4x6, 5x7, 8x10 - For Beginner Scrappers, Size Matters!

Friends, I would argue (and I do argue, about almost everything) that the photo(s) is the most important aspect of a scrapbooking page. After all, without photos, scrapbooking probably wouldn't exist. In my very early scrapping days, I had a bunch of random 4x6 photographs. 4x6 is the standard printing size, but I quickly learned that using only 4x6 photos severely limits the creative aspect of each page. If you have a photo-printer, I suggest purchasing some photo paper that is 5x7 & 8x10. However if you are a budget-conscious scrapper, I highly suggest uploading your pictures to and printing from Snapfish. I find that Snapfish has ridiculously good printing prices and they mail the photos to you within a few days.


****Here's a warning: If you are using Picnik to edit photos (click here for an example of how beginner scrappers can edit photos), Picnik does not have the capability to pull photos from Snapfish.... super annoying. So it may take a little more leg work but it's pretty simple. Upload your pics to Picasa, use Picnik to pull Picasa photos and edit, then save them to your computer and upload them onto Snapfish. Select which photos you want to print from Snapfish, and then wait *patiently* for them to arrive. (May I suggest having photos for several upcoming scrapping pages printed at one time.... There's nothing worse than a scrapper on the loose with no photos!)


Here is an example of two pages I did where I only had 4x6 prints. You'll notice on the right side page that there's quite a bit of empty space, where a larger photo would have made the page more aesthetically pleasing. (For info on that cute ribbon border, please click here!)

So how do you choose which size photos you should order?

1. Decide which photo you want as your main focal point: this photo should be the largest. (If you are making a page with only one photo, then this step is the first and final! Easy, huh?)

2. Then choose a few photos you'd like as accents. With how inexpensive prints are, go a little crazy and print some that you might not be 100% sure you want to use. (We're not trying to "pre-plan" our layout prior to getting prints, and you'll want a good assortment.)

3. The accent photos should be smaller -- and remember from our lesson on Fiskars, you can always trim photos even further.

4. Where accent photos go and how many there should be will be discussed in a future post on layouts. (I'm hoping that I'm not putting the cart before the horse here... or does the cart go before the horse...?)

So what have we learned? Variety is key and size matters! Beginner scrapbookers will thrive on having many options from which to choose (there you go Mom, I didn't end my sentence with a prepositional phrase).


Beginner scrapbooking tip: Notice on the pages above that I used a cranberry colored paper and creme colored paper that both had a similar polka-dot pattern. Similar patterns on different color paper compliment each other well (for more beginner tips on coordinating patterned paper, click here). Also, notice that the polka-dots really make the falling snow stand out in the three adjacent pictures on the right side page.

P.S. Regarding those magenta leggings I'm sporting: no they aren't mine, no I didn't lose a bet, YES I did stop traffic. Now that's a double entendre if ever there was one.... Oooh, there's my French coming out again!