This week we take a bit of blog writing from last week, and turn it into a scrapbook page.
(click on the image to see it larger in a new window)
SIZE/MODE: 12 x 12 hybrid layout
THE STORY: It all started last week with a post about sex muffins. Okay, actually it was a post about binge eating and how I love my husband's sense of humor. I realized after I wrote the blog post that this is the type of stuff I most want to remember. It's not so much what we did for some big, traditional occasion. Nope. Not for me. I want to remember these little exchanges that mean so much to me in my life. I want to remember the small slices of authentic joy. So, I took the blog post, edited it down a bit for space, and combined it with a handful of photos of Dan, me, and of course, sex muffins.
THE JOURNALING: I like the idea of baking. I like the image of pulling out warm, tasty goodness from my oven and presenting this home-baked bounty to my family. The problem with any and all of my forays into baked goods is that I can't handle being in the same room with a freshly baked anything. I can't have just one muffin. Or two. Not even three.
On this particular Sunday, I'd eaten 7 muffins. Seven. Count 'em. Seven cuplets of delicious banana bready nirvana. Dan had gone out for the evening and when he returned, I was feeling bloated and disappointed in my food choices that day. It's not that I have to answer to Dan with food. We who are trying to slim down know the hard and fast truth here: you answer to yourself alone, and possibly the scale. Still, I like to pull the 'whoa is me' routine when I feel lousy about my nutritional choices for the day. So when I gave him the report, I rounded down. "I ate six muffins today," I said, sounding weary and beaten down, then tacking on a heavy sigh with the delivery.
His reply? "Sex muffins? I want some!"
Thanks, babe, for knowing the right thing to say 99 percent of the time. I'm never not going to be grateful for your sense of humor.
Let's break down the finer points of this simple design.
1. Symmetrical balance: If you slice this page down the center, what do you see? The weight of the images from side to side is a equal. Even steven. A mirror image. If you haven't caught on yet, I'm a huge fan of symmetry. Why? Because it helps to inform my design. When I know I need the same on the left as the right, it helps me to build a page more efficiently and more confidently.
2. Repetition: There are shapes repeated (squares) and colors (orange). I like to try and pick just one patterned paper that meshes with my background cardstock. This way, I have simple repetition of color to tie the design together. I also repeated the patterned paper itself.
3. Framing space and equal margins: Notice the 1-inch margin around all of the content, and the smaller margins in an around the photos and the journaling. Purposeful use of space ties a design together, and frames it as well.
Here is a basic sketch you can download to keep in your scrapbooking files. The sketches are on 8.5 x 11 paper for easy printing.
printable journal card—Story Savers No. 01 by Cathy Zielske
corner rounder—Creative Memories
patterned paper—Electric Glow/Lime Paper by My Mind's Eye
font—Avenir
Note: My Story Savers cards, when printed at full size with crop marks, and trimmed, will fit perfectly into the journaling space on this sketch.
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This design is also available in a layered digital template from Designer Digitals and is on sale until 6 a.m. Tuesday morning.
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For those of you who like the Story Savers PNG and brush sets, I've also just released two more. One for sports, and one for the holidays. Both are on sale as well until 6 a.m. Tuesday morning.
