Tuesday Tutorial with Neftali

Happy Tuesday crafty friends and welcome to another Tuesday Tutorial! It is Neftali here today to share with you a fun tutorial to create a “simple and minimal layout.” Let’s get started!

Here is the layout I created for this tutorial, which took me no more than 30 minutes to make:

I don’t know about you, but I am sometimes a huge fan of those soft and airy layouts that give you a feeling of “freshness” and “simplicity”. Well, that is what I tried to portray with this particular layout, and I think I achieved it pretty well.

Here is how you can take your supplies to create something simple yet evocative:

First, choose soft colors and simple patterns that contrast, but work well together. 

For that I decided to use the papers in the November “Pleasant Valley” Pocket Life Kit because there were soft colors but still fun bold patterns like the black crosses.

Second, choose a minimal amount of supplies that you think you might use. 

I decided to go with the patterned papers, my circle punch, my sewing machine, and a few of the exclusive ephemera pieces from the PL Kit. I also picked out a few other pieces that I didn’t end up using like the exclusive wood veneer word phrase pieces. I ended up switching that idea out for stamping, instead.

Go with whatever fancies you at the moment but remember to keep just a handful of pieces out on your desk so you don’t dig for anything else. We’re keeping it simple, remember!

Third and final tip, which I used specifically on this layout, was to go for a small black and white photograph. 

I feel like the small photo size helped keep my layout super minimal. But so did the black and white because there are no clashing colors with the other supplies/colors I am using.

The photo in this layout is sized 2x3 (tiny, I know) and I normally print these sizes by using an app where I can fit 4 - 2x3 photos in a 4x6 photo sheet. Easy peasy!

So, those are my 3 quick tips to create a simple, airy, minimal layout. 

I chose to punch a few circles to create 3 totally random clusters across my page. To each cluster I added a (not so perfect) machine stitched circle. To me, white stitching = simple!!

I added my photo on top of a tag and attached that in between the clusters. Then, I used only 5 pieces of what I had picked out from the exclusive die cuts.

Finally, I added a few stamps and my title next to my photo. That’s it! 

Super duper simple and you still have that awesome feeling of having had a moment to craft, especially when you’re busy but just have an itch to make something quick. I really hope you guys give this a try. If you do create something beautiful, come share it with us at The Citrus Twist Facebook Fan group! Thanks for stopping by today, xo.