Make a Page Monday—The SCT Spring 2017 Issue

The Spring 2017 issue of Scrapbook & Cards Today is out now and this year I’m debuting a new column called “Design Your Story.” My focus last year was more on page design and this year it will be geared more towards stories. The good news is that I can cover design stuff here on my blog. You can read the article online for free by clicking here. Let’s jump in, shall we?

STORY OF THE PAGE: What a difference two years makes. The theme of my column for the Spring issue is time comparisons, and this one makes my heart swell because there is nothing like seeing your child emerge from a challenging situation. Her freshman year wasn’t what she thought it would be so she made the changes that were needed. I wanted to celebrate this, of course, on a layout.

DESIGN STUFF: This page features an asymmetrical balance. The images and patterned papers are shifted to the right, and the title and journal block provide balance on the left. Repetition ties the design together. See the three areas with the floral paper? Yep, there’s a visual triangle for you. And, I also repeated the grid paper and the type style of the title and the A on the punched circle. Always look for little things to repeat for a unified finished look.

TECHNICAL SHIT: This page started as a digital template. I dropped in photos and typed up my journaling leaving room for the chipboard pencil from a Studio Calico kit. I printed the journaling onto pink cardstock, and then added all the other pieces. I printed each photo on a piece of 4 x 6 photo paper using my Epson PictureMate. Note: when printing photos from a template, I copy both the photo and the layer mask into a new document for printing, in this case, a 4 x 6 canvas. You can get a lot of mileage out of a layered template. Here are two other times I’ve used it and yes, the first time I used it was for when Aidan left for college, and I did another time traveling page:

And I used it again for a digital page about Cole:

One template, three looks. Boom!

Let’s move onto my second layout from the Spring issue…

STORY OF THE PAGE: A simple before and after layout documenting a process, in this case, the remodel of my house from 2010. I think befores and afters are just so fun and offer so many opportunities for story telling. Whether it’s a first haircut (or any haircut), a remodel project, a cleaned room, a first day of school verses a last day… if you’ve got photos showing something from before and something from after, you’ve got a story waiting for a home.

DESIGN STUFF: This page is symmetrical and centered. In fact, all the content fits in the same space right down the center. I could do pages with this design all day long. I love how even and balanced it is. I love the little bits of repetition that tie the design together. It all started with that cute acrylic Place word from Close to My Heart. (All patterned papers are also from CTMH.) This definitely inspired the story of home.

TECHNICAL SHIT: Again, purely hybrid starting with a digital template. And this template is available to download for free! Just click here to visit the Bonus Files page for the Spring issue. I added all the elements into the template, then turned off all layers except the journaling to print onto white cardstock. Next, I made a subtitle strip and the little before and after tabs. I printed each photo on a piece of 4 x 6 photo paper, again using my Epson PictureMate. Then it was just a matter of printing and trimming and finding other little bits to finish the page.

Click on the image below to visit the Scrapbook & Cards Today Spring downloads page!

And speaking of templates…

Build your template library today and shop the Designer Digitals Template Sale! Also take an additional 20% off your entire purchase by using the code LUCKYYOU at checkout! Sale ends Friday morning at 6 a.m. EST.