Some tips for a scrapbook layout

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all having a great week. Here in Brazil it's a big holiday as of tomorrow, it's our Carnival. At my family we don't celebrate or go to parties as in some other cities - also because we live at the very South of Brazil, which has a big European influence and not so much Carnival celebrations :)
We take this holiday (5 days) to spend more time with family and friends and I use it to put my scrapbooking in time.
Today I would like to share with you some tips about how I create a layout and then define where to add my coloured stamp image.

* 1st: If I am using bright/strong colors, I prefer a white or cream background. This also looks great when we add black and white pictures as it gives a nice contrast to our page

* 2nd: Almost always I use a sketch from my archives or challenge blogs,magazines, or I draw my own - this is to make sure the page has a good design in terms of balance

3rd: I think I've mentioned it before here: volume. To me layouts need layers lol. Its ok if you don't like it, but this is how I create and add texture to my pages, so it depends on your style if you add bulk or not :)

4th: I choose the patterned paper and embellishments (or most of them) before and then I color my image. This way I make sure the colors match. The other option is doing the other way around: I colour the stamped image and then start choosing papers and embellishments that matches them

5th: To decide where I will add my stamped image, I first finish the layout and then look at it to find the spot that seems to me that will draw attention. I like to add it together with other embellishments creating a little "cluster" as I like to add volume to my pages.

I hope you enjoy these tips!

So here is the layout I have created with the gorgeous Posey stamp that can be found here.

And here a close up on my coloured image. (I used distress inks)

Wishing you all a great weekend!

xoxo
Fabi