For many of us with school age children, this seems to be one of the busiest times of the year. And for those of us with kids in fall sports, our driving/sitting/watching obligations fill the leftover minutes quickly. Despite our hectic calendars (or perhaps because of them?!), our photo pile grows taller and taller. Wooed by the perfect lighting of August evenings, we take lovely summer's end photos. Tasked with school shopping and meet the teacher nights, we take milestone photos. And squeezing in those last minute summer todo items, we document document document. While our pile of photos grows, our time to scrapbook shrinks.
But do not panic! Soon, the schedule will resume regular programming. And until then, we are here to help you! Today we bring your three challenges to help you put together pages in no time flat! Armed with your photos, and a story to tell, this week we bring you three design starters that we know will be just the nudge your page needs to come together quickly.
SKETCH
This month's sketch has room for eight photos! Looking to Erin's Summer Lovin' Gallery layout, Hiking in Bedford, Donna created a template that is perfect for a collection of photos.
Using Donna's sketch, I put together a layout in record time and didn't have to sacrifice any of the photos that I really wanted to include.
Keeping the same orientation, I completely made use of the photo grid, but left out the right side background paper in exchange for some lovely white space. Doing so created some breathing room which allowed for a bigger embellishment, and also more room for journaling--you know how I love my words!!
Katie also made great use of Donna's sketch.
Look closely at how Katie rearranged the photos. The shot of Maya in her life jacket takes center stage as it is just a hint bigger than the others. At first glance, I thought Katie must have sacrificed a photo to get this, but she didn't! There are eight there, just like mine. Isn't it fun to see the difference little changes can make?
Before we leave Katie's layout, I can't help but notice some other little details. The sunshine is cut out of the red, and the yellow is adhered from behind. Not only does this mean she didn't have to cut and glue each of those tiny little sunshine rays, but it also adds a very current feel, emulating the silhouette trend. And in the center of the sun, behind the button, Katie cut around and around, then pulled the paper forward, allowing for extra contour and depth. Oooh, it's the little details that take a layout from great to fanfreakintastic!
And as always, you are free to right click the sketch up above to save it or if you prefer a layered template, we have one for you, too, that you may download here! Please leave us a comment and a link so that we may see your work of art!
ROYGBIV
This month, I fell in love with the colors in Katrina's Summer Lovin' layout, Picture Perfect.
Grey as a color is practical and calm. Blue is harmony and contemplation. Green is hopeful and signifies life and growth. No wonder this layout makes you breathe a bit more deeply and linger a little bit longer.
Here is my color layout.
I know the color element are small, but I love how they shine! And hope that you see that using color doesn't mean using COLOR!
TRENDING
This month there was a huge trend in the gallery! Look through these layouts and tell me what they have in common: Vivian, Kathy, Diane, Celeste, Valerie, Christa, Keshet, Donna, and Marie. I'll give you a minute...
...
See it?
...
You guessed it--background graphic elements: grids, graph lines, hexagon outlines, circles, lines, these layouts have them all! Such elements are especially beloved around here as they add a clean graphic nature to a layout without a lot of visual clutter.
I added some lines to a layout and love how it looks!
If you love the look, check out the backside of your patterned paper. Chances are better finding it on the reverse!!
There you have it! Three reasons to scrapbook today! Really, I mean it! You will be glad you did, and I can't wait to see your layouts! Soon, please? :)
