Design With us Fridays

I love to do single page layouts for the most part. I feel I can get more impact with a one pager than a two pager. I love developing a story with one picture instead of many. BUT....there are times when they are many more pictures than one to tell the story about something or someone in your life. Many celebrations gives us the opportunity to display many pictures on a layout. So it is with these pictures that you place them on a two page layout.
When creating two page layouts I love to think of different ways to tie the two pages together. There are several ways that you can use to tie two pages together that will be pleasing to the eye and will give your pictures a wonderful setting.
You might want to try to view the two pages as one. Instead of seeing two 12 x 12" pages; design it as one 12 x 24" page. Ignore the line that seperates the two sheets of paper. When laying things out pretend that it is not there; move elements around on your page and get them in the exact place that gives you the greatest flow and symmetry.
Use borders, text, and/or alignment to create strong horizontal or diagonal lines that span both pages. Try spanning the title, sub-title, a quote or even the journalling across both pages.
Consider splitting photographs or other elements across the center line. This works really well with larger photos. You could also consider splitting a large piece of pattern paper across the center page. This will provide much cohesion between pages.
Try clustering the elements of your page to the center horizontally and vertically. The shape of this block is not as important as the attempt to cluster everything in the center. Again it will give your page such a sense of good design.
I hope these things help you design wonderful two page layouts. I you have any other suggestions that you use in your scrapbooking, leave a comment and share. I am sure lots of us would love to hear your ideas.

Design With Us Friday

I thought I would give you a design challenge for "Design With Us Friday". Below is a graphic design image that I "borrowed" from another artists website. I thought the bold way they used colour, fonts and images would make a perfect layout for scrapbooking. We'd love to see what you come up with. Email us the image of your page and we'll post it on our blog. Have fun scrapping!!

Design With Us Friday

I'm really tired of the snow! We're expecting another 20cm/8" over night. I thought to add a little colour and design for "Design With Us Friday", I'd whip up a single page layout and share it with you. This page would be great for St. Paddy's Day, Easter or just celebrating Spring.

Enjoy!!

Design With Us Fridays

Acheiving balance on a layout can be one of the most difficult things for a new scrapbooker or even for the most seasoned scrapbooker having a scrappers' block. To obtain a visually pleasing layout, you must have a balanced layout. This balance is obtained by recognizing that every item on each page has a "weight". We could learn a few tricks from the advertising world while thinking about the "weight" of items on our pages.
When looking at these advertisements you can see they are "weighted" in different ways.
The Mcdonalds' ad is weighted with color against the white background so all that you see is the container of french fries. The Martex blanket ad is weighted in a linear manner which helps you follow the ad from beginning to end or in this instance top to bottom. The Burger King ad is also a color weighted ad but in this instance you see nothing but the burger against the dark background.

To end, I would like you to keep the following techniques in mind to help you acheive balance on your layouts. Always remember that any color you add has a visual weight with a dark color weighing more than a light color. Remember that embellishments have a weight with larger items weighing more than smaller ones. When creating a two page layout, try to balance each side of the page. Each side of the layout should weigh the same. Try your best to not leave empty space on a layout. Not in the sense of white space, which can at times be very visually pleasing. But you can fill empty spots with a brad or two or some other medium; be it paper of fibre. These techniques will help you achieve the balance on your layouts and eqully distribute the weight across your layouts.

Design With Us Friday

I'm still rushing around this morning trying to gather all of my "stuff" for the Go Scrapping retreat. So, I thought I'd share with you what In A Pinch Designs are giving to everyone who are attending the retreat. Isn't this adorable? I still have to add the photos but for those of you who are attending, this is what you can do with this tiny mini album. It's so tiny that you can even add it to a layout as an added embellishment. Have a great weekend everyone!

Design With Us Friday

For the beginner scrapbooker not quite sure of design or the seasoned scrapbooker who needs a little help with designing that tricky layout; I have found, and have used many times, this great website. Becky Fleck's designs are nothing short of fabulous. I can always find inspiration in her designs. She does single page and double page layouts. She has maps for circle albums, tags, and half pages. Very cool if you are looking to do a altered item project. You can also sign up for her monthly newsletter and she will send you her monthly sketch releases. Every month I print them off and have a whole collection of Becky Fleck sketch's in a binder. Great reference tool!!

Enjoy her site and have fun with the designs!!

http://www.pagemaps.com/

Design With Us Friday!

Paper piecing is definitely making a come back. I've always enjoyed taking different shapes of paper to create a finished embellishment for my layouts. I personally design my own but I know there's a lot of you that would say, "I can only draw stick people and you expect me to figure out paper piecing!" Well...I've got the solution for you. If you want to make that little something special out of cardstock the perfect place to get free patterns is from Scrapbooks Etc. This is one of my favourite magazines for design work. Here's a link to get FREE paper piecing patterns from their website. Try one on your next layout. They're a lot of fun and you'll impress your scrapbooking buddies.

Design With Us Fridays

Today I was so excited to share this new product with you. Tim Holtz (who does not love Tim) has put out a new product that I think will be a must have product. This new Design Ruler gives us endless possibilities for our scrapbooking. Enjoy the video and look forward to seeing this product in the stores!!!

Design with Us Friday

The question that's asked of me the most is, "How do I mix patterns on my layout?" It can be a little daunting. My first suggestion is if you're a little hesitant to mix patterns always choose paper from the same company. They've already coordinated the colours for you but each line still has a number of pattern to choose from. Here's a safe and easy solution. Never choose "like" patterns. Here's a photo of what I'm talking about. The two patterns are very much the same and therefore fight one another. Your eye doesn't know what to look at. It all becomes distracting and a jumbled mess.
Now with this photo you can see I've chosen patterns that compliment each other. The free flowing heart design now stands out from the stripe. There is a definite distinction between the two. Plaids or dots are another great alternative than stripes.Always remember to mat your photos when using pattern paper. As you can see the photo gets lost when you don't mat the photo.
Just adding a mat makes the photo pop.
Don't be afraid to use different patterns on your layout. Use these simple techniques and let loose with patterns.