Layout Process

I know that everyone creates a little differently so today I thought I'd share a bit about my personal process for creating a layout.

I always start with pictures.  I have to admit that I am quite random when it comes to this.  I have no rhyme or reason.  But what I do have is tens of thousands of photos to choose from.  (no joke!) (I'm a photographer.)
So I open up my folder in Bridge and see what file title captures my fancy on that day.

On this day, I went with our Silverton Railroad adventure in Southwestern Colorado a few years ago.  I choose the photos I want to use and bring them into Photoshop for a bit of editing, print them out and then head to my desk.

Next, I decide what products I want to use to scrap with. Sometimes I choose a kit, sometimes I choose my stash, sometimes a collection, it depends on how I feel at the time.  This time, I had Studio Calico's Glee Club sitting on my desk so I decided I'd use it.

It and the add-ons I used are pictured below.

My photos have a warm cast to them so I felt that the colors would work well.

I've been feeling like I tend too often to choose a solid neutral background and have wanted to challenge myself to use a printed and colored BG.  So for this layout, I chose this paper from Amy Tangerine's new line.  I used the Orange Woodgrain side.

                                                                               
Next, I rummage through the kit and pull papers and embellishments I think might work with the colors I have in mind.  (It's very likely that at some point I'll pull something else out of my stash as well)

I started by arranging my pictures across the page in a line (had a photo, but alas, I seem to have deleted it.  (dumb dumb!)

It wasn't long before I knew I needed a little something different going on so I pulled out a piece of the Amy Tan black and white chevron that was already cut from a previous project and put it down to see how that would work.

I fussed around with some of the kit pieces I'd pulled out, cut out a tabbed shape from some scrap packaging I had laying on my desk as a test shape and tried some ideas.  I like this beginning on the design but it doesn't look finished.

I like the tabbed shape so I commited and cut that shape out of my favorite SC exclusive paper in a while with my Slice Elite.  I also decided what my title would be, '6 if by Train' so now I've got a plan for how I want the title to look and I'm trying it out using stickers placed on a transparent sheet and placed where I want it on the page to make sure it looks good. (thanks Kimber-Leigh for that tip!)

Again, more fussing, staring, looking, tweeking, moving.  I am not good at imagining how things will look so I usually end up placing it all before making a final decision.  At this point, I had a big hole on the left that I had to decide how to fill. That was it's own process, almost like a mini layout.

Add caption

I ended up pulling some 7gypsies ephemera out of my stash and using a vintage 'eye chart' as a background for the '6 if by' portion of the title and the arrow.  I also added the stick on brads and played with the placement of 'Mr. Conductor'.

Finally, I started gluing.  I wanted the adhesive fabric to have a frayed edge so I had to remove it from it's backing and pull the fibers down the sides to get the look I was going for. Then I reapplied spray adhesive to the back of it and stuck it down. 

I stuck all the other background pieces down as well and then added the little embellishments.  Finally, I stitched around the 6 and added some additional brads as accents.  

And here is the final project.  In case you were wondering, this was about a 4 hour process for me.  Yes, I am slow!

I hope that was interesting and enjoyable.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

And feel free to follow my blog if you haven't already.