Scrapbooking ... an unlikely double

Hi, hi.

I did something I don't normally do.

No, I didn't run through the park with gay abandon surrounded by enthusiastic dogs nor did I utter the phrase 'You know what? I don't think I need to buy any more boots this year'.

No. I did neither of these unnatural things. But what I did do ... is this:

I made a double-page scrapbook layout ... and for me, that's almost as unlikely as either of those other things I mentioned.

I've been scrapbooking for around 6 or 7 years now and filled numerous albums with page after page of 12x12 layouts but ... off the top of my head, I can count on one hand the number of double-page spreads there are amongst my scrappy back-catalogue.

So, what led to this deviation then?

The thing is, I had quite a few photos from a fancy Afternoon Tea-time my friends and I indulged in last year.

Too few to make a mini-book ... but, equally, too many to fit on a single page ... and so the Goldilocks option turned out to be a double-pager. Who knew?

The eagle eyed amongst you will already have spotted that I didn't use the same background paper across the spread proving that, unsurprisingly, I've never originally intend this to turn out as a double.

To give me my due ... I did use the two closest matching single sheets I had, then I kept the continuity going by using the same patterned layers [American Crafts' 'Ready Set Go'] and adding a few mirror-image areas to balance the design across the two.

But I'll admit that it all felt a bit strange, especially when adding only half of my "What Say We Make This A Tradition" title to one side ...

 ... while finishing it up on the other:

 Yet ... you know what they say ... the more things change, the more they stay the same ...

... and so I managed to find room for some choice snippets cut from an old dictionary and an old school textbook [on the page above] and then here ... no prizes for guessing who wrote the book from which I snipped this perfect phrase:

So tell me ...do you do doubles?

If so:

•  do you make them for a specific reason eg: to fit in X amount of photos / to fit in large photos; to tell a longer story? etc etc
• or do you make them out of habit? Just the same as my habit is single pages.

And if not:

• Why not?
• Do you find them too big? Too 'traditional'? Too unruly? Too much work?

I'm already wondering if there's a recognisable 'double-page' type of scrapbooker or scrapbooking style out there!

I'll be waiting to see how you all reveal yourselves ...

Julie :-)