Layout must haves and have nots

weaselwatchr

weaselwatchr

Active member
Is there a particular element that you always try to put on your layout if a kit contains it or something that you never use? I know a lot of you like to use flowers and foliage. Do you like to use staples or stitches? Journal cards? I always try to have a doily on my layouts. I don't know why but I like them. If I am not making a CT layout I try to pull one from a kit and use it on my page. I just like how they look layered under a photo.

I never ever use those double bows that are in kits a lot of the time. To be honest I can never get them to look right on my pages. If one is in a kit, but there is no bow, I will Frankenstein that double bow and erase one of the bows and ribbon between them and just use the single bow.

So tell me about your favorite elements/least favorite elements.
 
I cant think of anything I particularly avoid ... oh, well, I never use photo corners lol

Im one of those flowery and greenery people. I just love flowers. Also, there are not usually enough unique elements for cluster lovers to not use any of the flowers to fill it up.


ETA: I generally hate striped papers actually lol
 
I’ve been mixing different types of foliage and putting unique elements into my clusters in addition to my much loved florals. Those are my favorite things. And I love, love, love word strips! I like stitching and will occasionally use a staple if there’s one handy, but I prefer buttons. I love patterns and mixing them, but also love solids.

I’m not drawn to certain elements like tags, ricrak, metal pieces, but I will use them occasionally. I can’t think of anything I don’t like or avoid. I love it all, really. I’m a color person, so if I like the colors, I’ll enjoy using whatever is in the kit.
 
Butterflies are an important symbol for me, and they go on most of my layouts regardless of theme. I always have mixed media on my backgrounds. The only fasteners I tend to use are stitching & staples.

I can never get ribbons or strings or bows to look natural on my pages so I rarely use them.
 
I always have flowers/greenery even on my boy layouts. I also love word bits/word art.
Other than that I just what the kit has...I think it differs with each layout though.

Not sure if there is anything I avoid...buttons maybe but love to use flair and bottlecaps.. I try to use as much as possible
 
I love paints, splatters, scatters. string and thread and pretty much every page I make has those.

So many kits have ricrac and I don't think I have ever found a way to use it so that it looks good on my pages!
 
I use as much as I can LOL!!! I am a pile IT on thick with ALL the elements kinda girl!
 
I love to cluster so there aren't many things I don't use.

Mostly fasteners like clips, brads, photo corners. I'll use the ocassional stitches or buttons though.

Most of my layouts have to have a scatter or a butterfly. Besides the flowers and foliage for clustering.
 
I love stars, stitching, paint, striped or diagonal striped papers, papers with small scale patterns, solids, foliage, string, ribbon, and woods or metals. On some pages I love flowers and use a lot of them, and on other pages I use very few flowers and struggle to find alternatives. I also use a lot of actions to turn text or flat elements into wood, puffy stickers, enamel pins, and so on.

Things I hardly ever use? Alphabets, journal cards, and boldly patterned papers.
 
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My list of must-haves is pretty long...ribbon, flowers/greenery, butterflies, tags, paint, overlays, buttons, journal cards, sequins/sprinkles, stamps...I could go on and on LOL.

But...my list of must not have (generally but not always) includes swirls and bows.
 
I'm a sucker for paint, if there are paint splotches in a kit I always attempt to make them work on my layouts. Twine and Buttons are probably my most used elements. I love cards, but they don't always work for me.

I have never been a fan of life like elements.... so real or realistic flowers (not made of 'paper'), creatures (again, real, or fake... so I guess anything that's not a cartoon/sticker style), stationary, etc... I don't know why.... it's probably my poor shadowing skills.
 
I used to absolutely love frames and staples. I hardly use them now. I can do without flairs unless there aren't enough flowers in a kit for me to make good clusters. Also, it's rare that I use arrows.


I'm another flower and foliage fan, so kits with lots of those catch my eye. I don't really have any other "must haves."
 
for me it would be stitches (if they are in the kit) and paint....i usually also sneak in a button or two and all the rest like flowers, leaves, scatterz, butterflies....who am i kidding, i pretty much use everything that comes in a kit :)
 
Solid papers as a background... always.
On top of the solid papers, patterned paper and always a plaid. Sucker for plaid papers. Actually lots of papers. I mat photos with paper 9 times out of 10. I even use papers when making titles with fonts.
Usually end up with flowers/leaves. Trying to use more of the themed elements if the layout works for them.

Not on my layouts very often... washi tape, paint, doodles and scatters. If a template I'm using has washi tape, I just delete the layer. Dislike it immensely. Not fond of doodles either. I will use scatters maybe once in every 25 layouts. Same with paint. I just don't like the way they look when I use them.
 
I love flowers and foliage... especially if there's more than one kind of foliage. I like layering them up. Paint, scatters, curly string or bows, plaid & wood papers, small-scale patterned papers, butterflies....

I rarely use doodles (can never get them to look right) and straight ribbon/ricrac. I also have a harder time with big, bold patterns. I almost never use "characters" in my scrapping either.
 
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Flowers and foliage on most/all layouts! ( I scrap for hire and the last lady had 2 boys and didn't want any/many flowers. That was a challenge!)

I like to use string more than curly ribbon. Buttons I use for flower centers if they need one. I like to use word strips and/or word art (i stink at making titles).

I usually try to add at least 1 unique or themed element to my page. Sometimes it's more than 1, but at least 1 (even if it's just a butterfly or camera element).
 
I typically always use flowers and greenery, ribbons, and bows if they are included in a kit. I really like foliage with berries or just interesting branches to make the cluster more interesting. I like to use washi tape on my project life style layouts. I'm also a big fan of banners, buttons and tags. I also use lots of journal cards in my project life style layouts. I'm also a big fan of word art, but will use alphas if I need to. I like the stitching included in templates but never use the stitching included in kits. I like a variety of papers, but typically always use at least one solid and one patterned paper. I typically don't use the papers that have one big scene on it, and gravitate to stripes, plaid, polka dots, or floral.

I use frames some, but usually only rectangular or circular ones. I very rarely use staples, binder clips, or paper clips. I also don't use the ribbons with 2 bows either, or if I do, I will erase one of the bows. I have no idea what to do with bottle caps even though I think they are cute. I don't ever use doodles because I don't know how to make them fit in my layouts.
 
I love using flowers and lots of foliage and am always thrilled when several types of foliage come with a kit. I love themed elements and always try to incorporate as many as I can in a layout. Butterflies, dragonflies, bees too are a go to. Love paint and splatters, I find they look great under clusters and photos and I make my own if I don't find them in a kit. Word strips and title type words are also great and I use them often. Oh, and I like lace, doilies and ribbons. I'm not a huge fan of fat frames, I find they look awkward on my page and I'm not a huge fan of staples.

Oh and I love wispy type of sprigs, like berries and gypsophila or wheat or branches to add to clusters.
 
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I really dislike extracted flowers. I don't know how to shadow them.

I rarely use stitches and I don't know how to make buttons look good besides in the center of a flower.
 
tanyiadeskins said:
ETA: I generally hate striped papers actually lol
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oops!! I'm a sucker for stripe especially diagonal!!


weaselwatchr said:
So tell me about your favorite elements/least favorite elements.
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Favorite - outside of flowers, I usually try to use string or curly ribbons. I just feel they add depth to the page.

Least Favorite - I try to use them, but I just don't succeed with flair. A lot of them have wording/writing on them and I want that to show. So I struggle getting it to show in my clusters and what not. And it isn't like I hate them or anything, I just struggle making them not look forced.
 
I love flowers and foliage - really love at least 3 different types of foliage so I can layer them. I struggle using flowers in my clusters that look visually thick (like a rolled paper flower) because the layered shadows always look wrong to me.

I never use frames that are cut out of paper from the kit and rarely use really thick frames. I'd rather mat a photo or use a thinner/skinnier frame.

I do use staples, occasionally washi. I struggle with using buttons in a layout - primarily use basic ones for flower centers. I can never get binder clips to look quite right because the shadow always looks off to me so I don't typically use them.

I really love small print papers (polka dots, plaids, small florals, thinner stripes) because I love to paper piece on my layouts - can't do that well with big prints even when I shrink them. I like wood papers but I prefer that they not be the solids for the kit. I would rather have a small selection of wood colors and all the solids in the kit color palette (again because of piecing). I feel weird about paper piecing with wood papers (not sure why because many of you ladies make it look fabulous) - I only use them for backgrounds.
 
I'm a sucker for paint. The more the better.

I dislike flat ribbons, especially those that are long 11-12 in. I never know what to do with them. If they are not half hidden on one edge, I feel they cut the page in two.
 
scatter... man, if a kit has it, it will go on my page. I love paint splatters too - probably because it's like scatter, haha. Love buttons...

my least... hmm... feathers, butterflies, keys, photo turner, circle alphas or alphas with a pattern - always seems to complete with the papers I choose and gets lost.
 
I love paint/messy edges. I LOVE a tight, little plaid paper. Or a bunch of them! I like flairs, word strips, journal cards, staples and brads. I'm the odd duck that just doesn't get into flowers. I use them but if I was paper scrapping? Nope, never. I don't like them on my boy pages at all but they make it on there because I need something in those clusters. I just try to use as few as possible and find something else to stick on there. I prefer stars, gears, arrows, scatters. The one things I rarely use are alphas. I like the idea of them but they never seem to be in the right color or style for MY project. They go great with the kit, but I have a hard time making them work for the particular page I'm doing. I also rarely use thick, decorative frames. I like them IRL, but they don't look right to me on a page.
 
I'm a "kitchen sink" scrapper so I love ALL .THE. THINGS... but specifically would be a diagonal striped paper (that I can easily turn into a plaid! ;) ) as well as a good wood background. I also LOVE flowers & flair & word arts and... and... lmao!
 
me deleting all the tags, buttons, diagonal stripped papers, journal cards, bows, ricrac, butterflies from my kits...

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But, srsly now... I can't use flowers/foliages. I wish I could make those super gorgeous clusters you all do, but I can't. I never know where to put it, what to put on it... So, I usually hide a flower or something behind a photo or element and call it done. LOL

I loooooooooooooove tags. And paints (duh!). And labels. I think I could use them always - I probably do. lol Love stitches.

Another thing I wish I could do is use lots of patterns together, strips, circles, layering... But I usually use just one paper/page. It is sad since they are my favorite part of any kit.

And, girls, open your minds to ricrac! They are SO fun! Maybe I am too old, but I will never get tired of ricracs and acrylic alphas. I think we should get them back on trend. LOL
 
Rubia Padilha said:
But, srsly now... I can't use flowers/foliages. I wish I could make those super gorgeous clusters you all do, but I can't. I never know where to put it, what to put on it... So, I usually hide a flower or something behind a photo or element and call it done. LOL

I loooooooooooooove tags. And paints (duh!). And labels. I think I could use them always - I probably do. lol Love stitches.

Another thing I wish I could do is use lots of patterns together, strips, circles, layering... But I usually use just one paper/page. It is sad since they are my favorite part of any kit.

And, girls, open your minds to ricrac! They are SO fun! Maybe I am too old, but I will never get tired of ricracs and acrylic alphas. I think we should get them back on trend. LOL
Click to expand...

Ru, I agree ricrac is soooo much fun to use (but then again, I never met a ribbon I didn't like LOL). It's ok that you don't use much greenery/flowers...you fill up your pages with eclectic messes of everything else. I always love your pages. Of course, me too....love all the paints!
 
I love splatters and scatters. Love flowers and foliage. Love a nice ric rac, ribbon, and bow. Love tags and fasteners. My initial style was like my paper days, so I always looked for ways to adhere things to the page - buttons, clips, realistic stitching etc. I think that is why I won't use a button that has holes if it does not have thread or twine... what is the point? Sometimes I will add the stitches though if I'm desperate lol. I really appreciate when kits have enough floral etc to diversify the clustering and not just repeat the same 5 flowers.

I can do without flairs and bottle caps - unless there aren't enough flowers/other elements in a kit for me to make good clusters. I also don't typically use butterflies or real fresh flowers unless I don't have enough other things. I most often scrap with one kit at a time - just liking the cohesiveness and avoiding having to go find other things, so sometimes I make it work LOL
 
Reading everyone's responses I have to add that I do not really use frames on my photos, maybe just a white stroke around my photo.
 
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