Hello everyone!
Marie here today with you to show you how I made a double page layout and incorporated 7 photos and a lot of text to record your story.
When I started scrapbooking, the worse part of the process for me was the start. I was looking at the canvas and didn't know where to go from there. It's only after many years of practice that I could easily start a layout. If you are like me and get intimidated by the beginning of the layout, or if you want to know how to incorporate many photos and words on a layout, just keep reading. I'll give you some of my tips and tricks and try to let you see inside my head. :)
Here's the layout I created:
The first thing I did when I received the kit was to look at the colors and motives and ask me what I could document with it. I immediately saw all the oranges and blues and decided it would be perfect to go with my trip I made to Dubai, a week ago.
I then printed photos I wanted to use. I print my pictures randomly in different sizes: 4x4, 4x6 or 3x4 (I then fit 2 of them on a 4x6 piece of photo paper). I print at home but you can easily resize your photos with any photo editing program and make them fit a 4x6 canvas and then send them to the place you normally get your photos printed.
Here I played my photos on some pieces of the kit and I was trying to select what I would use, making the colors and the theme fit my story.
I then trimmed my photos (got rid of the white borders) and that gave me a better look. I played around a little bit more.
I then selected 2 pieces of paper/cardstock which would be my base of the layout. I chose the yellow and white piece of paper which reminded me of the sand dunes (the triangles in the pattern) and I tried to go with the white yardstick for the right page but my very dark photos were not looking good on the crisp white, so I decided to go with the cream cardstock which gave to whole layout a softer look. I really like to use 2 different papers for a double page layout. I find that it brings more interest and it makes me also use more colors.
Once I had my 2 backgrounds selected, I started laying my photos down and that's also when I cut apart that large 12x12 piece of paper with all the small squares I wanted to use. I formed some kind of a loose grid.
When placing my elements and photos down, I was careful to group together what was going together: the silly pictures of us with the camel had to go next to the "just being me is fun" quote, and the adventure square was ment to be next to the dunes and the car pictures and finally, the blu square saying "here with you always" had to go next to the picture of me with my husband. It almost was a no brainer. :)
I added the "Go see the world" square to balance the orange square on the left page.
And I started adding some embellishments, forming a visual triangle that would bring the left and right page together. I thought of the visual triangle too when placing my blue elements. Look at the 2 blue squares. They form a triangle with the large photo on the right page. Also, we were wearing navy blue on that day so, although it's a little more subtle, you can see two diagonal lines of navy lue on the layout, right? Those triangles and lines are responsible for guiding the eye of the viewer on the layout. When you put a layout together, always think of these two elements. You can build a triangle with colors, or even with the kind of embellishment. For example here the cork elements which I placed also in a triangle. Do you see that?
Once my loose grid was there, I added a title. I looked at the place where it would make sense to add it. There was this fairly big whole right there so I thought of a title that would be the good size to fill the space but not over fill it. With the size of the letters in the kit, sand dunes seemed like the perfect title for my layout. If I have had smaller letters, I could have made a longer title like a day in the desert, for example. Since I wasn't done with my layout, I just gently placed the letters there, without adhering them completely.
At that moment, I decided that this picture of the sand dunes was blending too much with the yellow background, so I used a navy blue paper to make a small frame around it. When working with a kit, it's really easy to do so because all the papers are working together. Use a softer colored paper to calm your photo down or like me, a stronger paper to make the photo stand out.
I also wanted the orange square to stand out. Instead of framing it with more paper, I decided to stitch a gold frame around it. The gold thread is very subtle but sparkly so it creates a really nice visual effect. I have my sewing machine right on my table, which makes it so easy to just sew on almost every layout I make. Also, I always have either gold thread or white thread ready to stitch. It's so practical and easy!
Now is the time I started thinking about the journaling. I had placed my pictures in a random order, just thinking of the colors and shapes of them to make sense, and I hadn't,t payed attention to the time of the events presented in the photos. So I thought that the sticker labels would be perfect to add that element of time on my layout. It would also be another way of attaching my left and right page together. The eye reads the numbers 1 to 3 and then naturally looks for the number 4 which is on the right page.
Here is the number 4:
When i started thinking of the time, I decided that I had to swap the large photo of the Burj Al Arab, which we visited in another day during the trip to Dubai, with two photos of more things we did in the desert. Hence the two small 3x4 photos that just appeared on my layout. :) The quality of that one of us together in the dark is really poor, but it fits better with the story so overall, I'm happy with that choice.
I wrote some details on the sticker labels and added a second title on the right page which would add detail to the first title and which would, once again, tie the two pages together.
I added more small embellishments to add color and texture to my layout.
At that point I decided to add more details in my journaling than just the "what" that was already on the sticker labels. When you make a layout and add details, think of the story the viewer will not know when only looking at the pictures. Tell the small anecdotes and funny stories, or small details you don't want to forget. I think that journaling and details like this are what make a scrapbook more interesting than just a simple photo book so use the space you have to write. Just a little bit more at least. :)
When adding small embellishment, add them close to your basic elements that form the page. Here you see that I overlapped the camera on the orange paper. Same thing with the cork embellishments on that next photo:
Also, when using embellishments with a whole in it, like the heart and the arrow here on the right page, pay attention to what will show through that whole. It would have been awkward if the arrow would have been placed a little more down, letting show and amplifying the gap between the blue paper and the photo under it for example.
I finally looked at where there were enough space available to write my journaling. I thought of what I wanted to say and planed it according to the space I had. I also decided to write and stamp with navy blue ink instead of using a black pen. I really like how it makes all the navy blue in the layout pop out and make sense.
Here's the finished layout:
Voilà, I hope you like it and I hope you feel inspired and energize to go create something yourself! :)
Marie
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