Easter and layouts

So the votes were tied between Easter and Layouts.  I will just combine the two.  When I first began scrapbooking, I struggled with cutting up my pictures.  I just felt like photos were too valuable or something.  Anyway, what helped me get over it was copying others layout that forced me to cut my pictures down.  What I ended up realizing is that I was able to focus more on what the photo was about by cutting it down for a layout.  

For my first example I will give you what I call a 4X4 layout.  Its easy because all pictures and paper are 4 inches by 4 inches.  You can see how cutting down the photos helped the view focus on the main visual.

My second example is an Easter layout where I could not cut down my photos.  I made it this year, but the photos are from last year. I love finding papers with cards that are 4X6 pr 4X4. You will also notice I bordered both of these layouts.  The Christmas layout is with glitter ribbon and the Easter layout is with coordinating paper. If you use one of these please post!  I would love to see your work as well. Advice: To make a good layout there is not magic number of pictures. But I would have to say that I think if you but 3 sheets of double sided paper and some embellishment sheet you can make some magic. And I always use scraps for cards, but that could be in another blog on its own!