If you love a particular patterned paper, try using that as your background and tone down the matting with a less busy or solid paper.

Can you believe this is digital?  You'd be surprised what you can do with your computer.  Layout by Kelly Barrow.

I hate tossing unused photos and/or storing them where I can't flip through them so I spread them out over several pages.  Don't be afraid to spread out your photos to make more than just 2-page layouts.  Just use the same color scheme and similar embellishments and your layout can include as many pages as you want.

I had a Christmas title strip that didn't go with anything but I liked the title in it so I ripped the top and the bottom for a torn page look and made it part of the background. See, there is a reason you keep your scraps!

Don't be afraid to overlap your photos.  It will look great if you mat your pictures and be sure you are not overlapping onto any important space.  Try this! Make your own 3-D embellishments with pop dots or foam adhesives.  Place letter stickers on punched out circles and mount them onto slightly larger circles with the pop dots.  Tie the tops with gold thread to make ornaments.  So festive!

Find a neat font on the internet and download it to make your journaling more interesting.