STORY OF THE PAGE(S): Back in 2011 I was on a creative tear when it came to making layouts and making layout templates to see in my digital shop. This page was part of that creative renaissance. (Yes, I had a creative renaissance, people. What? They happen ALL the time.)
You all know that I’m a huge believer in scrapbookers scrapbooking about themselves, right? We tell a lot of stories and guess whose story we can tell better than anyone else’s? Exactly. This page came after I’d been working with my therapist for about a year or so. It’s funny to me now because the shit I was working on from the start is still the shit I’m working on today. Change is measured in small moves. I think the one thing I’ve truly moved on from, however, is worrying about a clean house. It’s funny to me know how much stock I put into that idea, that somehow a clean house meant a clean mind and a clean mind meant that I was a good person. Oh, how naive I was. But that’s for another day.
After I made this page, I decided it’d be a great concept to apply to other people in my life as a way to share some of my hard fought wisdom with them. When you plus someone else into this format, it really becomes more of a Dear [insert person here] type of page. Writing directly to someone is such an easy way to make journaling seem a little less overthought.
Here’s a look at both pages.
DESIGN STUFF: Ahhh. Symmetry and repetition. Say it with me, won’t you? [ pauses, waits for you to say it ] Slice this layout in half either way and you have complete balance on all sides. The repetition comes in the form of journal blocks. The style repeats six times on this design. Simple color repeats in each small title and the font is the same for the entire page. When you use a single font for an entire design it creates a quiet invitation to the reader. It’s soothing, welcoming. And most importantly, it takes a backseat to the story. Here it’s the photo and the words that matter. The underlying symmetry supports the end goal of the design which is simply to communicate.
TECHNICAL SHIT: This type of page is a quintessential design for hybrid scrapbooking. You open up the file, you type in your small headings and your journaling. Then you turn off the photo layer and print onto a sheet of cardstock. Turn the photo layer back on, drop in your photo, customize your headline, turn off the text layers and print onto photo paper. One thing I like to also suggest is write to fit each block. Don’t have one block have fewer lines than the other. If all have the same number of text lines, there is a stronger symmetry at work.
Another thing you could do is create a collage of images to fill the center photo area. If you have the need to embellish, embellish away!
BUT CATHY, I MAKE 12 x 12 PAGES! Then do this page, and mount it onto a 12 x 12 and celebrate all that outer white space.
SENTIMENTAL SHIT: That photo of Cole… life moves so quickly, doesn’t it? And with it, so much change.
NEW TO HYBRID SCRAPBOOKING? This video walks you through using a digital template to make a hybrid page using Photoshop Elements.
SAVE 20% ON THIS TEMPLATE: The template I used for this page is on sale for 20% off through Wednesday.
SUPPLIES:
Layered Template No. 79
white card stock
12 Comments on “Make a Page Monday, Classic Edition”
I like your “notes to self” concept and layout. Sometimes you just got to put it out there.
Nice pages!
Hi Cathy, I loved your “notes to self” pages so much that I lifted that design, twice. The first time was in 2011 when my son broke his leg, “supposedly” in a hiking accident. The second time was in 2014, and I was ready to tell “the rest of the story”. Hopefully you’ll be able to zoom in and read the journaling 🙂 We can laugh about it now…kind of.
http://sunshinegirl.typepad.com/index/2014/05/the-joke-was-on-me-actually.html
Sally, it’s always cool to see how people are using them. And yep, those 18 year olds. 🙂
Beautiful layouts, both of them. Thanks for the reminder, I really need to do this for each of my kids. Thanks. Michelle t
Love the simplicity in this layout. I was actually thinking of doing something like this at the moment – and was stuck on the ‘how’. I too am about to start on a journey – and reading your journalling – I have similar ‘issues’. Good to see I’m not the only one out there facing these issues. 😉
I bought this template a while ago and it is one of my favourite. You have reminded me to do a page on both my grandsons using this layout. Thanks.
I am going to work on this layout today for one of my boys! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you as always for the many design tips you laid out in this post. You can never ever explain your design strategy too much or too often as far as I’m concerned! I love learning from you—you are an excellent teacher!
Hi, Cathy, just popping in – not specifically related to this post, but…
This evening I’ve been looking through my albums, especially the pages from when my girls were toddlers (btw featured on this blog with a water hose in a makeover a couple of years ago :)). And what hit me was how much I have saved of those little things that I would otherwise have forgotten. I’m just so happy I got into this hobby, and it’s very much because of you.
Thank you, Cathy, for all your inspiring work – pages, photos and words, for making me dive into this hobby and for every memory I now have on pixels. You are amazing.
I can picture those photos and that page perfectly! 🙂 Thanks for your comment today.