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Layouts Without Pictures

Why your scrapbook needs these

It’s not as though you’re running out of pictures to scrap, or that you’re caught up. Why would anyone want to do a layout without pictures in an album? Let me give you an example.

Details in life that can’t be captured in a photo

I contributed to a farewell scrapbook for a fellow Navy playgroup mom. There was so much more to our relationship as a playgroup than what can appear in photos. So I made a couple of pages about things we’d do as a group. Home parties, for example. We had a million of them. I wrote tongue-in-cheek accounts of the “Dos and Don’ts of Home Parties.” An entire two-page spread filled with language and inside jokes that would now never be forgotten.

Personalization and help with journaling

If your handwriting is a necessity for personalizing your scrapbook, your writing is even more. And no task will help you with your journaling more—and get you fired up about what to say. One layout will fill you with ideas for many more!

If it isn’t written down, will you remember?

Who bothers reading the journaling in your scrapbooks? Many people just admire your photos. But if you don’t write down your thoughts, no one else will. And when you’re gone, your thoughts are gone, too, and there is a wealth of knowledge the future generation won’t understand. If you don’t do these pages, you’ll disappoint that one great-great grandchild who wants to know about life in your time.

Page Ideas

Life Stories

Writing down stories of your child’s birth, your first kiss or date, or details of your wedding day are obvious layouts without pictures waiting to happen. But don’t forget to include more off-the-wall stories: funny stories about family members, mysteries in your town, troubling times you’ve gone through, secrets you’ve never told… Even writing about your dreams, wishes and regrets will be a treasure for future generations. You can generate these life stories from items from your list layouts, too!

Lists

A great place to start, list layouts are fun to do and easy to read. Some ideas: your top 50 favorite things (or things you hate), words you like to use, items you couldn’t live without, current and popular phrases used today, quotes or sayings, favorite foods, songs, artists, subjects, games, etc. These are useful in children’s scrapbooks, too: Kate’s top phrases in 2003, favorite games, worst mischief, and so on. When you’re doing single word lists, use a large number, like 50 or 100, so you can include wacky or silly items.

Life Chronicle—your daily schedule

Another type of list is chronicling your daily life in a schedule format. Include when you get up, do errands, work, and so forth. You can do this for a week or a day. You’ll be amazed to look back yourself and see how you spend your time. Do this every year for future comparison.

Persuasive Arguments

Writing a persuasive argument—on any topic from a list or schedule—is a wonderful way to add some of you to your scrapbook. Substantiate your view on a current political topic. Look at your daily schedule, and write about how your schedule is helping you work toward a dream or goal.

Getting Started

Defining a topic

Your first layout without photos will be the hardest. Choose a topic that comes easily or naturally to you. If you’re having a hard time, start with a brainstorming session and work this into a layout. I’d recommend your top 50 list of things you love, or your current daily (or weekly) schedule.

Rewriting

Don’t be afraid of doing several drafts. Even if you love your handwriting work through your writing on a word processor. You may need multiple drafts when working with larger essays. Here are a few pointers when choosing a lengthy topic.

1. Start with an outline. Determine each point you want to make before you write. Suppose you want to talk about your decision to stay at home with your kids. This is the topic, now determine each reason, or each pro and con. Each reason gets its own paragraph. This will make your writing flow more smoothly.
2. Fill out each point in a rough draft form. Don’t be afraid of bad grammar or spelling mistakes. Write from your heart and train of thought. You will edit and correct later.
3. Leave the writing for 24 hours. This is actually an important step. This will help you be objective when you approach the correcting process.
4. Your goal is to make everything as succinct and specific as possible. This may take practice, but well worth the effort. You may start out with the following sentence:

One of the things I found myself having a hard time with during the first year of staying at home with David was that it was surprising how hard it was to see to it that the household chores got finished.

What is the main point of the sentence? It was hard to stay home and get the chores done at the same time. Now, using editing tricks, such as avoiding the passive voice, using subjects and verbs in short sentences, eliminating every unnecessary “that” and skipping redundancy, you might get this:

My first year at home with David was hard: I couldn’t do all the housework I intended to do.

This sentence is more readable, shorter and more precise. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to make your text as succinct as possible.

Choosing a layout theme

One of the wonderful things about layouts without pictures is that you can choose any colors and theme you want for your pages. Of course, the basics of layout design still apply here: large or dark (“heavy”) items towards the bottom and outside of the page; coordinating colors; overall balance. You’ll want to keep your layouts accessible and fun to read. Gather all your themed items together when planning your layout. You’ll want to be sure to keep these items in mind before printing out your writing. I vary the fonts and width of columns on list layouts, but make things uniform with the stories or schedules that need to flow more smoothly.

Putting it all together

Now you’ve got everything you need. Arrange the text boxes, title and embellishments on the page, and you’ve got your first layout without pictures! Once you see how much of you shines through, you’ll be amazed you could ever do a scrapbook with at least a few of these.