99 scrapping ideas

by Rachel Myerson (Jan 4, 2008)

Are you in a rut and looking for something to get you motivated or are you just looking for some new ideas to try? Here are 99 ideas to help you get going:

Create a layout using the color scheme of light blue, brown, and cream.
Draw a large flourish on the back of your layout. Use a needle to punch evenly spaced holes along the flourish. Use a needle and thread to sew along the holes.
Make your own patterned paper using stamps and two shades of ink. Use a bigger background stamp with the lighter color and use smaller stamps with the darker shade.
Outline your title with a glue pen and sprinkle glitter over it.
 Scraplift the layout shown to the right.

Make a patchwork of little squares on your layout.
Use this phrase for your title: "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...".
Take a picture of the inside of your car and make a layout about it.
Make a layout using different shades of red.
Make a layout using this sketch.

Make a layout about shoes.
Make a layout about your favorite recipe. Have someone take a photo of you making it and include that as well as a copy of the recipe on the layout.
Don't like to cook? Make a layout about your favorite restaurant. Include a photo of yourself eating there. Try to get a copy of the menu from the Internet and use that as well.
Find a blueprint of your house. Copy it and put it onto a sheet of cardstock. Put a photo of each room onto its section of the blueprint.
Tell your favorite story on a layout with at least three paragraphs of journaling.

Take your favorite holiday card that you received this year and copy its design onto a layout.
Make four 6" x 6" mini-layouts and combine them into a larger 12" x 12" layout.
Doodle or hand journal on your layout with five different colors of pens.
Use the color scheme of red, orange, and pink.
Use fall colors to make a layout about snow.

Use the title from a Barry Manilow song as the title of your layout. Here are a few:
Weekend in New England
It's a Miracle
Could It Be Magic?
This One's for You

Tryin' to get the Feeling again
Looks Like We Made It
Can't Smile Without You
Even Now
Somewhere in the Night

I Made It through the Rain
Ready to Take a Chance Again
If you haven't already done it, make a layout about September 11, 2001 or another tragedy in recent history.
Make a layout about a grandparent or great grandparent who is deceased. Journal your favorite memory about that person.
Have someone else do the journaling on your layout in their own handwriting. I suggest that you cut a piece of cardstock for them and hand them the correct pen. Let him or her know that mistakes are okay and that he or she can write on the back if he or she messes up.

Make a list of 25 of something and use it as the journaling on your layout.
There are 26 letters in the alphabet. Make layout that uses a word that starts with every letter.
Do a layout about something really yucky, like when your kids got head lice or pooped on the floor.
 Punch squares in a piece of paper. Use it as a template to put paint squares on your layout.
Chose a spot you like and take four photos of it during the four seasons of the year. Use them all on one layout.

If you're too impatient to wait a year, take photos of the same spot at four different times of the day and use those in a layout.
Use a phrase from "The Wizard of Oz" on your layout. Here are some:
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!
Follow the Yellow Brick Road

We're Off to See the Wizard
There's No Place Like Home
Use an octagon on your layout. (That's a shape with eight sides, like a Stop sign).
Find the first layout you ever made and copy an element of it.
Open a magazine and find an ad you like. Use it as a layout inspiration.

Make a layout using this sketch.
Scraplift Sheredian.
Turn on the radio. Use the title of the first song you hear somewhere on your layout.
Draw waves on a piece of white cardstock. Fill them in with water colors. Make a layout on top of it.
Go into your closet and find a piece of clothing that you really like. Use it as inspiration for a layout.

Feeling cold? Make a summer layout in the middle of winter. Use the color scheme of turquoise and orange.
Take some close-up photos of flowers. Use them on a layout.
If you could take a vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go? Find some photos of that place on the Internet and make a layout about it.
Make a layout using only cardstock (no patterned paper). Stamp the title and handwrite the journaling.
Make a ribbon tree. Run a ribbon vertically the length of your layout. Tie pieces of other ribbons onto it.

What is your earliest memory? Make a layout about it.
Do you have any allergies or know someone with allergies? Make a layout about someone's allergies. Don't forget to include a photo of the allergic item.
Use a sepia-toned photo on a layout. Mat it with cream cardstock and ink the edges with brown. Make a layout using this sketch.
Use the color scheme of black, white, and purple on a layout. Use black-and-white photos so the purple is emphasized.

There are 50 states in the USA. Make layout about the ones you've visited or would like to visit. Scan in a map of the country and use it as the background.
If you're not an American and don't want to scrap about states, use a map of your own country and scrap about which parts you would like to visit.
Does the term "some assembly required" cause panic in your household or cause fight over whose turn it is to put something together? Make a layout about someone in your household assembling something.
 This is the basic design of an iPOD: Use it a sketch for a layout about music.

Use stamps to make vines for flowers. Use this layout as inspiration.
Use a big circle in the middle of your layout. Put several photos into the circle.

Find an old broken necklace and use the beads as embellishments.
Find a layout you really like, turn it upside down, and copy it.
Do you have lots of alphabet stickers without enough letters left to make a word? Combine letters from all different leftover alphabet stickers to make your title.

Crop several photos to 2" wide and 6" tall. Put them next to each other in a layout.
Create a layout using the color scheme of mint green and fuchsia.
Use pieces of fabric on a layout.
Doing a layout about an event with many people? Use a shape punch to punch out the face of each person who attended. Use the face punches as a border for your layout.
Do a layout about politics. Journal about your view on the current leaders.

Go to a home design store that sells tiles and find an arrangement of tiles you really like. Using pieces of cardstock, recreate the tile arrangement on a layout.
Make a round layout.
Triple mat your photos.
Make a layout using this sketch.
Use lots of buttons to make a line all the way across your layout. Choose the buttons quickly to give a random look.

Take a picture of a sunrise or sunset. Arrange papers on the background of your layout to imitate the colors in the photo.
If you normally scrap sitting down, then make an entire layout standing. If you normally scrap standing, then make an entire layout sitting down.
Stamp something with black ink, color it in, and cut it out. Use it as an embellishment.
Go to your favorite coffee shop chain. Look around the store and find something to inspire a layout. Sketch it while enjoying a warm beverage.
Do you make layouts about your garden? Save some seeds and attach the actual seeds to your layout. Coat them with some type of adhesive if you're worried about them lasting.

Use the title of a Beach Boys song as a title for a layout. Here are a few:
Be True to Your School
Fun, Fun, Fun
I Get Around
Good Vibrations
Wouldn't It Be Nice

Come Go with Me
California Dreamin'
Piece together a representation of your national flag and use it as a background for a layout about your country.
Use the color scheme of red, black, and tan on a layout.
Make a layout about your mother. Journal about the most important lesson you learned from her.
Make a layout about your father. Journal about the most important lesson you learned from him.
Take three coordinated patterned papers and cut them into the following sizes: 2"x 10", 3"x 3", and 5" x 6". Arrange them onto a piece of cardstock. Add two photos, hand journaling, and a title made from chipboard letters. Embellish with a 12" piece of ribbon.
Use the computer to journal on a piece of vellum. Attach it to your layout using eyelets.
Create a layout using only cardstock and photos. Hand-cut the title from cardstock.
Next time you go to an art museum, buy some postcards of modern art. Use them as inspiration for layouts.

Use a quote from Shakespeare on a layout.
Make a layout from this sketch.
Use hexagons on a layout.
Scraplift a layout from Andrea Steed. Use multiple photos.
Make a layout from this card sketch. Put photos in the little squares.

Use eight different patterned papers on a layout. Use eight different embellishments.
Make a rainbow layout. Use an embellishment in each color of the rainbow. Pair them with matching papers.
Make a layout about a man or boy using pink and flowers.
Make a layout about a girl or woman using brown and trucks.
Take a picture of someone with food on their face or stuck between their teeth. Use it in a layout.

Take a picture of someone. Use photo editing software to make their skin green. Use it on a layout with the title, "It isn't easy being green."
Do a layout about the environment. Recycle any scraps of paper that you don't use.
Print one of your favorite photos as large as you can. Use it on a layout with very little else. Put the title on an empty spot on the photo.
Do a speed color-blocking layout, using this article for guidance.
Use dental floss on a layout.

Divide a 12" x 12" piece page into nine square sections (4" x 4" each or slightly less if you want borders). Use one section for the title and another for journaling. Put photos in four of the sections. Fill the other three sections with patterned paper and embellishments.
Scraplift a magazine ad.
Use the number 99 on a layout.