Anatomy of a Layout

While putting my layouts together for this month, I thought I'd take a couple photos of a 12x12 page in progress and share what I was thinking as I worked. I was sure about a couple things before I started. One, I wanted to use photos of our visit to Monterey Aquarium and two, I wanted to incorporate the fish paper in some manner.



I gathered my photos and Scenic Route Grafton paper and decided on what I'd use. The two white squares represent photos and were punched out with my two-inch square punch. I wanted to see how that size would work in my space before I committed to punching the pictures. As for the title, I wasn't sure where I wanted to put my title and didn't want to accidentally stick my stickers where I didn't want them, so I lined them up on my transparent ruler. You can see here that the two words are too close together, which I easily resolved later. Sticking them on the ruler, though, lets me see how they'll look on the page without actually putting them on the page. And it lets me judge how much room I'll need. The transparent ruler is made of awesome.



I decided that I wanted to turn my 12x12 page into an interactive page by creating a folder with the blue 8.5x11 paper. To do so, I scored the longer side about an inch in and adhered it to the back of my 12x12 paper. This is a great way to keep your 12x12 dimensions while also giving you extra space. And you get the added touch of wondering what's behind the page. (Cool, secret stuff!) I also used my newest toy, Fiskars Threading Water punch, to create the scallops. You can see that I brought out some diecuts and stickers for possible use. Nope, they didn't make the cut. You can also see the fish up top still swimming around on my healing mat, waiting to be used.



I'm using my ruler here to place my foam Thickers by American Crafts. Once I had them where I wanted them, I pressed the tops down and peeled back the ruler. You'll still get some wonky letters (m's going askew, etc), but that's easily fixed by nudging them with your finger. (If you want to fix them, that is. Sometimes that wonky look is exactly what you want.)



The left side of the page was blank and needed a little kick. I wanted to keep a large portion of white space (negative space that allows a layout to breath) but also wanted a small something there. I tried the fish, but they were too overwhelming. So back to the healing mat they went. I went with couple of stripes of patterned paper and chipboard accent, which added the touch I was looking for.



For the inside of the folder, I wanted a good amount of images along with plenty of journaling space. My photos were all 4x6s and that wouldn't work here, so I opened up Photoshop, resized the images, added a title and printed it out on white card stock. That piece went on top of the fish patterened paper. Yay, fishes! They weren't the originals that were cut out, but sometimes you have to compromise on a design. :)

Supplies: Scenic Route Grafton paper and chipboard accent; American Crafts Thickers (foam and Poolside vinyl); font, Helvetica Neue; software, Photoshop CS3

I'd love to see how everyone else approaches their pages. Take pictures or just talk about your process. If you do take pictures, link us to your blog so we can peek!