Ha, it feels so good to be back at blogging! :)
Today I'd like to show you a layout I made for Get it Scrapped. It's a layout that I love and it came so easily together. It's the first page I made after a 5 months break! I was a little afraid to get back at it as I was thinking I might not know how anymore.... but Debbie Hodge had a great way for me to get back at it, painless! You want to know the trick?
Use a BRAND STYLE GUIDE
Debbie says: "A brand style guide is a collection of colors, fonts, images, textures and patterns that help businesses to create a cohesive look in the design of their websites, social media graphics and marketing materials that are consistent. These style guides can be a great roadmap when it comes to designing a cohesive scrapbook page. "
Here's a link to the Get it Scrapped Pinterest board where many brand style guide are curated.
https://www.pinterest.com/getitscrapped/inspo-brand-style-guides/
Here's the brand style I chose:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281052832979165321/
I chose it for it's soft palette and also for the choice of colors. I knew I wanted to make my layout about Arielle getting her little guinea pig. I wanted to be soft and dreamy. The pictures I had had a lot of stark orange in it and I felt the very pale pink would break it. I also loved the marble texture. It's not far from my watercolor I use all the time. Finally I loved the title work. The font and the mix of the 2 fonts. I thought the general look of this image was a good match to my style.
First thing I did was to gather my supplies. I took out one plain cardstock in Pink Pirouette (Stampin'UP!) that I knew would work as a base for my layout. And then I took out my big box of die cuts and gather everything that was in that color palette. I didn't find much of that sage green, so I went for a very soft greenish aqua instead. I also held on to any little bits of gold I was crossing path with.
Once my desk was covered with all these supplies, I felt pretty pumped! lol I forgot to mention that when I go through my die cuts box like this, I usually skip the very pretty ones. I like to hoard them just a little longer, but not this time! Since it was my first page in a very long while, I gave myself the permission to use ANYTHING that would fit and find a place on the page! What a freeing feeling! You should try that too!!
I printed 6 small pictures of Arielle meeting her guinea pig. I printed them 2 on one 4x6 photo and also leaving a white border around each photo. I knew that I would need small photos if I wanted to fit so many on the page. I ended up using 4 of them.
Here's the finally result:
Look at the color combo. I stuck to the guide almost 100%. I have the pale pink, the darker pink, the minty aqua, grey and a touch of gold. I substituted the beige with a toned down yellow, just because that's what I had, and actually, I think it does add a little touch of life and happy.
I often hear people ask how they should match the colors of their layout to the photos. If you look here, you'll see that nothing is matching. I just went with the predetermined color combo without worrying about matching my pictures. My pictures have orange in them, purple, pink, peach, and even an orange red... Nothing says it would work with the combo I chose. But if you stick to your combo, it will all make sense at the end.
I gathered my photos closely together, forming a grid where one picture is on top of the others and another photo is made bigger than the 3 others because I used a frame around it.
I printed my title directly on my background (I have a wide format printer) in grey, rather than in the usual black. I also used the non textured side of the cardstock so that the ink dens get into the creases and do weird things. I also did a print test on a white cardstock before I used my chosen background. I had only one more piece of that color!!! (little panic moment here) And I did have to make some adjustments. My title was may too big for the canvas.
That little rabbit is one of the die cut I would probably have hoarded, hadn't I told myself I can and have to use anything I like most! Also, I have to tell you that when i was looking for a place for the little rabbit, I first tried to put it down the page, next to the framed photo. But if you think about it, it makes so much more sens up at the top of the page, whit it's ballons in hand. I added a cloud and some stars to create a little scene. Try to think about that when you add an embellishment.
I also played with dimension. I added plenty of foam adhesive. And I played with foil as well. Also, when you add embellishment, try to link them together by overlaying them. You see how the star and the bunny are hiding the heart a little? And the head of the bunny goes over the cloud? And then the gold star is all alone, a little further? That creates tension between the elements and it makes them all belong together.
The smallest details like a tiny bit of stitching make a huge difference on a page.
I really like that small cluster of really pretty embellishments. The bicycle is a very pretty piece that draws the attention of the viewer very quickly. Then, the cluster of tags behind behind it, overlaying some transparencies and twine... it's a cluster of textures and different materials. It's very pleasing to the eye. Dont be afraid to add layers and letting just a little part of a very pretty piece (the bird!) peek out. Also, use little prompted spots to add details. Like here, on the new born baby tag with the stork, I added the date and even time we got the baby guinea pig. :) I checked on the picture information on my computer to find out the real time.
Finally, when embellishing a layout, use repetition! Here on the upper corner of the page, which was left totally empty, I grabbed elements that I had already used on the page. I used transparency, a flag label, gold foil, stitching and foam adhesive for dimension. All of these were already used somewhere on the page. By repeating them, you just tie everything together.
That's it for today. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you want to get out of a rut or if you just want to try this method to start a layout with a brand style guide, go ahead. Pick one from the Get It Scrapped Pinterest board and just get started. From my own experience, it works great!!
Talk to you again soon,
Marie
