Welcome to The Cherry's traditional scrap Tuesdays.
I whipped up this layout in under two hours, with the stash I had from various products that are probably even fairly dated. I wanted to show a step by step process on how a basic multi photo layout is composed. Consider aesthetic, balance, layers, color, paper and embellishments before you begin and throughout the process.
Follow along the step by step photos to see how it's done. I have no fancy tools. Some different kinds of basic adhesives, scissors, paper cutter and you're set.
First, I gathered up some really fun photos that I took of the boys a few years ago. All of the photos are from the same event and have awesome consistency with each other because of that. This also helps with the aesthetic of your layout.
The next step is to choose some goodies from your existing stash. Consider what your photos are of. In this case, young boys. Also consider the colors in your photos. My favorite! A basic, red, blue and yellow.
Notice my optimal organizing system? Hehehe...I've been scrapping for nearly two decades and still just throw it all in a bag. I'm not saying this is a good system. I'm lazy and would rather be scrapping than organizing. It's a little organized according to category, boys.
Take a peek at what I chose from my stash. I want you to notice color, the kind of elements (suitable for young boys and with the colors from the photos) and also notice there is nothing fancy here. Most of this is just inexpensive sticker sheets and one card stock with some critters and flowers, that I didn't end up using, but could have.
My other bag of scraps. Abominable, eh? I do go through this every 5 years or so. Hehehe...I love pulling out colors from the elements and the pictures so it will give an overall coherent look.
See what I grabbed? The papers mirror the embellishments in color, youth, fun and vivacity.
We've got all of our goodies together, which can be rather time consuming. That's what makes collections so awesome. In a good collection you don't have to search for these things and they surely will match, even if you don't recognize it.
Consider how you want to position your photos on the page. Do you have to crop? Will you ditch the white border, if there is one? Are you going to add extra layers for color, depth and dimension?
I got a bit lucky with my photos. Note two long photos and two rectangle photos. This is really ideal for a super balanced layout. It doesn't get easier than this. Above I positioned them. I could have cropped the photos a bit, but I quite liked the white trim and wanted to keep it.
I love layers. Nothing says quality, time and caring like layers. It's also an excellent way to introduce color, contrast color and or bring your layout all together.
I scrapped up a couple of banners with the scrap that matches my layered frames to reintroduce these colors. I'm an eye baller. I just lay my cut out on top of the next paper to cut, to get an idea where to cut.
Go from the corner of your rectangle to the centre and then on the other side to form a triangle like this.
There we go! Notice the alternating colors and how the banners of the photo are the opposite of the mat? This is how you create balance in your layouts. (I didn't end up using these.)
This is how I don't organize my alphas and lettering. Throw them in a drawer! Hehehe...
I went for these larger chipboard letters I bought at a discount store. As cheap as I am, I'm not a fan of inferior adhesive. Paper and stickers don't really seem to matter, but adhesives are a whole other ball game. Go with the good stuff if you can. These letters were not great quality. The adhesive doesn't stick at all. The paper backing was very difficult to get off without ruining the letter and the letters were damaged rather easily, too. Still! Better than paying a fortune if you haven't got it, which I don't. I also do not have a cutting machine.
To keep a balanced look, I grabbed all of the letters I needed in different colors that were in the photos until I could come up with the perfect color combination for two words. Yellow, light blue, red, dark blue and orange. It looks much better than say, with two red letters next to each other. If that's all you have, than so be it.
A tip I often give is to use different kinds of adhesives. Check this out. On my photo you see one long strip of double sided tape as well as glue. There reason for this is two fold. One, if one adhesive gives out over time, you have back up. So, you don't have to re glue your page. Two, if you use only double sided tape, you have to get it right the first time. With the added glue, you have room to play as long as you don't push down on your tape. I love being able to nudge and adjust until I have it positioned perfectly.
This is actually a card stock paper of 12x12 with a fun design. I'm cutting out the images that match my palette and using them as embellishments. I do this all of the time. Think of cards you receive, mail, magazine images...it all works.
Here's another handy idea for you. I want to put this flower behind the photo. That means you'll only be seeing a portion of the flower. I only have one flower anyway, so I'm cutting this one in two. I also do not want to introduce yet another color into the palette. Covering the pink will make the layout look much better.
Let's quickly review what we've done so far.
-We layered up our photos with coordinating colors from the pictures.
-We positioned the layered photos nicely in the centre of the page leaving a blank frame/the background that is about the same the entire way around. Look closely. There is about 1/2 and inch the entire way around the background paper and also note how far apart each picture is from the other. Just about the same, about 1/4 of an inch. This helps tremendously with balance.
-We have not adhered our matted photos yet! We are placing around our embellishments, first.
-We've placed our flowers behind our photos. Look how many there are, three. Three is the magic number when it comes to balance. It brings your balance even further. Odd numbers are usually recommended as well when composing a piece or layout.
-I've placed long flowers in the long pictures being sure not to cover any important part of the photos and used more squatty elements on the wider photos.
-All of the colors are coordinating. Don't stray from your palette if you want to stay on the safe side.
Here's another tip for you. I wasn't sure how these dinos were going to fit on my layout because the backing is not clear. I cut them out and placed them where I thought they might look before pulling the sticker off. It's a bit of extra work, but if you want to be sure...
This dino is terrible here! The colors are great, but the size is all wrong. The dino is just about as long and wide as the blue flower. Not good. We want to mix and match in our clusters.
I have not glued anything down at this point. I'm playing with the elements trying to figure out which to put where. Look at the top right cluster. I chose a shorter, wider dino to contrast the long, tall flower behind it. The roundness of the orange flower is also contrasting the other elements. This gives the cluster balance.
Top right, coordinating orange flower, blue dino, slightly smaller and the green flower. All very different on their own, but still matching everything on the layout so far.
Bottom left, long tall, red dino, orange flower, small, round, green flower on top. All the same colors in the layout, but different from each other. This adds interest.
Bottom right, long tall flower, squatty dino.
Still not gluing! Playing with the letters this time. Observe the placement. Varied yet coordinating colors and when you position them like this, you don't have to worry about keeping them on a straight line AND you save a lot of space. This was really ideal to save space and because the word itself is "fun", why not place the letters in a fun pattern.
Since we are putting the half flowers behind our photos, it is important to remember to NOT adhere where they need to go. I place adhesive all around my mat except where the flower needs to be tucked.
Position it just the way you like. Stay on your background paper.
There is our first cluster all glued into place and with a few added grass stickers. FIVE elements in this cluster. Remember odd numbers. This isn't always the case, but often.
Next cluster, all set and glued in. I added more grass to mimic the other cluster and this bright orange flower centre from my alphas.
What fun?! Hehehe...the lettering is a part of the cluster. The "N" is not perfect. I just added a gem over the blemish because there were tiny gems on some of the stickers and I wanted a touch of something else scattered over the page anyway.
That's it! All finished! A fun, basic layout and the boys can't stop touching it. Hehehe...They think it is really, really fun and liked the memory of the wash baskets. I wish they were always this enthusiastic over my layouts! Hehehe...
I hope you could get a few tips and pointers from today's blog. I'll be back on Thursday for a Throwback of a previous free template you may have missed. On Freebie Friday, I'll have June's planner pages and Saturday, I have a teacher appreciation, free printable.
See you then!
I would love to see what you are scrapping and you can show off your digital and or traditional layouts in our new group on Facebook. We share tips, free stuff, ooh and aah over each other's work, play games and all kinds of fun stuff.
Happy scrapping!
