Monday, April 5, 2021

Creating a layout

My creative process

I wanted to walk you through the steps that I take when creating a layout from scratch. Sometimes I start with the photos already in hand, and sometimes I start with a set of papers. Today I'm taking you through the version that starts with photos. 

1. Select the photos you want you use. I always have too many, and have to cull. I also have to choose the sizes, as I usually print all my photos as 6x4" and as 3x4". (If you don't do this, you must! It's the topic of this video). For the layout today I chose four 6x4" photos.


2. If you have a layout in mind, now is the time to see whether it will work with your photos. I decided that I would keep it very simple and just have two portrait photos on each page. 

3. Go through your craft materials. I look for papers that will complement my photos, whether it's in terms of colour or subject. For this series of photos I wanted to use "Sugar Rush" because it filled both criteria! 

4. Play! I like to put cardstock and papers up against the photos and lay them on white daisy so that I can see the colours in front of me. 

5. Create any stamped images now. For this layout I decided to create a stamped background using ink splats from D1733 Splash of Color, so I used the co-ordinating colours from Sugar Rush to splash ink all over the page. I used Raspberry, Blossom, Seaglass, Tangerine, Ruby and Whisper. 

6. Cut paper and place on the page. I still like to play with ideas and adjust, changing zip strips or colours if they don't work etc. 

7. Adhere in place

8. Add your journalling and embellishments


Here is a sketch of the layout I ended up creating. It's a very simple one, and could be used over and over again with many different arrangements of photos: