Page Spread Planning

[MommaTrish]

Do you plan out how the order of your pages will go in your book as you are working on them? Or do you just wing it and figure it out later?

Me? I'm a planner. Each time I start a new week I look back at how the previous week's pages were. (f-front, b-back, m-1/2 page insert)

[Kara]

I wing it and figure out later. I do name my pages by date so they usually print in that order when I make Shutterfly books.

[abm234]

I keep my PL layouts separate from my traditional layouts and they end up in separate albums so it doesn't take much planning!

[KristinCB]

I wing it. I don't do it weekly though either. What I did for 2012 is placed all my photos first and now i'm going back in and filling in the spots with journaling and cards etc. I am trying to be cohesive with the pages that will be facing each other though

[mrshobbes]

I don't do PL, but I'm working on a travel album and doing it pocket-page style, so yeah, I NEED to plan it because otherwise I can't "see" it. Also, I'm having my photos printed (not printing at home) so planning helps me figure out which photos will go in which pockets.

(The X's mean I'm putting a photo in that pocket)

[KristinCB]

I guess in some ways I am planning it as I did up a template for pocket size A and am doing it in photoshop then printing off the 6x4's after

[NeverendingJen]

I have planner pages printed for all my pocket page protectors and use them weekly.

[staciahall]

The closest I get to "planning" is deciding if it's a horizontal or vertical month...

[heathergw]

yup, I use Marcy Penner's weekly planning sheets... every night I journal about the day and then it has a layout planner at the top to help me figure out how I can get everything in or whether I need to do an insert

[YepBrook]

See.... this is why I can't do project life. I am going cross-eyed just reading this thread. Lol.

[jk703]

I plan... but in my computer, and not for PL... but my yearly album for Shutterfly (or the like)... Here is my planning... it's by color... lol.

Red is January/February, Orange is March/April... and so forth... this allows me to see where I'm missing some pages and need more. I know ahead of time that I'll have way more summer pages than winter, but that's a given... more outside pictures and we do a lot more in the nice weather...

You can't see them all, lol... but right now, I have 54 double layouts done but need to finish a bunch yet for September through December, so Shutterfly might not be how I print this year...

It's small, I'm still pretty new here and didn't want to step on toes. (I save my files names with all the credits). But... you get the idea....



I can also see I have one filed saved wrong! LOL!

[rach3975]

Yes, I plan them. Since I send things out to be printed as 4x6's and then put them into the BH pocket pages, I can't imagine doing it without planning first. I have a little notebook that I use. I make a list of the topics/photos that need to make it in for the week, then sketch out the pocket layouts I plan to use and fill in what's going where on the pages before I start scrapping. Since all my PL layouts have been 2 pages so far, I need to plan ahead to have room for regular 12x12's in the same album, too. So periodically I do 2 single-pagers with photos of the kids' art/schoolwork or lists of favorites and put the 12x12's in between. I've got to admit, I'm finding the pocket pages more trouble than they're worth. Next year I'm doing my PL LOs as 12x12s.

[DawnMarch]

I'm definitely a planner, especially now that I print books. Mine isn't too tough since I tend to stick with one 2-page spread per week of the project life books I make. But, I do extra pages for vacations and other events and special inserts, so then I have to think it out.

[JulieB146]

Just came across this thread. I just can't plan ahead like that. I take my pictures, however many there are, and go from there. I select which ones & how many, pick out the template (it's ALL digital) and that's it. Some weeks have three pages, others have one page. Any more involved or complicated than that and it won't ever get done!

[mummytothree]

For my digital PL not really about all the planning I do is I like the "WEEK" card in a different slot each week!!! Hahaha!!!

But I'm working on a paper vacation album and I'm using the 6x8 Sn@p pocket protectors and I kind of did pre-plan that before I printed all the photos!!! I cut up a bunch of 3x4 and 4x6 pieces of paper and I use them as place holders in my pockets as I'm scrapping.....I plan a "day" at a time!!!