How Do I Create a Beautiful Autumn Scrapbook Page?
How do you create a fall scrapbook page that captures the feeling of autumn, not just the obvious symbols of the season? Start with warm, earthy colors, add natural textures and layers, and mix in little details that help tell the story: leaves, florals, vintage papers, stitching, meaningful words, and bits of ephemera.
And don’t feel as though you need a pumpkin patch or a pile of leaves in every photo! Some of my favorite autumn pages are about perfectly ordinary days that just happen to take place during this wonderful time of year.
That was very much the idea behind my Artful Memories Autumn Collection. I wanted something that could capture the richness of fall while still leaving plenty of room for the photographs and stories that matter most.
Autumn Is More Than Orange Pumpkins
Now, I have nothing against a good pumpkin. I’m quite fond of them, actually. But when I think about autumn, what I really love is the combination of colors and textures.
There are the obvious oranges and golds, but also faded greens, deep reds, warm browns and creamy neutrals. Then there are dried flowers and branches, berries, old paper, leaves that are no longer quite perfect, and all those wonderful textures that seem to belong to this season.
That’s the feeling I wanted Artful Memories Autumn to have.
The main kit mixes vintage florals and botanical elements with frames, stitching, ribbons, tags, old book and dictionary pieces, stamps, leaves, berries and other little found treasures. The result can go decidedly autumnal when you want it to, but it doesn’t have to.
What’s Inside the Artful Memories Autumn Collection?
The complete collection includes four coordinating packs, and each gives you a slightly different way to approach your page.
The Artful Memories Autumn Kitis the heart of the collection, with 28 papers and 154 elements. You’ll find florals, leaves, berries, branches, frames, vintage ephemera, stitching, ribbons, tags, transfers, word strips and plenty of other pieces for building all those delicious layers.
The Leaf Print Stamps and Brushes are where you can loosen things up a bit. There are 22 different leaf prints, with ready-to-use colored PNG versions as well as a Photoshop and Photoshop Elements brush file. Stamp a few behind a photo, scatter them around an edge, or overlap a whole bunch of them to create your own background.
The Autumn Quotes give you 20 sayings ranging from thoughtful observations about changing seasons to pumpkin spice and sweater weather. Sometimes a few well-chosen words are all a page needs.
And the Vintage Journal Papers give you nine soft, open-book backgrounds with faded florals, botanical drawings and subtle aging. They’re especially nice when you want to start with journaling or create something that leans a little more toward art journaling.
Your Fall Story Doesn’t Have to Be a “Fall Story”
This may be my favorite thing about this collection.
Of course you can use it for pumpkin patches, colorful leaves, Thanksgiving gatherings, autumn walks and all the traditional fall photographs. But look at those colors and elements again and you’ll see plenty of possibilities for everyday memories, heritage photographs, family stories and even pages that aren’t particularly seasonal.
A vintage frame, an old postage stamp, a flower, a bit of lace and a weathered paper don’t know it’s October.
Sometimes the season simply becomes the atmosphere around the story rather than the story itself.
Pro Tip Try Starting With the Texture
We scrapbookers tend to start with a photo, and most of the time that makes perfect sense. But with this collection, try turning that around once in a while.
Start with one of the vintage journal papers. Add several leaf prints behind it in different colors and sizes. Layer on a torn paper, a bit of stitching and perhaps a botanical branch. Then bring in your photograph.
Or start with a quote that says something you want to remember and build outward from there.
Working in a different order can shake loose ideas you wouldn’t necessarily find if you always begin with the photograph and work your way out. And since we’re working digitally, nothing is glued down. Move it. Resize it. Recolor it. Delete it entirely and pretend it was never there. One of the great joys of digital scrapbooking!
See What Other Scrapbookers Created
One of the best ways to get ideas for using a collection is to see how someone else approached it. I love seeing the different directions scrapbookers take with the same papers and elements.
Some pages are full and layered. Others leave plenty of breathing room. Some lean into the rich fall colors, while others pull out the softer creams and neutrals.
Same collection. Completely different stories. Each image is linked so you can take a closer look. And you’ll find lot’s more examples in my Designer Gallery at Oscraps.
Looking for More Fall Scrapbooking Ideas?
If you’ve got autumn photos waiting for a page but aren’t quite sure what to do with them, I’ve put together 10 fall scrapbooking themes and ideas ranging from vibrant foliage and pumpkin patches to scenic drives, cozy corners and everyday seasonal treats.
Explore 10 Autumn Scrapbooking Ideas
You might find the idea that gets you digging through your photos and thinking, Oh! I could scrapbook that.
Make Some Autumn Memories
Autumn gives us so much wonderful material to work with: changing colors, beautiful textures, family traditions, ordinary afternoons and those little seasonal rituals that come around year after year.
But you don’t need the perfect fall photograph or a particularly important story to make a page. Pick a photo. Pick a paper. Add a few leaves or flowers and a bit of texture. Tell the story you want to remember. That’s more than enough.
Ready for Your Next Page?
Learning a new technique is the easy part — finding the spark to actually sit down and use it is another story. If you’ve been feeling stuck, Begin Anywhere is my free 7-day email series of creative prompts to help you get back to your pages, one small step at a time.
And if you’re ready to go a little deeper, visit Start Where You Are for practical guides to getting unstuck and making pages you love.
0 Comments