What are your scrapping rules?

I use products that match the colors (and sometimes theme) of my pictures

I’ve been scrapbooking since 1996, and I learned long ago what I like when scrapbooking. I never thought of the layout design principles as “rules,” but these are mine:

I take a lot of photos, so I tend to do 2 page layouts, sometimes more. I include all the photos that I love, even if I have to do more than a two page layout. I almost never do a single page layout.

I almost always use an odd number of photos, with photos typically 4x6, although occasionally one is larger. I almost never crop them down.

Photos are the focus. One will become the focal point, whether through size, photo mats, or some other way of drawing the eye to that photo first.

I don’t care if it’s trendy. The page decor needs to enhance the photos and/or help tell the story behind them, not upstage the pictures, regardless of the current trends. I won’t use llama paper if it isn’t a zoo layout.

The layout has to be balanced.

I pull colors from the photos for using on the page.

My only rule is do what I like and what makes me happy as well as enjoy the process.

Sometimes that is 4 enamel dots or stars or hearts instead of the rule of 3 and 5.

When I did 2 page layouts, I never made them match unless it happened naturally. Even with my pocket pages, sometimes I do a 9x12 layout and then have a pocket page on the next page and I dont care if paper matches. 

Use what ever paper and embellishments I want, even if they don't always match the theme.

Use the imperfect photo(s) if they help tell the story.

Place the photos in pockets where I like them, no matter where the person or thing is looking. Sometimes I have photos where people are looking all over so I just place where I like. 

It's funny because I used to use all the rules I learned in Marketing/Advertising for print ads and what not and once I stopped caring about that, I enjoyed creating more. I am not here to get put in a magazine. I am here to make sure the kids and others can look back and see memories of life. 

My first thought was no, I don't have any rules. Reading through your posts, I realize I do a lot of these things because they just feel right, especially:

1. Groups of threes or fives.
2. Embellishments in triangle shape.
3. People/animals looking into the page, not off.
4. No trapped white space.
5. Start every layout with cardstock (although sometimes it gets so covered up, you'd never know).
6. This one is hard to explain but I don't like "floating" things... everything on my layout needs to be touching something else so that it feels grounded. Well, usually, everything needs to be touching...

Classic design rule
WHAT IS THE 60-30-10 RULE?
It's a classic decor rule that helps create a color palette for a space. It states that 60% of the room should be a dominant color, 30% should be the secondary color or texture and the last 10% should be an accent.
www.saralynnbrennan.com/blog/the-60-30-10-design-rule#:~:text=What%20is%20the%2060%2D30,10%25%20should%20be%20an%20accent.

For me, the secret to mixing patterns is in relation, scale, & proportion. I select patterns that share a common color, intensity, theme, mood/feel, style, &/or other trait as well as feature different sizes &/or types of patterns. Think of the recipe for mixing these patterns on your layout as a gallon/pint/ounce (or gallon/quart/pint/cup/ounce, if using 5+ different patterns). For example, select a solid or small repetitive pattern (eg polka dots) to use as the background (gallon), add a stripe or plaid (eg multicolor) to frame the layout or as a band/strip to ground page elements (pint), & include a bold pattern (eg graphic floral) for narrow photo mats (ounce). HTH