Lots of Layers with Shannon

Hey there, scrappy friends! I have a fun new Life Crafted album spread to share with you today. If there is one technique that I love to do over and over again it's layering. I often find that once I start it's hard for me to stop. Anyone else? I mixed and matched the July 2020 "Wild At Heart" Life Crafted Kit and the July 2020 Add-On Kit to create this spread. I also used some Digital Tags and Digital Cutaparts. Did you know that Citrus Twist has a whole page of digital product? Be sure to check it out! Anyway, on to my spread...

I cut the base page to 5x8.25 so I knew this would give me plenty of room on the sides of the photo. I also punched my holes before beginning so I didn't accidentally ruin my design by punching them after the fact. I use a 6-hole punch but you could do it with a single-hole punch and use Citrus Twist page protectors as a guide. I like to do a mix of pages in and out of page protectors in my album. I used plain white cardstock for a clean background because I knew that I'd be incorporating a lot of color.

Like I said, layer upon layers! I went with a 3x3 photo here so I'd have enough room on either side to build out my layers. I also added a white border in Photoshop to give some separation between the photo and the papers. I used 5 pieces of paper behind the photo and cut each one about .25" bigger than the one before it. When building my layers, I try to offset them slightly so it's not perfectly even on all sides. It gives it a bit more visual appeal. When adhering each layer, I try to keep the adhesive away from the edges. This allows me to tuck in embellishments in various places. I actually build everything up on the bottom layer, adhere it all, and then attached the whole piece to my page. That gives me some freedom in placement. Once my layered block was placed, I added a few pieces to the top and bottom edges to pull everything together.

All the layering and colors on the right side meant that I needed to keep the left side pretty simple. I'd been waiting to use that large "2" die cut since my kit arrived. I love how it looks bold but clean against a white background. I used a few pieces of ephemera and some scrap paper at the bottom to create a small cluster. I cut a piece of paper from the July 2020 Add-On Kit to finish off the top of the page. After adding, adding, adding to my layers on the left side, it was actually pretty difficult to keep it simple on the right side!

One final tip about layering. I like to build up my layers completely before adding any adhesive. This lets me make sure I'll like the final product before I make anything permanent. It also lets me see where I might need to add more of a certain shape or color. Moving things around freely is key to ending up with a final product that I love!

I hope I've inspired you to try some layering in your next project. Maybe you'll find that you're like me and you just can't stop once you start! Happy scrapping!