Many people like the look of old-time scrapbooks and photo albums that had black pages. The ideas here were originally collected for scrapbook consultants to use at a classes to introduce the CM black refill pages, but can be used for anyone wanting to try something new - or maybe I should say to try something old! Also see the Consultant Section.
Note - all these ideas are also in the respective subject files.

• Black pages work great for just about any type of photos and occasions: heritage Halloween, New Year's Eve, prom, evening activities, beach photos, Disneyland, 4th of July and fireworks, graduation, Christmas eve, snow scenes, Hanukkah candle lighting, romantic evenings, pictures that are very light and could get lost on a white page, sleepy-time child photos, and a formal wedding.
• Here are some good examples of using black pages and mixing black and natural or black and white pages in the same layout: Racing Pages
• Albums look wonderful with black and white pages side by side. I did two examples. One had a pumpkin die-cut on the white page with the fall leaves and Indian corn going down the side and bottom. Then on the opposite black page, I used the same idea with the fall leaves and Indian corn, and then used the yellow scarecrow die-cut on it. They go together very well!
  The other one had a Fourth of July theme. I used the white firecracker die-cut on the black page and a red fire cracker die-cut on the white page. Then I used the red white and blue design lines across the top and bottom of both the black and white pages.
• I did a page of my daughter--in her soon to be famous (in the world of drag racing) wagon her daddy built her--with dad pushing with the real car behind her. I used red ABC's Spelling "Future" on the top, "Champ" on the bottom. Then cropped the picture in a square, matted it on white - 1/2 in border all the way around, then on red, narrow. I outlined the ABC's in Silver. Silver on black makes the red and white in the picture stand out. (Tracey)
• Christmas pages: (using one black page inserted in album) I used the gold pen with a border ruler across the white sheet and onto the black sheet and then did silver the same way on the back of the black and onto the next white sheet. I used the jingle bell stickers on the silver border.
• Visit to the fire station: I cut "flames" out of red, orange and yellow paper and journaled on the flames with a black pen. (Mary in SC)
• Disney page: I did a page using a cutout of the Disney castle in white and sparkle star stickers for fireworks behind the castle. I made the fireworks trails with the silver pen. (Melissa in IL)
• I did a 2-page spread with the same photos and same layout, once on white, once on black. Black pen on white pages, silver pen on black. White sticker letters on black, black on white. My layout was Texas wild flowers matted on bright paper. It's amazing how different the two layouts look. (Jean in TX)
• I did a heritage spread; one page white and one page black, photos with light backgrounds on the dark page and photos with dark backgrounds on the white page. It really plays up the best in both sets of photos.(Jean in TX)
• Did a two-page spread of my grandmother and grandfather near the time of their wedding; Grandma in wedding gown on a scroll border page and grandpa in his WWII uniform on the facing black page. Journaled both pages in gold pen; no other decoration. (Jean in TX)
• I did a six-page pageant layout. We wore bright colors and the theme/backdrops were bright, so I used bright paper to mat my pictures. Used Silver ABC Letters, silver pen to journal, and some stickers that included a scepter, tiara, and sparkly shoes. (LeCarla)
• I've done pages of three different proms. I used bright colors. With two I used Gold or Silver letters (one prom was "Romance in the Tropics", so I used tropical stickers and die-cuts. With the 3rd, I used multi-colored ABC stickers. (LeCarla)
• On a Graduation page I matted a cap and gown picture (5x7) with white paper, used deckle cutter to trim the edges, and Gold letters and numbers for School and Year, used a gold pen to journal. (LeCarla)
• I slipped a black page in my demo album just after my Scroll Border page, which has a photo of my MIL in her wedding gown, and her name in gold ABC stickers. On the black page, I put a photo of her as a bridesmaid at another wedding, and wrote up a fake wedding invitation using the gold pen. On the reverse, I had two of the same photos of my MIL as a bridesmaid at yet another wedding. I made the same page, showing how it looks on the black page and then the white page next to it. I used Pale blue paper, Lace design lines, White ABC stickers, wedding bell and flower stickers. People really comment on the way it looks different. (Diana)
• Pumpkin Patch: black and white pics from school trip to pumpkin patch. Used orange ABC stickers, matted pics in gold and green.
• Pictures of my best friends new little girl, born on my daughter's birthday. Front side, black and white pics from when she was born, matted in pink, used pink Stickers to spell babies name. Reverse side are color pics from that night taking my husband and daughter to see the baby. Double matted the "family" pic in pink and white to make it stand out, the rest with pink in various forms. (TraceyS)
• Snow idea: make a border with thin design line stickers or very thin strips of paper (lilac, purple or metallic silver or pastel). Mix and match the colors of use all one color. Use two strips on each edge of the page with less than an inch between them. The outside strip should be about 3/4 of an inch from the edges (just enough so you can put the word "winter" with the small white ABC stickers above the top one). The strips will cross each other in the corners - if you use more than one color, decide how to interweave them. Use the diamond template and cut two white and two purple or lilac diamonds. Put one white at the top left and one at the bottom right. The points should be overlapping the border but the corner of the border should still show - in other words most of the diamond will be inside the borders. Next put the purple or lilac diamonds overlapping the white ones - however it looks good to you. On each purple diamond put a winter tree sticker.
• Disney pages look incredible on black. Especially using the bright red and yellow sticker letters. To make a photo with a dark background stand out, mat the photo in white. Also, very dark backgrounds can look beautiful on the black pages if there are bright colors in the photos. Pastels look awesome on the black pages. I did a page called "Let it snow" using light blue sticker letters and light blue and purple snowflakes. I also did one using silver letters to spell "angel face" and a pink angel die-cut. (Sherilyn)
• Black pages work great for a Mexico vacation. Use teals, tans and peach southwest type colors and tropical and southwest stickers.
• Christmas poinsettia stickers and ivy stand out like you wouldn't believe. Stained glass windows are gorgeous on black pages--works very well for a European vacation!  (Jean in TX)
• I did underwater pics of my kids in the pool! I also used gold/silver wedding streamer design line stickers and confetti and letters to do a sisters page with black and white photos of my two girls. (Debi)
• Snow scenes using snowman die-cuts and snow tree sticker. Silver pen can be used to draw snowflakes falling. (Sandy)
• I've done piano recital, karate, school (make it look like a chalkboard with white letters). I had pictures of hot air balloons and they looked great on black! (Karen)
• The last set I did were black and white photos of my dogs out in the yard right after a snowstorm. I titled it "Winter Puppy Land" using the silver pen, and decorated it with laser-cut snowflake stickers. (Cscmc)
• Put pictures of my daughter and niece sitting in the bluebonnets. Pictures with flowers really stand out on the black pages. (Terri in TX)
• I did my 30th birthday party on black pages using the celebration pack. I'm planning on doing my New Year's page on black too, with confetti and balloons falling all over. (Stacy Kocur)
• I used the black pages for a layout of Christmas Light displays in our neighborhood. (Sonia)
• I did my wedding album on black pages. I used the 5x5 proofs--more than 300 of them! I didn't cut any, just mounted them with corners and journaled with a silver pen. For the reception, I did four to a page and used the very plain curved corner off the template. Just traced it with the silver pen (I left it hollow and didn't fill it in). I get lots of compliments on how "classy" my album looks! (Sherilyn)
• I took photos of my boys in a field. They were barefoot and had on overalls and straw hats. I took black-and-white and color pictures. I put all the black and white photos on a double-page spread, and the color pictures on a double-page spread. It had two completely different looks, but both were great. (Wendy in AL)
• Anything gold or silver looks stunning! I played around with gold and silver letter stickers, confetti, streamers,the silver and gold design line stickers, and some silver and gold balloon stickers.
• Anything pink or red looks great on black pages.
• To soften the look of empty space on the black pages make 'doodles'. They look best if they are small and kind of regularly spaced--like small printed wallpaper. I use a 3-dot pattern, tiny squares, snow flakes and lines drawn using a short section of the wavy ruler.
• Tip: The gold and silver pens take a few minutes to dry. When you make a boo-boo with the silver or gold pens on the black page (or when you smear them) use a black pen to scribble over the mistake, and write it over again.