Zoom in on my photoless layout?

Last night Andrew and I (Leila) were lucky enough to see RENT: The Broadway Tour here in Madison. We'd seen it before, down in Chicago last spring, but were quite geeked to have that opportunity again before the tour comes to an end on February 7. So when we purchased our tickets back in August, we had nothing but great expectations for a nice evening out while the boys stayed home with the babysitter. It never once entered our minds that there might be another event on that long-awaited night. Sometimes though, life throws that proverbial curve ball and you have to do your best to hit it out of the park. (Oh jeez, baseball metaphors? I think I need an intervention.) So, while Andrew and I were enjoying a night on the town, JP and Devin went with a friend to the church where JP participated in his first ever Pinewood Derby. To be honest, we didn't expect much from the event. I mean, we knew that the boys would have fun, but when you consider that JP's car was hastily built this past Saturday morning; well, you get the picture! Much to our very pleasant surprise and delight, our friend told us that JP's little pick-up truck had surpassed the previous track speed record (that had been made three years prior) in the very first heat of the night AND that he'd placed second overall for the event. Not bad for a last minute entry!

Ok, so enough ground work! All of the above leaves me with a dilemma: I have no pictures from the Derby!! I have this completely amazing absolutely must be scrapped moment in my 10 year old's life and I. HAVE. NO. PHOTOS!! So what's a scrapper to do in that situation? Oh, I am sooooooooooo glad you asked! You see, I love a good photoless layout. I love an opportunity to tell the story and have the STORY be the star, not the photos. Sometimes words need to be the forefront of a page. While I can admit that this situation would probably be better with photos, I'll make it work without.

Now, PHOTOless doesn't mean IMAGEless. Pft, I know--semantics. Photos are always images, but dear readers IMAGES are not always photos. Stay with me here, I'm getting there, I promise. There are ways to create a photoless page that isn't just the words (and yet it is...)

My first favorite thing to do is find graphics in kits that can represent the missing photos. A while back I did a page about my sons' laundry and it's ability to reproduce. I had no pictures of the laundry, but the kit I used had lots of pieces of clothing in it with which I was able to create a mountain of dirties. More recently, I used graphics to display a favorite line from a song because I sure don't own a green dress. ;)

Another option is to scan in memorabilia that you might have to represent the event or subject you're looking to scrap. JP came home from the Pinewood Derby with a certificate proclaiming him the fastest car and a little paper ribbon with a '2' on it for his second place finish. I've decided that my best option for scrapping this event is to scan those items and use them on my page as you can see below:

Of course, you could just use words. A lot, a few. Whatever floats your boat! Photoless pages can be fun, therapeutic, cathartic, whatever you want them to be. I'd love to see some of the pages you all have created or do create after this. Post a link in the comments for me to check them out!!

~Leila