Go To Designs: Diagonal Flow

Welcome to another episode of Go To Designs! This month I've chosen to feature the downward diagonal. It creates movement and leaves no doubt as to where your eye should travel on the page. I like to think of diagonal flow in three categories.

#1A - Regular Diagonal

This is the most common way to use diagonal flow. It begins in the upper LH corner and flows to the lower RH corner of the page. Spanning the page seemed the logical thing to do on this layout about the Mackinac Bridge.

#1B - Regular Diagonal

Even if the elements are separated, as mine are here, your eye travels that downward path. This is the way we are trained to read, so it is a familiar and pleasing design.

#2 - Cluster Diagonal Brand New Page!

This version still progresses from upper left to lower right, but the elements are clustered together instead of separated. The design is more compact, leaving generous white space on the layout. This page is about my great-grandfather and a favorite phrase I remember him saying.

#3 - Reverse Diagonal Brand New Page!

If you want to shake things up a bit, try what I call the reverse diagonal. It flows from upper right to lower left. A striking design that depends on the unexpected to grab your attention. It works: these always catch my eye in the galleries.

If you are new to this series, you can find my other Go To Design posts here. As I do for each design, I've created a Pinterest board for Diagonal Flow layouts. Do you use diagonal flow on your pages? Maybe you've done something in a way I did not mention. I'd love to know about it!

Inspired By... Scrap Page Re-Do

The assignment from Get It Scrapped!: Make a page about bikes or biking.

My page is about getting a new bicycle for my 7th birthday and again on my 50th birthday. I originally created this layout awhile back, but never really liked it. Perfect opportunity for a re-do!

Collection Featured: Basic Grey Bow Ties

 The dominant color in my photos is green, so I chose red, the complementary color, to bring energy and contrast to the layout. Small doses of blue add harmony and point out my blue bicycles. For interest and dimension, I used a variety of products: twine, chipboard, stickers, Thickers, flair, mini pearls and wood veneer.

I challenged myself to use 3 different materials for the title. The twine, Silhouette die cut and Thickers are a fun and eye-catching combination!

You can read the rest of the scrapbooking bikes article here. There's also a great article on using square photos here. Have you ever re-done a scrapbook page?

My Scrapbook Process: Batch Scrapbooking

I have greatly enjoyed being on the Get It Scrapped! Design Team this past year. The time has flown. We'll be announcing the 2013-14 team with a blog hop on June 1. Hope you'll stop by!

In the meantime, when I receive my GIS Design Team assignments and need to meet a deadline, I often turn to Batch Scrapbooking. Instead of doing each layout from start to finish, I do a few steps at a time on each one and keep coming back to the pages until they are completed. I like the way this keeps me focused.

First, I print out the assignments on a separate sheet of paper and lay them out on my scrap table. Each one is unique and usually requires a different starting point.

For the first assignment, I select my photos and a few sketches. I know this one will come together quickly, since the design choices are already there.

The next assignment I'm starting with photos, title and journaling, a particular piece of patterned paper, and a shape from the Silhouette store. I need to decide on a design scheme and may have to wrestle to get everything I want on the layout in a cohesive manner.

Here I selected my photos and some masks for misting. I have an idea for this assignment which may or may not work, so I better test it out very soon. And have a Plan B in mind just in case.

For my final assignment, I matted a photo, wrote my journaling, and ripped a bunch of pages out of back issues of Scrapbook Trends. I'll write down ideas I like from each page, keep my list and toss the pages into the trash. This is how I get inspiration without copying someone else's work.

For the next step in the batch scrapping process, I go back and select patterned paper for each assignment. Now I can begin to lay out the photos, select a background and get to work. Notice the masks are missing. Plan B it is. Oh well.

You'll be able to see my finished work in June when these layouts post both here and on the Get It Scrapped! blog. Do you ever take a batch approach to your scrapping? It's a great way to break up the routine!

Two-Page Tuesday: Using Flair

My assignment from Get It Scrapped!: Use flair buttons on your page in an interesting way. This layout is about our favorite place to eat lunch when we're vacationing at the beach. My page design is based on a sketch by Allison Davis.

Collection Featured: Studio Calico Snippets

I selected the flair based on the bright, happy colors I associate with summer and vacations at the ocean. The placement of these embellishments forms a visual triangle.

I used two flair buttons as centers for stamped, hand-cut shapes.

The third is part of a grouping of smaller shapes in a corner of the page. 

You can check out the rest of the article and Design Team layouts here. I'm accumulating quite a stash of these bright, happy buttons. Are you adding flair to your pages?

Two Page Tuesday: Shapely Journaling

My assignment from Get It Scrapped!: Design a page incorporating journaling in a shapely way that's integral to the story and design. This page is about our visit to Perry's Monument on South Bass Island in Lake Erie last summer. 

Collection Featured: Simple Stories Sn@p!

The two areas of journaling are arranged to mimic our experience at the monument. First, I cut apart a 4x6 journaling card and re-arranged it from bottom to top, so your eye goes up the page, just as we rode up to the top of the monument. Next, two journaling strips span the length of the entire 2-page spread. These are placed directly below the panoramic views we enjoyed at the top of the monument so your eye can scan both photos and words at the same time.

I ran the larger stars through my Cuttlebug to give them a more textured, distressed look. A little layering, some wood veneer stars and I'm finished! You can see more examples and read the rest of the article here.

I'm heading to Mega Meet later this week with my sister and friends. Always a fun time. If you follow me on Instagram, you can see what we're up to, both at Mega Meet and cropping at my house. I'll be back to blogging next week! 

My Scrapbook Process: Embellishing for Oomph & Polish

Before the new issue goes live over at Masterful Scrapbook Design today, I thought I'd offer one more example of adding Oomph and Polish to a page, this time with an emphasis on repetition.

I started the page with a subtle kraft tone-on-tone background, then added thin borders of patterned paper to the top and bottom. A mat of three patterned paper strips mounted on kraft card stock defines my main working area.

Next I added some twine hand-stitching to the border for interest. The photos were placed on top of my mat, with the larger focal point picture mounted on white card stock and pop dotted.

I placed the title below the photos and made the two o's in "cookies" an eye-catching element. I chose Thickers, cork shapes and punches to design this word. Then I used my Silhouette and Arial Narrow font to fill in the rest of the title in the remaining space. It's great to be able to customize words to fit like this. Now I am ready to embellish the page by repeating shapes, colors and textures.

Collection Featured: Little Yellow Bicycle Fern and Forest

Can you find the repetition? Here's what to look for on the finished layout.

• Shape: circles, stars
• Color: white, orange
• Texture: white canvas, cork

Here's a close-up of those cork shapes from Little Yellow Bicycle. I picked up the entire Naturals Collection at my LSS, Scrappy Chic. So versatile.

In this embellishment cluster you can see the repetition of shape, color and texture.

I'm learning to use stick pins on my pages. It's easy if you use raised adhesive, because that's where the pin gets stuck. I couldn't help adding another touch of hand stitching. Yet another repetition.

If you get stuck on what to do next on a layout, repetition can help you find the way. What is already on your page that you could repeat in some fashion somewhere else?