Hi all
Here I am again with another tutorial for you. I have again used a digi kit from
Sahlin Studios with
Craft Artist 2 professional. As I said in the last tutorial you don't have to use the content I have or indeed follow the design to the letter, I am hoping that you may be inspired to create with any of the digi kits you have, .... make it your own, after all that is what creativity is about. Maybe you will be inspired to do a real life page using my design for a scrap lift or combine the two and go hybrid.
This is the project I am going to put together for you
Forever Blowing Bubbles
I have used the
Retro Mod kit from Sahlin Studios for my project. My page set up is a 12 x 12
I added the background by dragging and dropping it into my workspace and then added the photos I wanted to use to my photo tab. As I said before I like to add my photo first most of the time so I did that making it about 5.5'' x 4'' but didn't use an intelligent photo frame this time as I wanted to apply an effect to the photo instead via the photo lab tab on the 3rd tool bar.
The photo lab is launched by clicking the icon while the photo is selected. The page curl I wanted to apply is found in the effects tab in the style section and once the effect is clicked it travels across the photo adding the effect and opening a tab on the right where it can be adjusted, in this case I altered the horizontal and vertical values as well as the radius ones. Play about until you are happy then click ok, a pop up box will ask if you want to commit, click yes and you will be returned to your workspace (if you don't like the effect just click the undo tab on the 2nd tool bar!)
Next I wanted to use the small negative strip to add a couple of small photos. The intelligent digi frame version of this splits one photo in to two but there is the same strip in the embellishments which is what I used as I wanted to use two different photos. I dragged my photos on and arranged them behind the frame, sizing until the focal point of the photo was within the frame and then while it was still selected I picked up the crop tool on the 2nd tool bar and cropped the edges in until they were behind the frame by using the white nodules round the sides. I did this for both photos and then drew an imaginary box around the frame with my cursor so it snapped to the edges and clicked group on the bottom right corner so the whole thing would move as one unit if I needed to reposition it.
Next thing was to start building layers. I used a square of material from the materials tab as a base layer to ground the photos and also to give a focus for them. I then added the book page from the embellishments so the pattern of the material didn't distract too much. I places ribbons across the page arranged back and front to lead the eye across the layout and added some paper tabs along the negative strip edge to lift it away from the busy pattern behind. I started to add small details to like the staples at the end of the ric rac, the word confetti tabs to add to my story and a journal tab along the negative strip to add text to later. All the while I added shadows using the styles tab for quickness and to make sure the page came alive.
I wanted to pull some of the yellow through my design to brighten the page so chose to do this with some punched circles which lend themselves to the bubble title of my layout, however circles are also a great way of breaking up straight lines on a layout as well as adding splashes of different colours. I added some material to my grey space (which I use as my craft desk) and then dragged on the circle punch from the punch tab, dragging it onto the material. The punch can be resized and if you hold the ctrl key down while doing this (control key) you will find it stays a perfect circle and will also stay in the centre of the circle already punched. As you can see I punched one circle, reduced the size of the punch and punched the centre out to create a ring (click punch at bottom right to punch and just delete the bits you don't want. I then positioned the rings on the page, shadowing them and using the arrange tab to send behind the layers. You only need a little bit of the circle peeking out in places to create some movement on your layout.
Another little detail I added was the paperclip from the embellishments, I wanted it to look like it was holding the strip in place so while it was selected I picked up the erase tool on the 2nd tool bar and erased away a little of the centre of it so when it was added to the top of the photo strip it looked like part of it was behind as a real paper clip would.
More embellishments were added in the form of flowers, these break up the ends of the ribbon strips softening the lines while also creating more interest and layers to the page. Sizing is easier using the photo as a reference for the size of them. Arrange them so they overlap and don't forget the all important shadows. The tapestry flowers in the kit are brill, they look like they are really stitched on the page, to that end make sure they go all the way back to the background layer so the end of the ribbons sit over the stitches in this case
My title was added using the kit alphabet by typing what I wanted in the little white box at the bottom of the tab and clicking insert (group them all straight away so they can be sized and moved as one unit)
And my little bit of journaling (names and date) was added using the text tool. Click the text tool and click onto the grey space, select a typeset and a size and then type (you can click edit points to wrap or stretch your text if you want) I turned it with the ball tool and positioned it on the tab, shrinking it to size.
And that's it, a happy summery page, although it would work well for Autumn too! This page uses strong patterns but works because they are broken up with layers that allow the photos to breath and the circles add a softness as well as a splash of colour to lift the whole page.
I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial and feel inspired to create something in your own unique way! Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you again soon, until then, as ever
Happy Crafting
Love
MJM x
