How To Scrapbook a Single Photograph

When you only are using one photo on a scrapbook page you have the opportunity to make that photo extra large. The space on the page allows you to scrapbook with even an 8x10 inch photograph. This is the perfect way to scrapbook those school portraits. When you photo is large, you will want to keep the layout style clean and simple. Minimal embellishments will be needed and the paper colors and patterns are usually more subtle. For ideas for scrapbooking portraits be sure to read Scrapbooking with Professional Portraits. In the example shown here, I added a poem to the photo before I printed it which is also an opportunity that is available when you are using larger photographs. Learn to do that in the article Adding Text to Photos.

When you create a scrapbook page with just one photo, you can focus more on your journaling. Tell the story. Share the memories related to that photo. I am still in love with a mini scrapbook idea that I heard from Stacy Jullian where she sugguested creating a book of scrapbook pages that have one photo on each page and on every opposing page tell why you love that photo. When you sit down to share the memories that go with your single photo, just tell why you love it or why this is an important memory to you. Your words will fill the page and these memories will be most precious.

You may want to use this as an opportunity to try out a new journaling style for you. Select one of the Five Journaling Styles and fill your page with memories.

A single photo gives you plenty of room to play with extra large embellishments. Keep the embellishments from completely overwhelming the photo by making them clean and simple. One idea is to use simple, extra-large, paper piecings to fill the page. The layout shown here uses one of the Free Flower Patterns for Scrapbooking, but you can also find more ideas in the Gallery of Jumbo Paper Piecing Patterns.

Maybe you can't quite find the exact words that you want to go with your single photo. A poem or a quote can come to your rescue. On the scrapbook page shown here, I used a quote about imagination from Shel Siverstein. You can flip through the Poems and Quotes for Scrapbooking listing to find the topic that fits your photo and then choose the perfect quote for your page.

Don't be afraid of open space on your scrapbook pages with one photo. This space in grapic design terms is called "white space." In her article, Use More White Space, About.com Guide to Desk Top Design, Jacci Howard Bear, says, "White space provides visual breathing room for the eye. Add white space to make a page less cramped, confusing, or overwhelming."

When discussing Popular Digital Scrapbooking Styles, Sherrie Piegdon also refers to white space. “White space is the clean scrapper’s friend ... Clean style layouts are great if you like scrapping stunning photos and are worried about page elements overtaking and detracting from their beauty." The page shown here is from Sherrie's Dotty Blues free ptterned paper download article.

This sketch challenge gives you plenty of room to tell the story that goes along with the single photo. Pick a photograph that has a story to tell and tell the reader all about the day, event, or moment in time. This is also a great sketch to use to write a letter to your child or spouse telling them what makes them special in your eyes. Readers submitted pages that used this sketch and they are collected in a gallery to give you even more ideas for scrapbooking with a single photo.

Maybe you just want to save a single special photo in your scrapbook but you do not have a lot to say. This sketch can be used with or without the journaling strips on the left-hand side of the layout. To save the sketch to your computer, click on it to see the full-size image and then right click that image and select "save as."