July layout!

I've been watching the poll at the bottom of this blog and I see that people want to see some layout tutorials so I put one together. I'm very happy to have had this assignment because sometimes I get so busy making cards that I forget that scrapbooking is my first love. I had some brand new pictures that I wanted to use so I was eager to put together this tutorial and layout for you. I used the papers from the Moon Doggie Level Two paper pack because the reds and blues matched my pictures pretty well. If you are always looking for a perfect match, you're going to get frustrated, close enough is good enough! I always start layouts with a paper choice then go onto trimming my photos. I like to focus in on the people in pictures so I cut these three down smaller so they'd fit easily on a one page layout.


After staring at the papers and pictures for a few minutes and getting no inspiration I pulled out an old album I did and flipped through it for an idea. I turn to my former layouts or the Close to my Heart idea books whenever I get stuck like that, one or the other will spark an idea. I found a layout in my album that used paper to make a smaller space to work with on the page by layering papers. To do that first choose your base page. For me it was the Indian Corn Blue cardstock. Cut the Cranberry cardstock, 1 inch off from one side, 1 inch off the bottom. Cut the Indian Corn Blue patterned paper 2 inches off one side, 2 inches off the bottom.

If you like distressing go ahead and do that to the papers now with a sponge and the Indian Corn Blue or Desert Sand.

Glue the Cranberry cardstock in the middle of the Indian Corn Blue cardstock. Glue the Indian Corn Blue patterned paper in the middle of the Cranberry.

If you have Magic Mesh, attach a strip of it about an inch down on the patterned paper. If you don't have it, take a strip of the Indian Corn Blue cardstock 3 inches by 10 inches and glue it down instead. Mat your photos on the Cranberry cardstock leaving 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch border around your photos. (Your photos won't be the exact sizes of mine so I won't give you measurements on those, this pattern works for most sizes under 4" by 6"). Distress mats.

Fit your photos in this general placement. Leave room under the bottom right photo for a row of eyelets or brads. Put top right photo high enough to leave room for some journaling in between the top and bottom photo. Now this is the point where I usually get stuck and have to turn to my stamps to add an embellishment. I went to my monthly word puzzle stamp sets because they never let me down!

Put a row of brads across the bottom of the patterned paper about inch apart. Any color brads or eyelets you own that match the paper will work.

Using your cutting system, cut a 2 1/4" circle out of Colonial White paper, cut a 2 1/2" circle out of Cranberry cardstock and a 2 3/4" circle out of Indian Corn Blue cardstock.

Using the August Word Puzzle and July Word Puzzle stamp sets, stamp the sun with Cranberry ink and the word "July" with Indian Corn Blue on the Colonial White circle.


Distress the circles then attach together as shown below. P.S. The sun stamp doesn't always have to be yellow!

Stamp the long star border in Cranberry on some Colonial White cardstock, cut it out carefully.

Attach the star border down first right in the middle of the Magic Mesh on the left hand side of your page, center your circle embellishment in between the patterned paper edge and the photo.

Attach ric rac down at the bottom of your page in between the 2nd photo and the row of brads. I used Tombow actually on the back of the ricrac to glue it down.

Now cut a piece of Colonial White cardstock in a thin journaling block that will fit in between the first and the third pictures, journal on it and attach. Okay, you're done! An easy layout!