Who of us hasn’t stumbled upon a pretty scrapbook page in one of the galleries, and thought, Oh man, why haven’t I come up with the idea for this page? That, however, doesn’t mean you still can’t use that idea on one of your own pages. The solution to the problem? Scraplifting, duh! But there’s more to scraplifting than scraplifting, if you know what I mean. There are lots of ways, in fact of how you can lift someone else’s layout.

 

No. 1 | Whole Layout
Probably the most common way of scraplifting (at least for my part) is to reproduce the whole page. You take a layout, look at the way papers and elements are arranged, and then you copy that straight onto your own canvas.

 

 

 

No. 2 | Clusters
Another way of scraplifting is to take one cluster and reproduce it on your own page. This could be the main cluster of a composition, but leaving out other details, or it could be parts of a cluster. Lifting clusters of other great scrappers can help you improve your own clustering abilities, since you are – by the way – learning  from a “master!”

(Note: I used the title work for inspiration, but added my own clusters of embellies.)

 

 

No. 3 | Composition
A third way of scraplifting is to simply copy the composition of the original without reproducing every single detail. Look for the various clusters on the page and position your own clusters in a similar way.

(Note: I used the split page design, and arranged my cluster in the same place, but my cluster looks very different, and I added another cluster at the top.)

 

 

No. 4 | Topic, Title, or Photo
A fun thing for me is to find inspiration with someone else’s topics. Take a look at the left layout below. I loved the idea of how a photo of feet in socks were used to scrap about a very normal day in life. I ended up using that idea on one of my own pages, recently.

(Note: similar photos in both layouts)

 

 

No. 5 | Combining Two or More Layouts
I’ve done that, too, in the past: taking the things I like from various layouts and combining them on a page of my own. The result is you get a page that really looks like it’s your own design completely.

 

(Note: ideas from both layouts were taken to create my own page.)

 

No. 6 | Using Parts of the Page as Inspiration
What has become most common for me when I look for inspiration is that I find a page I like, take a couple of ideas, maybe the main composition, but then I just forget about the original layout and I start doing my own thing by adding paper layers, rearranging clusters, repositioning titles and journaling, etc. The possibilities with this type of scraplifting are endless.

(Note: the only thing that’s somewhat the same, is the heart in the center, with the two word strips, and the artsy feel to the page. No one could ever tell that the left page was what I started from.)

 

 

Tip No. 1:
Also, try rotating a page as you’re lifting, or rotating only parts of the composition.

Tip No. 2:
Use templates as inspiration for composition etc.