Fast Pages with Quick Quotes and Stuck?!

Hello and Welcome!

It's fun playing around with paper and embellishments, but sometimes you need to get pages DONE. Right now I've got dozens of summer photos I really want to scrap, but the holidays are upon us and it's snowing! So, it is time to get a bunch done and in the book.

Ideally, I want to get pages done quickly, but still have them look great and enjoy the process. Here is my step-by-step on how the achieve this feat creating this page:

First, I gather the basics - photos, a favorite paper collection, a few embellishments, and a sketch. One of the paper lines I like to work with is Quick Quotes pattern papers, because they are designed to enhance photos, not compete with them. It is a big time saver for me when I don't have to "fight" the paper. Today I will be using Quick Quotes Whistlin' Dixie line.

Also, by using a sketch, a lot of the design work is already done for you. It is just a matter of putting it together, another big time saver. Today I am using a Stuck?! sketch - there are many fabulous free designs available in the Stuck?! Sketches archives.

Next, use white (or kraft) paper as your 12x12 base. It looks good with almost all photos and pattern papers, and it is one less thing to think about. Then, create the "top" layer that holds your photos. This saves me time as now I only have one element, instead of several photos & papers, to handle. Plus, I can set it aside so I don't get goop on my pictures.

Design Tip:
  When photos are dark, mat them with a white boarder. It brightens them up and helps them stand out.

Add the pattern papers, following the sketch design. I chalked all of the paper's edges with QQ's Feather Gray Powder Puff Ink. I used Creative Embellishment's brick chipboard for the decorative edge to add some texture.

The title and journaling were created on Quick Quotes Whistlin' Dixie strips with hand written text, both big time savers. I ripped several edges, which adds texture. It also keeps you from having to worry about keeping everything square and straight - another big time saver if you're a perfectionist like me.

Design Tip:
  When using photo and papers with lots of different colors, incorporating striped pattern paper with those colors (as I did in the title area) ties everything together.

Design Tip:
  Large plain background areas can draw your eye away from the photos. In this case, I added gray background stamping to break up the white background.

I finished up the page with chipboard embellishments by Creative Embellishments including the column, leaves, apple & butterfly. Some were colored with QQ's Powder Puff Inks. For interest, DCWV cork and silver thread were added by the journaling.

Hope you find these ideas helpful for getting your pages done fun, fast and fabulously!

This page is entered in:

• The November 15th Challenge at Stuck?! Sketches

               

• The November Challenge at Creative Embellishments

               

• The "Trio-Tastic" Monday challenge at Simon Says Stamp - I used three photos

Thanks for stopping by and happy scrapping,
-june