Not every page you make has to be full of deep, meaningful journaling. In fact a great deal of it doesn’t need to be super-thoughtful. In order to tell a more complete story, you need a range of information. The basics are just as important as the in-depth storytelling you do on your pages.

Yesterday’s page, which fit the LOAD prompt to keep words to a minimum is a perfect case in point:

How much do you need to say about a mall Santa photo? Other than this was something we didn’t regularly do, there’s not much else that needs to be said. At least if you’re going to stay with the theme of the photo. If however, I’d decided to talk about where we were at that point of our lives, with a young baby, and a four-year-old, that would be a whole new story to tell.

But, yesterday I kept it simple. Our mall Santa photo has been scrapbooked. What’s the next story to tell?

Yesterday, I almost forgot to make a page for Layout a Day. Silly snowdays, throwing off the schedule!

At 9:15pm I remembered that I needed to make a page for the day. I had the page finished and added to Flickr by 10pm. Yep, you read that right. Under 45 minutes to create a page. You can do this!

I ignored the prompt for the day and began by looking through photos I had ready and waiting to be used. (I wanted to do a page about my grandmother’s house that would have fit the prompt, but I need to snag some photos from my mother to do that.)

After deciding on photos, my next step was to choose paper. I started going through some of my more recent acquisitions, and found a gorgeous argyle pattern three sheets from the top of the pile that would work great with the theme of the photos. (Socks!)

I knew I didn’t want to write a lot, since the photos were so self-explanatory, so I cut the paper down to 8 1/2 by 11. Then I searched my scrap bin for paper I could use to mat the photos so they wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the patterned paper. After matting the photos and adhering them to the patterned paper, I grabbed one of the alphabet sticker sets still sitting on my desk, and added a title, and outlined it with white pen to help the letters stand out more.

A quick browse through my embellishment stash yielded some surprisingly apt foot and heart eyelets and clips, and some label stickers made a quick spot for journaling. (I wrote my journaling, and then added the strips to the page, rather than the other way around.)

The longest part? The journaling, because my husband was trying to talk to me while I was writing, and I was trying to listen. And I wanted input into describing the bottom photo. That kid does love his socks.

Why did it take so little time to create this page? The main reason is because experience has given me the confidence to choose my supplies and design quickly. I can make pages that are more complex and artsy, but I don’t have to reinvent the scrapbook page every time I sit down to make a layout. Nor do I have to find the perfect paper or embellishment. If the supplies work, I’m good to go. No second guessing around here.

Making a scrapbook page is a very simple process. Photos, plus words, on paper. It really is that simple. You can do it! Just take one step at a time.

Yesterday’s prompt was all about titles — specifically what would be the title of your life story? Once again being beset by children and noise, I knew I wasn’t doing anything deep and meaningful, but I did have an unfinished page that needed a title.

Just so you know, this whole unfinished page thing is totally unlike me. I might not finish big projects, but single pages? Those are usually done within the hour. Unless I’m getting all messy. Then it takes longer. But I digress.

This page had a lovely photo and journaling, but no title and embellishments to tie it all together. So that’s what I did for  today’s layout.

A few Halloween stickers to emphasize the monster theme, a title, and little extra journaling under the photo, and the page was done.

I just love using up my stash! That is a goal this month: to use up a bunch of supplies, and only getting white or kraft cardstock or adhesive if I need it. This not adding to the craft stash is HARD!

How much do you have in the way of supplies? How long do you think you could go before you’d need to restock? I bet I could go a year with ease. Man that’s scary. I think it’s time to make a big dent in my stash, don’t you?

Yesterday I went off prompt. Between being busy and having kids home and in my hair, there was not going to be any deep and meaningful stories told. Instead I finished up a happy and fun page:

This page began with the idea of celebrating my friend, so I kept to birthday themed paper, and happy colors. No glitter, because she doesn’t like glitter at all, but a little shine seemed appropriate.

This was a quick page for me today, with the pre-made banners, and the super simple design.

What do you do to scrap faster? Do you feel you need to come up with ways to scrap faster, or do you want to take your time and linger over your pages?

Yesterday’s prompt was to use a book title as a starting point. Specifically, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

I was having a bit of trouble with coming up with a subject for the page, so went out and ran errands. While walking through a parking lot, this thought randomly appeared: Russell Wilson and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Call.

Yep. I definitely had a story to tell about that, being a Seattle Seahawks fan since the team was created in the 70s.

Rather than looking for football themed paper, I pulled out general papers in colors and patterns that reminded me of football, and the colors of the Seahawks uniforms. To make it more sports-y, I added a few stickers I’ve had since 2010, and stamped the title with a roller letter stamp. And yes, Russell Wilson’s name is misspelled in the photo. I didn’t catch that till I took the photo. I’ve since added an L.

What do you think of all these photo-less pages? Would you ever make a scrapbook page without photos?