Double Page Layout - how?

I've attempted double paged layouts before but they don't quite have the "joined" look even though I use the same papers etc. Is there a way of making sure both pages "balance" & I find that I've had a title on just one page then when I'm finished I look at it (or try to look at it from someone else's perspective) & it's like ok this page is about............. but what's this page doing?
It all sounds strange - I'm not very good at explaining things like this

It doesn't sound strange at all - there is a real art to making sure a double page layout has flow and balance. The best place to start is probably a sketch - this will give you a good idea as to placement of things to achieve balance. Double page layouts are a real challenge (I perosnally hate them...LOL)

Me too Sue!! lol!! Thats why you won't find many double page challenges here!!

A good place to find sketches tho, is www.pagemaps.com I love that site and go their often when i am lacking inspiration!!

Golly I'm the odd one out yet again!! I mainly do doubles....Sketches are great to get you stated......I find that most doubles balance so long as you remember some basic things.........1. use the same papers........2. try to put your main embelishment cluster on one page and then just use elements from it on the otrher page....3. use matching photos from similar or same events.....4. Use a subtitle on the second page or put you title over the two pages-the LO I did for 2009 in review is a good example.
I hope that this helps you too!!

I use to do only double layouts when I started scrapping about 6 years ago! I rarely do them now, but it's a great way of including a lot of photos from the same event or maybe a layout of a holiday, etc. Sketches are a good idea to start with and Kathie's ideas are all great!

I reckon double pagers are cool to pack heaps of photos on. I find if you butt up one or two photos to the "split" in the middle, it looks more joined.

I'm with Kathie, I always do double pages. If you're looking through a scrapbook album, the pages flow & make better sense (story wise) as a double page.( all my photo albums are scrapbook albums). I use a single page beginning & end of my albums.

wow - thanks ladies. I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds them hard thanks for all that Kathie - it helped make things make a bit more sense to me.
Thanks for the link Vicki - great help . I'm going to give it another go

Glad that we could be of help!!