Is It Finished?

Combining basic scrapbook elements should produce the ‘ding' of a finished layout, but how can you know when it's done? The recipe for chocolate chip cookies basically includes sugars, butter, eggs, flour, vanilla and chocolate chips. Ten minutes in the oven and the ‘ding' of the timer lets you know the cookies are done.

Just as the cookies are made with some necessary ingredients there are also some essential components for your scrapbook layout recipe.

• Photos
• Title
• Journaling
• Embellishments

The simple or classic layout recipe might be finished in a shorter period of time while the recipe for a collage layout would possibly take longer to ‘cook.' Just as the addition of nuts or butterscotch chips and oatmeal would add to the baker's enjoyment of the cookies, so too, the addition of other products and papers adds to the scrapbooker's delight when finishing a layout entree.

Scrapbook chefs should ask themselves a few questions before bringing their masterpieces to the table.

• Did I choose photos that engage my viewer?
• Does my title tell at a glance the overall flavor of my message?
• Have I told my story in a way that stirs my reader?
• Do the embellishments add to the meaning of the whole layout?

If you have followed the recipe for a basic layout and answered yes to these questions, you can assume that your layout has produced the awaited ‘ding' of completion. It is finished, at least until you look at it months later and resist the temptation to tinker with it once again.

It is good to remember that fellow ‘scrapcooks' often include items on their pages that yield a finished product according to their own personal tastes. After all, some of us like walnuts in our chocolate chip cookies, some of us like pecans, and some of us just eat them plain.

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