These ideas are for scrapbook consultants to use at a class. They are duplicated in the subject files.
Here are some good examples of using black pages and mixing black and natural or black and white pages in the same layout: Racing Pages
Besides Heritage and Halloween - how about New Year's Eve, Prom, evening activities, Disneyland, 4th of July and fireworks, Christmas eve,
Chanukah candle lighting, romantic evenings, pictures that are very light and could get lost on a white page, sleepy-time child photos, a formal wedding.
The pages look wonderful with black and white side by side. I did two examples. One had a pumpkin die- cut on the white page with the fall leaves and Indian corn going down the side and bottom. Then on the opposite black page, I used the same idea with the fall leaves and Indian corn, and then used the yellow scarecrow die-cut on it. Makes them look like they go together!
On the other one, I used the Fourth of July theme. I used the white firecracker on the black page and a red fire cracker on the white page. Then I used the red white and blue design lines across the top and bottom of both the black and
white pages and it looked neat!
I did a page of my daughter - in her soon to be famous (in the world of drag racing) wagon her daddy built her - with dad pushing with the real car behind her. I used red ABC's Spelling "Future" on the top, "Champ" on the bottom. Then cropped the picture in a square, matted it on white - 1/2 in border all the way around, then on red, narrow. I outlined the ABC's in Silver. Silver on black makes the red and white in the picture stand out. (Tracey)
Here's a thought that I tried last night and it was spectacular! I copied the hearts page on #3 of the "Haven of Heartsä" Crop Talk on white paper then on the BLACK paper! (I eliminated the top right heart and the bottom left heart because they took up too much 'photo' room). I am going to display them side-by-side so my clients can see how eye-catching the black paper can be! (Sharon in MI)
To soften the look of empty space on the black pages make 'doodles' on the page. They look best if they are small and kind of regularly spaced - like small printed wallpaper. I saw the 3-dot pattern, tiny squares, snow flakes and lines
drawn using a short section of the wavy ruler.
The gold and silver pens take a few minutes to dry. When you make a boo-boo with the silver or gold pens on the black page (or when you smear them) use your black callipen to scribble over the mistake, and write it over again.
Use a silver or gold pen to trace around the black city landscape on the black page for a New Year's
page. Add stickers (gold or silver stars, streamers, confetti, etc.), die cut numbers, photos, etc.
On the facing page use a white page to show that they look good in the same album. Draw a thick black line down the
side of the page, and use the gold or silver pen and the wavy borderline on top of that line. Decorate down the side with the top hat, bow tie, and rose stickers.
I did a page from a handout called "CenterStage." It's similar to "Front and Center ä. I used a black page on one side with a white page on the other. I made rectangles out of paper and put those exactly in the middle of the two pages (up against the jeeping). Then, I put a title in the middle of the
rectangles, so that 1/2 the title was on the white and 1/2 was on the black. I decorated with some stickers.
Black pages - My favorite example is from CM Idea book 5, Christmas section. Page has poinsettias and ivy
borders. Use gold pen instead of black to draw in dots and stars. Makes you think of midnight candlelight service and you feel like humming "Silent Night". (Jean in TX)
Christmas pages: (using one black page inserted in album) I used the gold pen with a borderline ruler across the white sheet and onto the black sheet and then did silver the same way on the back of the black and onto the next white sheet. I used the jingle bell stickers on the silver border.
Visit to the fire station: I cut "flames" out of red, orange and yellow paper and journaled on the flames with a black pen. (Mary in SC)
Beach page: I used the turquoise beach landscape die cut from the Tropical pack.
Disney page: I did a page using a cutout of the Disney castle in white and sparkle star stickers for fireworks behind the castle. I made the fireworks trails with the silver pen. (Melissa in IL)
Do the page in Idea book 4 (page 4) with CELEBRATION spelled out on blocks down the left side of the page. It uses nautical blue, gold, green, and red paper, ABC stickers in the same colors, and confetti stickers from the introductory pack. It was AWESOME!(Jean in TX)
I did a 2-page spread with the same photos and same layout, once on white, once on black. Black pen on white pages, silver pen on black. White sticker letters on black, black on white. My layout was Texas wild flowers matted on bright paper. It's amazing how different the two layouts look. (Jean in TX)
I did a heritage spread; one page white and one page black, photos with light backgrounds on the dark page and photos with dark backgrounds on the white page. It really plays up the best in both sets of photos.(Jean in TX)
Did a 2 page spread of my grandmother and grandfather near the time of their wedding; Grandma in wedding gown on a scroll border page and grandpa in his WWII uniform on the facing black page. Journaled both pages in gold pen; no
other decoration. (Jean in TX)
The dusty rose paper looks great on the black pages. Also the rose with ribbon and heart and flowers stickers.
I did a 6 page pageant layout in a HS album. We wore bright colors and the theme/backdrops were bright, so I used bright paper to mat my pictures. Used Silver ABC Letters, silver pen to journal, and some Mrs. G stickers that included a scepter, tiara, and sparkily shoes. (LeCarla)
I've done pages of 3 different proms. I used bright colors. With 2 I used Gold or Silver letters (one prom was "Romance in the Tropics", so I used stickers and palm tree die-cuts from Tropical Pack. With the 3rd, I used multi-colored ABC stickers, like shown in March Scraps (Father/Daughter Dance). (LeCarla)
On a Graduation page I matted a cap and gown picture (5x7) with white paper, used deckle cutter to trim the edges, and Gold letters and numbers for School and Year, used a gold pen to journal. The pages are intermixed with white pages. (LeCarla)
I slipped a black page in my demo album just after my Scroll Border page, which has a photo of my MIL in her wedding gown, and her name in gold ABC stickers. On the black page, I put a photo of her as a bridesmaid at another wedding, and wrote up a fake wedding invitation using the gold pen. On the reverse, I had two of the same photos of my MIL as a bridesmaid at yet another wedding. I made the same page, showing how it looks on the black page and then the white
page next to it. I used Pale blue paper, Mrs. G Lace DL, White ABC stickers, wedding bell DC and heritage flower stickers. People really comment on the way it looks different. (Diana)
Pumpkin Patch: B & W pics from school trip to pumpkin patch. Used orange ABC stickers, matted pics in gold and green.
Pictures of my best friends new little girl, born on my DD's birthday. Front side, B & W pics from when she was born, matted in pink, used pink Stickers to spell babies name. Reverse side are color pics from that night taking DH and DD to see the baby. Double matted the "family" pic in pink and white to make it stand out, the rest with pink in various forms. (TraceyS)
A snow idea: make the border with thin DL or very thin strips of paper (lilac, purple or metallic silver or pastel) Mix
and match the colors of use all of one color. Use 2 strips on each side of the page with less than an inch between the 2 strips. The outside strip all around should be about 3/4 of an inch from the edge (just enough so you can put the word "winter" with the new white ABC stickers above the top one). The strips will cross each other in the corners - if you use more than one color you will need to decide how to interweave them. Use the diamond template and cut 2 white and 2 purple or lilac diamonds. Put one white one at the top left and one at the bottom right. The points should be overlapping
the border but the corner of the border should still show - in other words most of the diamond will be inside the borders. Next put the purple or lilac diamonds overlapping the white ones - however it looks good to you. On each purple diamond put a winter tree sticker.
Disney pages look incredible on black. Especially using the bright red and yellow sticker letters. To make a photo with a dark background stand out, mat the photo in white. Also, very dark backgrounds can look beautiful on the black pages if there are bright colors in the photos. Pastels look awesome on the black pages. I did a page called "Let it snow" using light blue sticker letters and light blue and purple snowflakes. I also did one using silver letters to spell "angel face" and a pink angel die-cut. (Sherilyn)
Black pages work great for a Mexico vacation. Use teals, tans and peach southwest type colors and the Tropical Combo Pack.
For Christmas poinsettia stickers and ivy stand out like you wouldn't believe. Stained glass windows are GORGEOUS on black pages - talk them up for anyone taking a European vacation! (Jean in TX)
I did underwater pics of my kids in the pool! I also used gold/silver wedding streamer DL and confetti and letters to do a sisters page with black and white photos of my 2 girls. (Debi)
Fast Formulas #13 - Travel page using hot pink camera and travel gear stickers. (Sandy)
Make border using black and white title blocks decorated with stickers. Alternate black and white. To make the black blocks show up, mount them on white blocks. (Sandy)
Snow scenes using snowman die cuts and snow tree sticker. Silver pen can be used to draw snowflakes falling. (Sandy)
I've done piano recital, karate, school (make it look like a chalkboard with white letters). I had pictures of hot air balloons and they looked great on black! (Karen)
The last set I did were black and white photos of my dogs out in the yard right after a snowstorm. I titled it "Winter Puppy Land" using the silver pen, and decorated it with Mrs. G's laser-cut snowflakes. (Cscmc)
Put pictures of my DD and niece sitting in the bluebonnets. Pictures with flowers really stand
out on the black pages. (Terri in TX)
I did my 30th b-day party on black pages using the celebration pack. I'm planning on doing my New Year's page on black too, with confetti and balloons falling all over. (Stacy Kocur)
I used the black pages for a layout of Christmas Light displays in our neighborhood. (Sonia)
I did my wedding album on black pages in the Masterpiece. I used the 5x5 proofs - more than 300 of them! I didn't cut
any, just mounted them with corners and journaled in the silver pen. I used the border template on some pages where I had three photos, but for the reception, I did 4 to a page and used the very plain curved corner off the template. Just
traced it with the silver pen (I left it hollow and didn't fill it in). I get lots of compliments on how "classy" my album looks! (Sherilyn)
I am doing a family Halloween album on the black pages in a Masterpiece album. The Design Line that looks "Halloweenish" (with oranges, purples, greens) looks especially great on the black pages. (ArlaMo)
I used black pages on NASCAR racing, graduation, and proms.
My latest black pages use pictures I took of my boys in a cotton field. They
were barefoot and had on overalls and a straw hat. I took B & W and color
pictures - they turned out great! I put all my B & W on a double-page
spread, and my color pictures on a double-page spread. It had 2 completely
different looks, but both were great. (Wendy in AL)
Snow scenes show up beautifully on the black.
Anything gold or silver looks absolutely stunning! I played around with our
gold and silver letter stickers, the confetti, the Wedding Streamer DL, the
silver and gold DL, and some of the Mrs. G's silver and gold balloons.
The Photoessenceä stickers from Mrs. G, especially the newer pale rose ones look great.
Bold is beautiful. I did a layout using some photos of my great niece. She
is wearing a lime green outfit, so I backed the photos with green dot paper. I
added some of the Dancing Children Stickers and some primary DL strips. (Margie in
MD)
Fast Formula 2 - using Mrs. Grossman's Kokopelli, horned toads, Arrows, and Animals southwest style stickers - I used the silver pen to draw the line and to add dots. Used ShortCuts in bright colors to match the stickers.(Selena)
Fast Formula 5 - using teal and bright pink ShortCuts, added Mrs. Grossman's skiing stickers and dots. (Selena)
Fast Formula 12 - using bright purple, teal and goldenrod ShortCuts to cut the blocks. Put the Mrs. Grossman's micro dinosaurs in the blocks. Put a teal 12" strip across the top about 1" from the top and used black letter stickers to put "lil monster" in lower case bold on the strip. (Selena)
Fast Formula 13 - used silver pen and made straight line in one corner and filled with Mrs. Grossman's travel gear stickers and dots. In the opposite corner I used the Hot pink Camera die-cut. (Selena)