Embellishments

I repeated the same page design using pattern paper & wooden house embellishments paired with a canvas word strip throughout the album. I think it creates a familiar place for you eye to stop and rest as you browse through the pages.

Even when the stories had nothing in common, by using the red felt stars with a glitter star brad in the center created a repeated element that tied my photos together.

4. No Photo Pages

When you're short on photos, but you want your pages to flow, I like to use an embellishment with a journal card or pattern paper that ties in the colors of the corresponding page. I tend to like the look of the smaller prints as they seem to provide a sense of calmness and again a place to rest.

5. Beginning & Ending

I began my album with a journal card I enlarged to 6x8 and added silver glitter stars for some sparkle. I didn't plan this initially, but when I realized my album would now be ending on New Years Eve, I again reached for the glitter stars. Laying them added some extra dimension and I really like how these pages act like bookends in my album.

I hope that I have inspired you with some ideas of how you can create a cohesive flow in your own albums. You can follow me on Instagram to see more pages in my 2021 December Daily album. Or here to see my gallery of albums.

​Got an album tip of your own? I invite you to share it in the comments.