31 Pages in 31 Days: 8/24/13 + tips for single photos

You know those pesky occasions when you only took ONE photo and then got so busy or distracted that you forgot to snap any more? Or the even peskier occasions when only ONE photo actually turned out of the ten or more you took in anticipation of scrapbooking the event? Yeah, this is the layout for THAT occasion!

You may be thinking, single-photo layouts are easy, though! I normally have to cram so many pictures on a spread, single photos feel like cheating! Yeah, but this is for the occasions when you are limited to a single photo not by choice, because you have a really cute photo to work with, but out of necessity, because you need to commemorate an occasion and you have one, not-so-hot picture to do it with! This single page layout makes the most of what you DO have to work with!

Here's some tips for times like these:

• use neutral, quiet background color to help your single photo stand out.
• narrow the eye's focus by adding a bright or busy pattern in the center with a wide border of the neutral around it (my chevron printed 100% cotton fabric, in this instance, torn to about 8.5 inches square).
• if your photo is vertically-oriented, shorten the visual height of the page even more with two long horizontal elements (my one-inch Pool Party cardstock strips, shown here). 
• instead of placing the single photo dead center, as many might, visually enlarge it by making one large, two-part photo frame, with embellishments and headline on one half and the photo on the other. I used a great birthday card that my friend Diane Vander Galien sent me as my photo frame on this page.
• clustering embellishments rather than spreading them out over the page will help draw the focus to the center and the photo.

So there you are--a single, ho-hum photo turned into a beautiful layout that subtly accents it rather than overwhelms it on a subconscious level. Oh, there's so much more I want to share with you! The 31 days has gone by so fast! One week left in our scrapbooking immersion series. How many pages have YOU gotten done? 

Comments

[Pam P]

Great layout! Thanks for the single photo tips!

[Kristine John]

I hadn't thought of using pieces of fabric as elements on a scrapbook page. What a fun idea! Thanks.

[Debbie Flattum]

Great tips. Lyssa! Many times, I only get one shot at an event. Just get side-tracked and forget. Thanks for the great layout!

[Kathy Neverman]

I also forget to take multiple photos sometimes. My problem then becomes, how can I make it into a two page spread? I can't stand having one page spreads in my scrapbook. It's to distracting for me to having unmatched pages facing each other. I will end up adding some really creative journaling about the one photo, adding brochures etc. about the event. It does work, but as you can imagine it is also hard work to make it into a two page spread.

[Jenny]

Wow...thanks for the awesome tips! seems I end up with a lot of situations like that, just one photo. these ideas will definitely help make the one photo layout look great!

Jenny