Repetition is your friend.

Truly it is! I bet you even use it in your daily life, not just on scrapbook pages!

Repetition is the re-occurance of similar colors or shapes or textures in design. It is found in home decorating, fashion, and yes, even scrapbooking.

Why does it work? Because it tells your brain that at least part of the whole layout was planned, not just thrown together haphazardly. It creates a unified feel to your page, where the parts are related to each other, and not individually shouting “look at me!”

Let’s look at some examples of repetition:

Here, not only are we repeating the squares, but also colors, in the blue, orange, and white, and shapes, with the flowers and leaves. There’s also a bit of repeated bling in the flower centers.

This page repeats colors (inspired by the flower print) and embellishments within each of the embellishment clusters.

Here, color is the primary repetition, as well as shape, although the shape is rather subtle. Do you see the stars? They help draw attention to the action/people who tie the page theme together.

Why don’t you give repetition a spin? It really does make for a better scrapbook page!