Keeping It Simple

I'm not very good at simple. I tend to throw stuff at the page and end up putting bits in all four corners even when I'm trying to leave lots of "white space". This page is made with One Little Bird's Halcyon kit (part of The Lilypad's BYOC February 2015). I started off copying one of the CT layouts but drifted off piste.

I tried to fix the shadows so the elements stand out from the page, especially the flowers. I'll do a tutorial for My Memories later this week. In the meantime here are some tips for keeping it simple if you're one of the Very Bad People who like to throw stuff at a page:

1) Find a simple CT page you like and copy that. Obviously if you end up copying the entire thing you need to make sure you give credit to the person who made it.

2) Use only one photo and keep to one kit. Plain papers can be too traumatic so choose papers with a slight pattern.

3) When you think the page is finished force yourself to remove at least two elements!

I love the "live in the sun, swim in the sea, drink the wild air ..." quote. It's my mantra and we hope to live near this very beach one day. It's Alum Chine in Bournemouth and the photo was taken during the very hot summer in 2013 when we were lucky to be renting an apartment right by the beach for a week. No, we're not kidding ourselves it will be like that when we live there. For a start the apartment we buy will be half the size and not have a sea view!

Click on the picture below to get a bigger image:

Does My .... Look Big In This?

Yes it does! Although that could be because my head is missing since the template division slices right through it.

Why do scrappers think this kind of thing is OK? People cut in half, limbs sliced off, Vincent Van Gogh impressions ... my friends and I call it the Eeek Factor.  I've even seen designers who think that spreading a photo across pockets in trendy manner is more important than not cutting members of  your family in half. Please don't do it!

There are tips in the article HERE on positioning your photo and choosing the right template - plus a tutorial on merging photo boxes in PSE.

Here's a version of the page (I have several, I'm so proud that DH has mastered the Walking Away shot) showing all of me plus some of the woods. You can click on it to see a larger version. The cards are from Becky Higgins Digital Project Life Coral kit and the template is Template B, the embellishments and background papers are from Trixie Scraps' Nature Walk.


Maybe this photo shouldn't be split up at all. Here's a version of the page made with the same kit and a  template from a mystery best-thing-since-sliced-bread program I'll be reviewing in the next few days.