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| My completed layout. Click image to enlarge. |
So I've been thinking a lot lately about my process and thought I'd share it with you. I took notes (and a few photos) the other day when I was creating the layout you see above.
My process actually starts when I upload my photos. Sometimes before, if I'm shooting photos with a specific layout in mind. :) Anyway, after I uploaded these photos, I printed a contact sheet. As you can see, I recorded the date (back in June 2008), and a possible title that came to mind when I looked at these photos:
She Loves You. I filed this page, in chronological order, in my son's album planning binder (just a regular 3-ring binder from the office supply store).
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| Contact sheet from my album planning binder. Layout title idea and photo date at the top. Journaling at the bottom. |
And there it sat, until February 28. 2011. I actually was avoiding scrapping it, because although I had a title idea, I didn't have a clue what I was going to write for journaling, and for some reason, with this layout, just the title didn't seem like enough. Then in February, I saw
Karen Grunberg's layout Loved and Adored and instantly knew the journaling was perfect. She wrote, "
Most kids are loved and adored by their parents. But you, my son, have the added joy of being loved and adored by your big brother. It's a big privilege." I made a couple of changes to suit my layout, but kept most of her words: I replaced
brother with
sister (obviously, since William doesn't have a big brother), and changed the last line to "
Lucky boy" (this last change actually coming when I was writing the journaling on the layout).
Finally inspired to scrap these photos, I flipped through my inspiration notebook until I found a layout to scraplift.
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| My inspiration. |
I processed my photos in Photoshop Elements 7, resized, and uploaded them to
Mpix for eventual order. Then I printed drafts of my photos as part of a week's worth of layouts.
Once I sat down to actually create the layout, I started by matting my photos on white cardstock. I noticed I have the same Heidi Swapp transparent clocks as the inspiration, so I pulled mine out of my stash to use. I found a border sticker I wanted to use. I pulled out my butterfly drawer, and I dove into my stash of patterned paper. I ended up with a polka dot from My Mind's Eye and a stripe from Basic Grey Periphery.
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| The start of my creative process: picking out supplies. |
At this point I was interrupted to pick up the kids from school. When I got started up again, I realized I should time myself, and noticed it was 4:20pm. First I inked the edges of my background with Chalk Ink in Charcoal. Then I sprayed Maya Road Glimmer Mist in Bubblegum (pink) and Carribbean Blue on the background.
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| Customizing the background with ink and Glimmer Mist. |
Next I cut a 2-inch strip from the stripe pattern on my new trimmer (which I am loving, by the way!) and inked the edges.
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| I am loving the 12" guillotine trimmer from Tonic Studios. |
I decided the strip needed some more interest so I put it through my favorite border punch, Apron Lace by Fiskars. I inked the lacy edge and adhered the strip to my background. Then I adhered the clock. (
I just used my regular American Crafts This N That permanent adhesive on the bottom half of the clock, knowing it would be hidden behind the photos.) I adhered border sticker next, although it made me kind of sad to cover up so much of it because it really is so pretty. At this point I decided the layout needed another horizontal layer, so I dug into my ribbon stash. I already had an idea which butterfly I wanted to use (
I've been wanting to use it for a while now), and I knew I wanted to add some more green to my page, so I picked out a green ribbon that was still sitting out on my desk after working on my December Daily album. I adhered the ribbon with regular adhesive as well. (
I do like my Xyron X150, and use it often, but I knew the ribbon would be held well in place by the photos.) Next I adhered photos. I generally prefer my photos straight, rather than tilted, so I lined them up straighter than they were in the inspiration. The butterfly needed some work to better match my page, so I inked the edges, and went over the brown pattern with my black Slick Writer.
Hello, perfectionism. LOL
For embellishments, I picked out some bling -
some old Prima swirls whose packaging I am happy to finally see empty lol - and cut it apart into sections that worked better for me. I stuck it down without too much trouble. Then I wrote my journaling directly on the background, with the changes I noted above. I observed with some interest that while I have no problem scraplifting a design, or even copying others' photos, for some reason using others' journaling bothers me. Of course, you'll notice I did it anyway. lol I tried 2 different sets of letter stickers for my title before settling on my first choice.
At 5:30 it was done. I stared at it for a while, feeling that it needed something else horizontal to the left of the butterfly and to the right of the highest photo, but not sure what. I flipped through a bunch of stickers and borders but didn't find anything. I second-guessed my decision to use pink letters for the word "you." The husband said it was just fine though so I left it, and as I couldn't figure out what else to do with it, decided it must really be done after all.
And that's it! Layout complete - a page a day for 5 days in a row (at the time - I'm up to 16 now). Only 40 more days to reach my goal! :)
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