Grab a jacket

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover; unless, you want to use that cover to inspire your scrapbook page. Initially, book jackets served the purpose of containing the unbound pages of a book. As books became mass-produced and mechanical book-binding developed, authors and artists saw book jackets as an opportunity to hint about the subject and style of the story inside. Book jackets became advertising for the book. And now, our scrapbook pages are advertising for the stories we want to share.

Wanting to share her “ thriller” trip to Wisconsin’s Capitol, Vicky captured her memories on a scrapbook page. She was inspired by a book that gave her both a title and a color scheme for her page. She even printed her journaling on platinum vellum to imitate the reflection on the lake that is seen on the book’s cover.

Background pattern and texture can sometimes get overlooked on a scrapbook page when the photos and embellishments are so eye-catching. When Jill saw the call for layouts inspired by book covers, she went to her bookshelf and grabbed a vintage book. The texture of the book’s cover inspired her to use this deep gray woven pattern for the background; it adds a three-dimensional depth to the page that is difficult to ignore.

You might be surprised to read that Dora got her page design idea from the cover of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. If you looked at her page next to the book you would only see glimpses of similarity. The book provided her with a color scheme of bold yellow accented by green and turquoise, but it’s her creativity that turns the page into a memory keeper.

Whether it’s the photo, the topic, the title, or just the color scheme, book art is a very accessible way to be inspired when you need a jolt of creativity. What have you read lately that could inspire your next layout?

Capitol Reflections by Vicky Meier

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper, Paper: We R Memory Keepers , Alphas: Graphic 45, Creative Imaginations (Harry Potter). Tools: Fiskars Rotary Paper Trimmer, Other: Vellum (platinum), junk mail (Travel Wisconsin).

Design Notes: For this layout I cut apart a photo collage in order to arrange the different sized photos to best suit the design. Walgreens offers a free photo collage several times a year when picked up in the store, I always take advantage of this offer, it's a great way to print two or more pictures depending on the sizes you want, for free~! I also love repurposing junk mail, there are some great graphics that can be altered. The platinum vellum was run through the printer for the journaling. I used foam adhesive squares to pop up some of the pics to give them a little depth.

Journaling: This was my first time seeing the Capitol for the great state of Wisconsin in Madison. It was a beautiful sunshiny day with clear blue skies on a warm October Saturday, 2011. We were in town for Ryan and Brianna's wedding which wasn't until the afternoon so the morning was free to explore. Jim and I ate breakfast at an old theater turned restaurant then took a stroll around the Capitol grounds where there was an enormous Farmer's Market happening, you could buy any produce imaginable. The Capitol was open and we just walked right in, which I thought was very cool. It's a beautiful building full of architectural details and the artwork on the ceiling was gorgeous. This was a sight I’m glad I was able to see.

Love Birds by Jill Williams

Digital Supplies: Elegant Day by Kathy Winters, Software: Corel PSP X4, Font: Papyrus.

Design Notes: When I read about the Book Cover call, I grabbed a vintage book from my book shelf (Surprise Stories by Marjorie Hardy) for inspiration. The texture of the black background paper is much like the cover on the book, and the title dominated the cover - so I followed suit, making the title on my page large. The words "Ryan and Jessica" on my layout were placed just as the author information was printed on the book cover.

Journaling: Love Birds , Ryan and Jessica

2day by Dora Phillips

Supplies: Paper: Pink Paislee, Die Cuts: Pink Paislee, My Little Yellow Bicycle, Stickers: My Little Yellow Bicycle, October Afternoon, Button: BasicGrey, Alphabet, Badge: American Crafts, Markers: Copic, Template: Crafter's Workshop.

Design Notes: I wanted to mimic the cool pattern of the book cover (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Finding a paper in a bold yellow was easy enough. I used copic markers and a few doodling templates to add in turquoise and green images to blend in similar to the book jacket. Then I went for multi-line wording like the title.