Ten Tips to Two Pagers!

Hi all! It's Nicole S here and this week Lorie and I are hijacking the SC blog. :) Lorie has some really cool stuff to share later in the week, but first I thought we'd talk two pagers.

Now wait.... don't go clicking away! Not yet. Hear me out... please!!! I thought this might be a fun topic and challenge since it seems like there has been some chatter about single vs. double page layouts on the boards lately. And while I'm NO expert...really!....I do occasionally scrap 2 page layouts. Especially for events/holidays/etc when I have more than just 2-4 photos to include. But it seems like many of us have a love-hate relationship with double paged spreads for some reason. Is it just too much space? The shape? The design? The number of photos? All of the above? :) Whatever it may be...I'm challenging you. But that's for tomorrow. Today, I thought I'd share some two pagers and do a little top 10 list thing of tips/tricks to making them work. Here goes....

Tip #1: Think of the two pages as ONE single design. Picture it as one large 24x12 canvas (or 17x11).

Tip #2: Shrink down the canvas if you need to. In other words...you don't need to use every inch of it! I love this page by Kelly Noel. See how she sort of has a page within the 2 pages by cropping in her canvas so to speak and leaving a large white border.

Tip #3: Let photos and papers overlap across the page break to unify the two pages. (Just be careful to not crop faces!!!) :)

Tip#4: Scale is important. Your canvas is larger, so your title, embellishments, etc should be a little larger or carry more "weight" too. You don't want a teeny title to get lost.

Tip #5: Use photo blocks if you feel like your photos are getting lost on the page. I love to do this on two pagers. You can even put the bulk of the photos on one side of the spread and leave the other side relatively open.

Tip #6: Repeat patterns, embellishments, etc through both sides of the layout to make them cohesive and draw the eye through the spread. I love how April did this with the numbers on each photo across the two pages.

Tip #7: If you are a 12x12 scrapper, but 24x12 scares the you know what out of you try something a little smaller. Like a double pager using 8.5x11 instead! Switch it up!

Tip#8: Make a clear focal point. Your eyes need a nice, comfy place to set on at first glance. Especially on a two pager! Then the other details can draw them through the design. Here I highlighted one photo to stand out from the rest.

Tip #9: When dealing with a bunch of photos for a two pager, consider cropping them all to the same size or even similar sizes (all 4inches wide for example). This makes it easy to put them in rows or columns or photo blocks.


Tip #10: Get creative and have fun! The larger canvas of a 2 pager gives you lots of options for unique and eyecatching designs and playful elements.


And that's it. Not too hard, right? I know I may not have you all convinced, but tomorrow I shall issue a challenge! Maybe the possibility of some Studio Calico cash will help motivate you! ;) Thanks for reading!