June 4, 2008
Make a Transparent Scrapbook Layout
Welcome to Scraps of Mind. I'm delighted to see you. Why not check out the site, and if you like what you see, subscribe to my RSS feed and get daily updates delivered to you. If you're not sure what the RSS thing is, then check out this 'RSS made easy' post. Thanks for visiting and I look forward to seeing more of you.
Transparent scrapbook layouts have been a feature of the paper scrapbooking world for a year or so.
They’re a cool scrapbook idea. You make them by creating your scrapbook layout using a transparent plastic sheet as your background. Like the ones used for overhead projection slides.
And there are a few things you need to consider when you plan your layout design.
First you need to think about how it is going to look from the back. Remember with a transparent background, the back of all of your elements can be seen on the reverse.
One of the ways around this is to think about doing a reverse layout on the other side of the transparency. To make this successful, it’s probably a good idea to keep your layout design relatively simple with large shapes dominating, that are easy to work with when you design your reverse layout.
And make sure you exploit the transparent aspect by leaving plenty of space to see through.
Transparent layouts can look very cool and there’s a certain sense of satisfction in creating one, because they present challenges that are different from ‘normal’ scrapbook layouts.
But can digital scrapbookers create transparent layouts too?
Answer: Yes!!
The real value of the transparent technique is in it’s physical form, not it’s digital form.
It’s easy to just colour the background of your layout white and it looks like a transparent layout on the screen. But once you print it out, there’ll be nothing transparent about it.
The trick for digital scrapbookers is to save the layout file as a PNG rather than a JPEG. That way you can print it onto a transparent sheet and all the transparency will remain intact.
In fact you can even take it one step further and add a couple of ‘real’ elements to your printed digital transparent layout. Say a ribbon or a border of buttons. Brads are not so good as they look pretty ugly on the reverse side.
Once again digital and paper scrapbooking techniques come together to result in great scrapbooking.
I love Hybrid Scrapbooking.
And don’t forget, if you are interested in getting started in digital scrapbooking, there’s a bunch of information and videos to get you up and running over at Step by Step Digital Scrapbook – the site that’s especially for the beginner to digital scrapbooking.
Other Related Articles:
Hybrid Scrapbooking - the best of both worlds
Black and White Scrapbook Layouts
Stumble it!
6 Responses to “Make a Transparent Scrapbook Layout”
Great layout! Something about it really pops and I like the way the photo is the center of attraction!
Brooke - in Oregon’s last blog post..Crazy busy, but it’s all good
By Brooke - in Oregon on Jun 4, 2008
I made scrapbooks for each of my kids when they graduated from high school. I still have 3 more to make, and with your help, they’ll be a lot more fun than the last 4! Thanks
By Lori on Jun 4, 2008
What an interesting idea! Just this past weekend, I attended a two-day scrapbooking crop. I was the only digital girl there, as per usual. However, while there, I attended a class where we made a 12 x 12 acrylic page layout. I designed mine to hang on the wall. I have also seen some really neat acrylic albums but don’t know if I would have the patience to plan the layouts so that the album looks good overall! At least it’s good to know if I want to do a see-through type layout, I can!
By DreamScrapper on Jun 5, 2008
Hey Brooke, Lori and DreamScrapper. I’m glad I’ve sparked your imagination with this.
I agree Dreamscrapper that I also don’t think that i could do a full album in acrylic. Although I have to admire some of the ones that I’ve seen. I think it would require a lot of planning to make sure that you set up the pages so they wouldn’t detract from the pages sitting on top of them.
But an individual layout is fun to make and doesn’t come with all the planning required for a whole album.
By karooch on Jun 5, 2008
Lovely layout!
Corina’s last blog post..Crafts and joy
By Corina on Jun 8, 2008