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Hello Everyone.

It’s my birthday on Wednesday! Hurray!! And you know what that means don’t you – CAKE CAKE CAKE! Gotta have cake on your birthday!

But never mind my birthday, I can’t believe Joshua turns three today! It’s incredible how time flies. I still remember the moment I held my little nephew and godson in my hands for the first time. In fact heres a picture:

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A little grainy because it was taken with my phone, but still cool all the same. I wish I had pictures of the first time I held each of my nieces and nephews.

Three years! Crazy.

Like all three year old little boys, Josh is talking a million words a second, has answers to everything and questions for everyone. He is such a little dude, and even tries to bargain with his daddy as to how many more spoonfuls of dinner he must eat before leaving the table. He cracks me up. I only wish I got to spend more time with him.

But the good news is that Josh, and Roge and Shelly are coming to visit next month. Only a few weeks away and I get to see the wee man for a whole weekend solid. YEAY! And you can bet I will have my camera every step of the way.

So today’s layout features Josh. During a family Barbeque back in April, some hula hoops appeared from somewhere and I can honestly say that I have never had so much fun with a hoop of tubing. Even Roger and I were splitting our sides as we tried to jump through the hoops as they spun across the yard. A few grazes, but lots of laughs.

Happy Birthday

Josh.

I love you.

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Products used
Thickers vinyl letters
Stampin Up Whimsical wheel
white embossing powder
Bisous scraps
Basic Grey alpha stickers
Number and pocketwatch stamps that came with Craft Stamper magazine
White gel pen
Bubble stickers by Herma
Fun stamp from Studio G

What’s even crazier is that three years on, I still have that top, and I still wear those glasses. I really have to stop spending money on craft supplies and buy some clothes and a new pair of specs.

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This was one of my first attempts at a double page layout, and I was so chuffed with the result.  Some of you may recognise this layout as I know i’ve posted it in a couple of online galleries, but i thought I would share it with you over here on my webbysite.

Following a fantastically fun day at the park, I wanted to make a multi-photo layout, so – inspired by Paperclipping’s finest, Noell Hyman – I chose to experiment with a grid design, and I had sooooo much fun with it.

Please let me walk you through my creative process in the making of this layout. I wish I had the foresight to take pictures of each of the steps all the way through, but words will have to suffice this time.

The Process

Firstly I cut out two rectangular panels from pieces of scratch paper and placed these onto two 12 x 12 pages as a rough guide as to where I wanted the blocks of photos to lie.  Using cheap white copy paper meant that I could scribble ideas and cut out shapes easily which helped with the experimental process.

Next, whilst referring to the photos I wanted to include on the layout, I roughly sketched some rectangles onto the scratch paper, making sure to leave even gaps between where each photo would lie. This took a little bit of time as I wanted to have a variety of shapes and sizes, but still ensure that I was able to include the subject of the photos. I took a look at the design and chose a few of the rectangles that would be for pattern paper rather than a photo, and these were usually the long narrow or very small rectangles, and I marked these with an X. Next I scribbled numbers on each of the rectangles, and cut them out of the scratch paper.

With all my rectangles cut out, I placed these on the 12×12 pages in the positions I wanted them to be, and in actual fact I did reshuffle them a little bit from the original design. Plus I ended up cutting a strip off one rectangle and sticking it to the end of the adjacent piece. I was able to easily visualise the end result and experiment with some changes whilst still using the scratch paper, so I wasn’t wasting any luscious scrapbook supplies, or expensive photo paper.

For the next step I measured each of the rectangles of scratch paper and using Photoshop I resized and cropped each of the individual photos to match the exact size. Once printed, I cut the photos out using a paper trimmer and stuck them into their appropriate place.

Once all the photos were in place, it was really fun to add colour to the layout by adding patterned paper, and what an awesome way to use up scraps of paper, which I am sure we all possess! I added some interest to the page by placing butterfly rub ons over the gaps between the photos, as this made the layout look less rigid, and more whimsical.

By this stage I was having lots of fun so instead of having all rectangles, I mixed things up a little by adding a journaling block with a fancy decorative edge.  I also created the allusion of a rectangle for the title panel by drawing faux stitching to create a rectangular frame around a small piece of pattern paper.  To finish, I recreated this look by drawing faux stitching around the whole photo block, which anchored the design and also reinforced the idea that this is one design rather than two distinct and separate pages.

In all honesty, now that we are a year on, and I am much more proficient in using Photoshop, I can think of potentially quicker ways of making a grid design for a two page layout, but I certainly do not regret this old school method of paper, scissors and trial & error.

:0)

Thanks for looking!

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