With the holidays behind us, so are all the holiday baking and the holiday parties. Sprinkles strewn on cookies, confetti floating through the air as you celebrate the New Year…all that sprinkling and throwing reminded me of how scrappers sprinkle their layouts with fun little elements, just like the confetti strewn on the ground after a New Year’s Eve party.

One fun way to showcase your elements is by layering or clustering them in very specific spots; sometimes, though, placing flowers, bling, or other small elements on your layout in what appears to be a random pattern creates a more natural look. The layout’s resulting “je ne sais quois” feel is similar to what happens when you throw confetti or watch snow falling: you never know where it will land but it’s still beautiful to see. Unfortunately, digital scrappers can’t actually throw their elements, but through trial and error we can still obtain a beautifully random look.

Love You by Sara Frisch

Supplies: Paper, Elements: Little Princess packs by Project B Designs, Software: Photoshop CS3.

Design Notes: The actual petal element in the pack is a bunch of petals, so I used the marquee tool to copy/paste the ones I wanted onto their own layers. Then I could arrange them as I wished into little wisps across the page. It took me more time to “throw” these few petals onto the page than it normally takes me to complete a whole layout.

You Light Up My Life by Tricia Oren

Supplies: Kit: Some Summer Night, Template: Sketchology: Soundtrack of My Summer by Bella Gypsy, Fonts: Smiley Monster,Arial, Software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0.

Design Notes: You can break up the look of a solid paper and give the appearance of a textured or patterned paper by typing out a series of repeating words or lyrics and then using blending modes to create a unique overlay. Also, using sprinkles of glitter, confetti, etc. is a great way to make photos on opposite corners of your layout feel more connected.

Your first ever dance performance by Ella Russell

Supplies: Kit: 100% girl by Samceline (My Life and Scrap), Template: Extreme cluster template by Photo cowgirl (Gingerscraps), Font: CK Moms Print, Software: PSP x2.

Design Notes: My motto is you can never cluster too much!

Journaling: Your first ever dance performance and you were amazing, no fear and right on spot. I think we have a dancer in the family.