Scrapping "Less Than Perfect" Photos (Aug. 08)

by Anne Montgomery

As scrapbookers, we all have an overabundance of just about EVERYTHING...chipboard, rubons, buttons, flowers, and of course, pictures. And just like some of our chipboard shapes don't come out of the package perfectly, we have some "not-so-perfect" photos in our stashes. For every great picture, there are ten that are blurry, overexposed, cropped, have bad lighting, a busy background, a finger over the frame...you name the problem, I'll find you a picture for it! Since we find ways to use those slightly damaged pieces of chipboard, why not scrap those slightly flawed pictures? Check out the ways the design team made the most of their less than perfect photos in these great pages!

Maegan cropped out a busy background to highlight these adorable photos of her super hero and then stacked the resulting smaller photos on top of each other to keep them the focus of her page.	To see Maegan's layout with product listing click here
Amanda had an overexposed picture of her little guy and incorporated the photography flaw into her title and journaling. Since the picture was brighter, she used darker background papers for some contrast.	To see Amanda's layout with product listing click here
Chrys' photo was slightly blurred and a bit off center, so she used some cleverly placed journaling strips to cover up the background and draw more attention to Andrew and his trains.	To see Chrys' layout with product listing click here
It's all a matter of perspective with this unique photo of Shawna's dog. Shawna demonstrates that we don't always have to use the shots of our kids or pets looking at the camera straight on, sitting sweetly, and smiling...they're rarely like that in real life, so why not scrap the everyday shots as well?	To see Shawna's layout with product listing click here
My photos of Sam and Alex on pony rides are underexposed, making them dark and the colors are off. I put them on a white photo mat to help them "pop" off the page a bit and then highlighted them even further by doodling circles around each of their faces.	To see Anne's layout with product listing click here

We all have stacks of less than perfect photos, but rather than leave them stuck in a box, take some inspiration from the Booya's and scrap the good, the bad, and the ugly!