This 12 photo sketch is very versatile.  Don’t have 12 photos?  Take out some of the small 2x2s on the left side and use embellishments instead, or place larger photos there instead.  Want a larger title?  Remove the lower left photos altogether!  Don’t like to journal?  Stick another photo there instead!  All sketches are just suggestions, so don’t feel locked into creating it just like you see it.

left side template
right side template

As you can see from the layout, I certainly don’t follow the sketch exactly. I’d had those male/female chipboard accents for awhile and wasn’t sure how I was going to use them, but they were perfect for this layout!  And over on the journaling block, I included both journaling and a photo!  This layout uses just 7 photos, along with 6 patterned papers and 1 solid.

This 6 photo sketch uses all uncropped 4×6 pictures and can be created with just 5 sheets of 12×12 paper.  It uses a large title, and the large right side circle balances that.

The layout uses 8 photos, and arranges them just a little differently. On the left side, a photo was used in the title, and 4 2×3 photos replaced the 2 6×4 photos. On the left side, the journaling circle was replaced with a photo, and two larger photos were used instead of the four. Three patterned papers were used.

So often I see 1 page layouts with 1 large photo, but what do us 2-pager-multi-photo gals do with that?  How about something like this 6 photo layout?

I cropped my photos a little more than called for in the sketch, because I had an extra photo and wanted to add some embellishments.  I didn’t need to journal, so replaced the journaling block with another embellishment.  There are 4 patterns and 2 solids used in this layout, all from the Basic Gray Granola collection.

This 6 photo layout is another that is friendly to those who don’t want to crop their photos, or to those who are fans of the zoom button on their camera, and just can’t cut or they’ll lose something!

The layout, using BasicGrey Marrakech, does have cropped photos on it, because I wanted to show the paper a little more, and add some journaling and embellishments.

This 5 photo layout could be put together fairly quickly.  If you don’t have a 5×7, you could use 2 horizontal 3.5×5 inch, instead.  The photo hanging off the mat on the right page helps break the lines of all that vertical paper, giving your eye a rest.

The layout uses 5 patterns and 1 solid, but only 3 photos. I had never done a 3 photo layout before, but this time  I didn’t have much choice.  I’m very pleased with the result, though!  And while I didn’t have a photo to hang off the mat, the over-sized numbers work just the same way.

This 7 photo sketch is great for when you have some strong photos that you not only don’t want to crop much, but you want them bigger!   If you don’t want to add a sub-title, you could add even more photos there, instead. There is more visual white space than in most of my sketches, so if that bothers you, add more photos or stuff!

The layout uses 7 photos, though one of them is tucked into the title.  There is no journaling, just a quote, because the pictures and title say it all.  I don’t usually leave so much space that doesn’t have photos in it, but the busy word paper made me okay with the idea.  As it turned out, this is one of my favorite layouts I’ve ever done.

This 8 photo sketch is another with a “big circle”, but this time the big circle is a photo instead of patterned paper.  To successfully do this, you will have to put a little bit of forethought into what photo you want to enlarge, and if it will be “crop-able” into this shape.

The layout is exactly like the sketch, with 2 patterns and 3 solids.. With the size you see here, you can’t see the fuzziness of my large photo, but I want to point it out to you.  Why point out a “flaw”?  Because I believe that it is okay to use a less-than-perfect photo as your enlargement/focus.  If it is the only photo that you have, and important to the story, use it!

Lots of photos on this sketch… 13 to be exact!  You could use more, or less, depending on how you crop them.

This layout actually uses 23 photos, because one of the original spaces is used by a photo-editing program created photo collage (the fireworks).  The 3 patterned papers and 2 solids are BasicGrey Boxer.  I know it looks like more, but I really did only use 3!  The stripes were such that I was able to cut them into several pieces and make it look like I had more papers than I really did.  The original sketch calls for 4 patterns.

This 9 photo sketch makes good use of a 3 inch circle punch.  After that, there is very little cropping of the other photos.  The collage on the left page is balanced by the large circle and focal photo on the right page.

The layout only uses 6 photos, to allow more room for journaling.  And instead of a large photo on the right, I used Tim Holtz Grungeboard Numbers (which I love!)  I used 3 patterned papers and 3 solids.

This 7 photo sketch requires very little cropping of your 4×6 pictures, and none at all if you use a 5×7 as your focal photo.  The large letter used in the title helps balance the left page.  The background papers are a simple layout.  This would be a fast layout to do!

In this 6 photo layout, the photos have been cropped more than in the sketch, to allow more room for embellishments, and the large initial (number, in this case) starts the title that is finished in the journaling (Five Things I Love About Easter).

This 7 photo sketch, with 4 large and 3 smaller photos, could easily be altered to use just 4 photos and 3 embellishments.  I don’t often design with a large focal photo on the right page, but it works this time partly because of the size progression of the photos on the left side.  (I think… really, I’m not a design expert, so am just guessing, folks!)

In this layout, I only used 6 photos, and added extra title space.  I also left space for journaling at the bottom left of the right page.  The layout uses 5 patterns and 1 solid.

This sketch gets alot of pictures onto your layout, without sacrificing on size very much.  Most of the photos on this sketch are 4×3, which is exactly half of a 4×6.  In a photo program, you can put two 4×6 pictures onto one canvas, save and print it as a regular 4×6 print either at home or at your favorite developer.  Or, you can intentionally not zoom in on your shot, to make cropping the photos easier.

All of the photos in this layout were originally 4×6 size, cropped down to fit. The focal photo is the only full-size photo on the layout, which gives it even more impact.

This 8 photo sketch is simple in it’s design, both in the arrangement of the photos and in the layering of the papers. If you are new to using sketches, this is a good one to start with.

This layout is almost exactly like the sketch. It uses 4 patterns and 2 solids.  The papers are from the “Storytime” line by Cosmo Cricket.

This 6 photo sketch uses almost full-size 4×6 photos, and 1 5×7, placed in blocks to make a big visual impact on each page. The matting on the photos on the left side is part of the design, but not required.  And, as always, remember that if you don’t have a 5×7, you can use a 4×6 and mat it more than once to get the same effect.

This layout really uses the patterned paper as a design element, eliminating the need for many other embellishments. I used 6 patterned papers and 1 cardstock, but since the patterned paper was all double-sided, I didn’t have to buy as many pieces as I otherwise would’ve.

This 4 photo sketch is fairly simple, as far as how much layering there is of the background papers, and the layout. But the unexpected shape of the large flower, echoed across the layout by a smaller flower, really does alot for the layout.  To make the flower, you can use a template, or freehand it, or print a shape from your computer, trace and cut.

For this layout, I used a template for the large flower, then cut the smaller flower out of the patterned paper (the only place that pattern is seen on this layout). Not counting that small flower, this layout uses 3 patterns and 2 solids.