Hello again. Happy Thursday!
Do you ever sit down to scrapbook and realize that the photos you want to use to tell one story are a mix of landscape and portrait orientation? I have developed the kind of style that prefers a single photo block on my pages so mixing the orientations can be challenging sometimes.
In the immortal words of Barney Stinson, “Challenge Accepted!”
Oh, and for added fun (and challenge) let’s mix two different background papers too!
As I was going through the papers in my May 2015 Gossamer Blue Kits I thought the pink card stock would be perfect for this layout (even though my daughters red jacket asserts itself quite loudly) but I only had one piece. Then I noticed that the B-sides of the Fancy Pants papers were basically solid colours and one was such a close match to the pink card stock that I knew I had a winner.
Looking at the double page spread as a whole you can see the mix of photo orientation immediately. But I like to think it flows nicely from left to right. The story begins on the left side with two landscape photos matted as one block. This 8″ high block is the tallest and is further heightened by the embellishment above it. Having the tallest element here lends a natural starting point for Western readers like us who read from left to right. Your eye starts at the highest point which is the top left and flows down and across in a pleasing manner.
The height disparity of the one landscape photo on the right side is not so obvious because I have used the space above it to house my title thus increasing the perceived height to that of the photo beside it. Clear as mud?
Let’s take a closer look at each side.
When working across a 24″ canvas it is important to connect the two sides visually. There are several ways to do this but I find the easiest is by using the same (or very similar) elements and products on both sides. And my most very favourite way is to use a 6″ x 12″ block of paper across the entire span – like the confetti print one behind the photos. To anchor the matted photos I’ve used a piece of floral paper above this strip and two strips of solid coloured paper (actually two stripes cut from the same patterned paper) on top of that. You will see these same papers repeated on the right side.
This time the yellow stripe helps to ground the photos. It also meant I could cheat a tiny bit with photo placement. I really don’t think it’s obvious but the photos on the right side are not in line with the photos on the left side. Normally that type of thing would bug me but having that yellow strip there means I could get away with it.
Since the dark floral print was at the top of the page on the left I place it at the bottom of the page on the right side. This balances things visually. The embellishment cluster on the bottom right is doing the same thing – balancing the embellishment cluster at the top left. These two areas also act as “book ends” to contain the story within. Your eye naturally wants to start at the top left and end at the bottom right so I have given you defined areas to help you do that. Tricky, right?
Here are some closer look at the details on the layout.
Well that’s three layouts down, one to go. I have a busy day tomorrow with a field hockey tournament and my last shift at Pier1 so look for the final layout from my May 2015 Gossamer Blue kits to be shared on Saturday. See you then!
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