The Fall issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today is out now and you can view it for free online. My column, Clean & Simple, focuses on one of my favorite design topics: balance. Let’s jump in and look at the pages.
STORY OF THE PAGE: I like plants. Not all plants. Just succulents. Why? They look cool and apparently they are hard for me to kill. Also, while my children are doing things that they may not want scrapped for all time, I am finding other stories that capture the picture of my life, so to speak. That’s code for: Good GOD, what am I supposed to scrapbook about it it’s not kid stories. And of course, I jest… sort ot.
DESIGN STUFF: You know what type of balance I’m working here, right? Yep. Symmetry. Slice this page down the middle and what you have on the left, you have on the right. Solid, stable and complete. Granted, I do very little embellishing on my pages, but you can have a symmetrical core and go all nuts with the accoutrements. It’s just a base of design that reminds solid. Then one tricky thing on this page? The wide journal block. Normally, I do not advise making such wide journal blocks, but you can do it as long as you include lots of leading (the space between the lines) and keep the lines to, oh, let’s say four or less. The goal with any journaling should be readability. Those long lines get tricky in journal blocks with several lines. These are just some basic type rules, the kind I teach in my soon-to-be-live class, Ten Tips for Better Type.*
TECHNICAL SHIT: Six photos. All the same size. Sigh. I could do—and probably have done—this design a million times over. I created one big word for the title and a wide journal block using Photoshop and then printed it directly onto a sheet of 12 x 12 white cardstock.
SENTIMENTAL SHIT: They’re plants.
FREE SHIT: You can download this template for your own digital collection. Click here to make it so.
STORY OF THE PAGE: October is the most Instagram-worthy month of the year. Oh yeah, baby. I stand behind that statement 100%.
DESIGN STUFF: The balance here? Asymmetrical. What you have on the left is balanced by something different on the right. The cluster of small photo squares provides balance to the title and journaling, though they are not equal in the space they occupy. Asymmetry takes a little more thought and planning. It’s not just coughing up photos and embellishments and seeing where they land. There are still other things to consider: margin spacing, white space use and repetition (here it’s photo size, the colors orange and black).
TECHNICAL SHIT: In the Fall issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today, I walk you through how to make framed, mini photo squares like you see on my layout. Simple and adorable. Click here to read the article which begins on page 55.
SENTIMENTAL SHIT: I love Halloween. I think this says it all.
FREE SHIT: Oh, you like that little ‘october’ title, do you? Then you’ll like the set of Fall month cut files I created just for you, as well as my famous bat file. Find them here.
* I’m shooting to launch Ten Tips for Better Type by week’s end, followed about a week later by the all new 30 Days of Thankful e-course. Working out the final bugs on the new site and I will let you know when it’s ready to roll out!
Just a reminder that the Designer Digitals Quarterly Sale is on! Save 40% on everything in the store. Hey! That’s almost half off!
Michelle t says
Love these layouts! I have to tell you…I know I expressed my love for your Minimal flags #2. I picked up both 1 and 2 this weekend. I love, love, love them! Perfect for my WITL, which I’m getting ready to start putting together. Now, I can only put them on a word document, print, and cut them out, and use as embellishments that way. I just figured that out. But that’s ok, these flags, both sets, are so perfect for my photos. The laundry one? Crazy over. I actually have a photo of me putting clothes in the dryer. And one of a folded pile. Yeah, we do laundry here. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for such great sets. Michelle t
Cathy Zielske says
Yay! Thanks for the feedback, Michelle. 🙂 I’m glad you like them. I kind of like them, too! 😉
heidig says
Love these layouts – you threw me off with the asymmetrical one. You typically don’t place your photos like that but it totally works! Can’t wait for the new classes.
Sharee says
Cathy, I love your fall month titles. Thank you for sharing! I downloaded them and tried to upload the dxf version to my Silhouette to no avail. Are they meant to be used as a cut file on a Silhouette? I have had the same issue with a few other freebies from the Scrapbook & Cards today. Not sure if it’s something I’m doing wrong or if the file is empty. Thanks!
Cathy Zielske says
Sharee, try this: Open a doc in Silhouette, then do a File > Open from that doc and ope the DXF version. See if that works. if it doesn’t, email me at cathy@cathyzielske.com and I can get you a Silhouette file!
Joanna says
Your succulent pictures and succulent page are making me want to go out and buy succulents and take photos of them. They are fabulous.
Jenny B. says
Great pages! I’ve decided one of the things I love about your pages is that your photos match your simplistic scrapping style. Your photos never have a cluttered background. In the rare photo where you do capture some clutter, you simplify it by making it black & white. Anyway… just an observation. 🙂
Catherine says
Cathy, I love the titles…totally love them, but I’m having trouble downloading them. When I get to the download page it says click on the title below the picture but for some reason the title isn’t an “active” link for me, if that makes sense. I click on it but all it does is highlight the word my cursor in on. Any suggestions?
Jennifer says
If you go to the very bottom of the page on the downloads page, there is a list of free downloads. You can click there to download the titles file.