Next Chapter Scrapbook Layout

With a new year just around the corner, I’m looking forward to the next chapter. For me, that refers to a new semester as well as a new calendar year, and so I’m documenting this moment with a photo of some of the books I’ll be teaching in my upcoming college classes. The papers I’m using are from a variety of collections, but mostly recent Simple Stories collections, especially Noteworthy and My Story.

I began the layout with 49 and Market Moonlit Garden, the B-side of Reflections Paper. I like the wallpaper-like background this provides for the photo and cut-apart cards I used from Simple Stories My Story Tags and Bookmark Elements paper. Because I do so much reading and writing, the sentiments on these tags perfectly captured the vibe of a cozy winter of doing what I love! “The Next Chapter” card functions as a title for the page, and I used a blank tag along the top for my journaling.

Embellishing this page was fun. I started with the Simple Stories Noteworthy sticker book. This gave me big numbers for 1.24. I used “return” as my period because after the winter break, I return to the classroom. I love the office supplies imagery in this collection, and for this project I chose the pencil, washi tape, reading glasses, and the rubber stamp stickers, using them in various places around my page. I also adhered the flower bouquet stickers in three areas to create one of several visual triangles. This also picked up the floral motif in my title block.

Vicki Bouton’s Discover + Create collection is full of wonderful images too, and I pulled in butterflies and colored pencils with the washi tape. For a playful touch, I clipped one of the acetate butterflies from the line above my journaling tag. 

Since the design of my page guides the eye in a diagonal from the lower left to the upper right, I reinforced that with a sprinkle of sequins (Tel Aviv from Catherine Pooler) along with some asterisks and older Simple Stories brads (Simple Vintage Berry Fields) from my stash. 

I hope this layout inspires your own stories of reading, journal-keeping, or hopes and dreams for the new year!

Jil Larson

Hello everyone, I’m Jil Larson. I’m excited to share my projects with you! I’ve been scrapbooking and art journaling for many years now. I first started memory keeping when my nieces (now in their 20s) were little girls and I was looking for a way to tell stories about them and the art they created. From there, my love for this wonderful hobby grew and developed. As a life-long diary and notebook lover, I’ve also recently been enjoying creative play in sketchbooks and journals.

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