Better the Second Time

When I am creating a scrapbook layout, I often get it almost to completion and then let it sit out overnight or until later that month day.  Then I come back to see how it strikes me.  Often it is then that I'll see something that doesn't quite work or I'll know exactly what to add to make the page complete.

It's not too often, but sometimes I will tear the whole thing apart and start over, especially if I had been struggling already with the design or color or photo placement and am still not happy on a second look.  My children sometimes laugh at me for this perfectionistic behaviour, but I figure I am going to look at it, so I gotta like it.  

I recently began a one-page layout of some pictures of my son on his 20th birthday.  I had a handful of photos of him with his cake and opening presents; they weren't great but they were what I had. 

  

There were a few other snapshots of the birthday boy with my husband and father-in-law.  I felt like I should include them because of the whole "three generations" thing.

So I fussed around and tried a layout that included all 5 pictures...  I cropped the photos, re-arranged them a bunch of times, found a sketch to follow, and chose some bright blue and bright green cardstock that I thought would work with the colors in the photos (since my husband was wearing a bright green shirt)...  but no matter what I couldn't make it work!  The photos and the colors were visually chaotic and I wasn't liking all photos anyway so I didn't feel happy when I looked at the page.

Let the thing sit out overnight, and the next day after fiddling with it a bit more and adding a title (that I really didn't like!) I summarily tore the whole thing apart and started over.  Once I did that I was free to

1. choose entirely different (and more earth-tone) cardstock colors that didn't compete with the already busy photos but created a neutral background for them,
2. decide not to include the "3 generations" photos that I didn't like
3. use a supremely simple but attractive design.

I wish I had a "before" picture to show you.  Well, actually I don't, because it wasn't any good.  Here's what I ended up with.  The important things are captured -- what my son looked like on his 20th birthday and my thoughts about him reaching this milestone.