This is going to be a huge photo heavy lesson - so go and grab a cup of coffee now (don't say I didn't warn you) and make yourself comfortable. My lesson this month is on layering and I plan on taking you step by step thorough my process.
Cut 3cm of the top and one of the sides of a 12x12 inch sheet of white cardstock, then pick a light colour mist that will complement your layout and spray randomly onto the cardstock.
Take the top off the spray bottle and flick the straw at your page around where your spray marks are.
This is what my spraying and flicking looked like when I was finished.
Before the first colour of mist dries spray a second darker colour onto the first colour mist.
Lift your page up so that the mists run down your page.
Place the cardstock flat again and use the straw of the second spray to flick some small dots around on the page.
Next use a dark third colour and hold it straight up and down above the page and let the mist drip off the end of the straw into large drips.
Before it dries hold your page upright again and let the large drips of the darkest mist run down your page.
This is what my background page looked like when I had finished.
Mat at plain coloured 28x28 cm square pattern paper onto a 12x12 inch floral pattern paper to create the background - Mat it so that it is in the bottom left hand corner.
This is the start of my layering - I randomly picked up some left over scraps from another layout that I had done that was still on my table (yes I am not very organised and don't clean up after each layout). As you can see I had various sizes and shapes, I even included the strip I had cut off from the blue background pattern paper. Next I found placed my photo I wanted to used down on the scraps.
The next three photos are me running my photo of the top of the spread out paper to see which one I thought would look best as the mating for my photo.
I usually just hold the photo above the pattern paper and see which one catches my eye and which one looks good.
After contemplating them all ...........
I finally picked the red/pink pattern.
Next I lightly screw up my paper to add a bit of volume to it. No more than what you can see in the photo - you don't want to over do it.
Straighten out the paper and adhere your photo to it. I like to put a bit of 3Dimensional tape in one corner to lift it up a bit and add interest to the layers.
Next slide a bit of contrasting colour to underneath the first paper.
Add another piece of patterned paper but angle it so that you can see more poking out the top and only one side.
Here I am thinking of adding a piece across the bottom but I think that it is a bight to bright and might be distracting to the layout ........
so I cut a piece of vellum and layer it over the floral paper to dull the colours down a bit.
Next I want to add a longer length to the layers so I grab a strip and
tuck it behind some of the layers so that it pokes out the top and the bottom of the photo.
Here I want to add a journaling card so I can write on it later....but keep watching it doesn't turn out that way.
Now after looking at the layering and what I have done so far I feel like it is longer in length towards the bottom so I balance it up with a rectangle at the top.
The yellow layer really stands out too much on it's own so I want to balance it a bit so add a small tag of the same yellow.
Now for some smaller elements, I add two small tags to the top right of the photo, making sure to tuck them under some of the layering.
Here I have tucked half of a die cut sticker behind the top left layering.
Out of all the scraps left over I have one piece of teal/blue paper, on small strip of the blue background paper (which has migrated on my desk somewhere and isn't shown on this photo) and one piece of extra velum.
Adhere the white misted cardstock onto the coloured paper for the background to all of that layering.
Place one of the 6x6 inch The Crafters Workshop Templates over the top of the misting, cover the edges up so that you do not spray your background paper - you can see here I have used some scrap paper and some old packaging to cover up.
Spray the template with white mist.
This is how it turned out - it was a subtle touch and not how I had imagined or wanted it so I lined up the dots on the stencil with the sprayed dots again...........
and used Gesso over the white mist.
I did it randomly and messy.
Next adhere your layering onto the base. At this stage I add some more 3 Dimensional tape behind random layers to give height and interest.
Finish off with embellishments, a title and journaling. You can see in the final layout I kept adding bits and pieces to it until I covered up the spot where I had first planned to journal so I adapted and used the small yellow tag for journaling. I used some small alpha stickers for the title on the second half of the sticker die cut, which I added to the bottom of the layout.
These are the Days
Some handy hints for layering;
Build up with texture on your base cardstock to create interest.
Use left over scrap patterned paper to save your bigger sheets.
Use dimensional tape to build up height.
Don't be afraid to keep adding paper or to take away depending on how you think your layout is going.
Have fun.
All products used on this layout, except for the mist and the washi tape at the bottom of the layout is available in the Mystical Scrapbooks Store.
Well if you have stuck in this post to the very end I thank you. Hope you got something from my lesson and see you at Mystical Scrapbooks.
Hugs
Tracey
