Designer: Paris Dukes

Paris’ double-page spread is a great project for a heritage-themed class—especially one designed for busy scrappers, those just starting on a heritage album, or scrapbooking beginners.

Teaching Techniques:
While the layout is easy to create, you also have a variety of techniques to teach. Here are a few:

• Heritage album organization: Paris created a double-page spread to showcase two generations of the Smith family. The left-hand spread contains a photo of the Great-Grandparents, while the right page shows the Smith Grandparents. Subsequent pages could show family photos of her parents, then herself and her husband.

• Use fewer photos: Yes, it’s okay to place just one photo on a page—after all, heritage photographs deserve special attention and this is a great way to make sure they’re center stage.

• Patterned paper for heritage: A classic look is always appropriate, but don’t feel as though you’re limited to black and white cardstock for heritage photos. You can still use patterned papers and embellishments. One way to avoid a “busy” page is to simply place fewer photos on the background paper. And make sure you always mat your photos on a solid paper before placing them on a patterned background.

• Using a faux-texture paper as a solid. One scrapbooking guideline is to always mat photos onto a solid paper before placing it on a patterned background sheet. Here Paris used a mauve paper patterned with a very subtle smudge texture. It “reads” as a solid—if you squint when you look at the paper, it will look solid, yet the faux-texture adds a hint of subtle dimension.

• Handwritten titles: That’s not Paris’ real handwriting—even though she did write “Legacy of Love” on the vellum herself. Here’s how she did it: Computer-print journaling onto plain white paper. Place vellum on top of the printed journaling and trace with a black pen. Teachers: Print out “Legacy of Love” beforehand for each student to trace. You might also want to print out “Grandparents” and “Great Grandparents” for students to trace if they wish. Paris used the Carpenter font, but any script font will work.

• Using color-blocked backgrounds: The patterned background paper is color-blocked, providing placement guides for photos and journaling. You can use these as guides, as Paris did, or “interrupt” the blocks by placing photos to span across the lines. You could also take a craft knife and cut a slit along the ribbon printed on the paper, then slip a corner of the photo or journaling underneath.

• Making coordinating double-page spreads: Many scrappers make double-page spreads throughout their album—yet one trick can be coordinating the two pages. Paris used papers designed for double page spreads. She used the same kind of accents on each page: vellum, rose artwork, brads and the same font. She also created balance by placing the rose art rectangles on the outer edge of each large photo; also notice that one photo is in the upper right color-block while the other is in the lower left.

• Pockets: The little folded pocket on the bottom corner of the right-hand page is the perfect place to tuck additional journaling. Pockets are ideal for personal journaling or to hold memorabilia.

Supply Listing:
• Paper Pizazz® Busy Scrapper’s Solution for Heritage Pages: patterned color-blocked background papers, mauve texture paper, pink vellum, art accent cut-outs and alphabet tiles
• brass brads
• gold photo corners
• black pen
• Carpenter font

Instructions:
Place gold photo corners on both large photos. Mat each photo onto mauve texture paper. Glue each photo in the large block on each page as shown.

For the left-hand page: Cut a piece of vellum to fit in the color-blocked rectangle on the right side of the page. Trace “Legacy of Love” onto the vellum with black pen, careful not to smear the ink. Let dry, then add to the page with brads on each side. While it’s drying, students can cut out one of the rectangles of rose artwork from the cut-out sheet and add it to the left side of the photo, slightly overlapping.

For the right-hand page: Cut a piece of vellum to fit inside the color-blocked rectangle on the left side of the page. Cut out alphabet tiles for the title and glue to the vellum strip. Apply adhesive to the backside of the vellum only where the alphabet tiles will hide it. Glue to the page. Add a gold brad to each end of the vellum strip.

Cut out the floral envelope. Fold Flap C, Flap A and Flap B, then glue them together to secure. Add to the bottom left corner of the background paper, placing it in the color-blocked rectangle. Later you can write journaling to put inside the pocket—Paris used a piece of leftover vellum accented with a brad.

Teacher Option: Students can repeat the tracing technique at home to create the journaling on the top and bottom of each page in the spread, or you can provide them with generic journaling that says “Great-Grandparents” and “Grandparents” to trace if they wish.