Digital layout

This is something I have meaning to do for ages, a photo collage. It's been in the back of my mind since I saw a digital template by Paislee Press a while ago. Then there was this amazing layout by Susan Weinroth.

Finally, after a few false starts, I decided to spend a couple of nights selecting the photos and then adding to the template. They are all photos of my two kiddies taken in 2010 and they are the opening for that year in my project 12 album.

Thank you Liz Tamanaha (a.k.a. Paislee Press). Without her freebie I don't think I would have ever finished this project. Can you imagine resizing and cutting 74 tiny photos?!

I printed the template 10x10 and stuck it into patterned paper but with hindsight I should have done all digitally, I love this zigzag paper which belongs to the same kit as the butterflies.

* Digital Template: Press Plate No. 25 by Paislee Press @ Oscraps.com
* Photoshop actions: Falling for b&w by My Four Hens 
* Background paper (resized), butterfly and word art:  Twenty Twenty by Karla Dudley @ Design House Digital
* Font: Century Gothic

A Flag Book

I've been meaning to try to make a flag book for ages - first I thought it was too difficult, until I read a tutorial and discovered that the making wasn't hard, it was more a matter of deciding what to put inside to make an impact. A bit like making a never ending card.

Finally I decided to bite the bullet and make a test one. I could have crafted it a little bit better but it didn't work out that bad, but definitely the image choice - a photo I took in Rio and photoshopped - lacked impact.

Since it was my brother's birthday yesterday and  I sent it to him last week instead of a proper birthday card, so it wasn't totally useless.

The cover - I am happy with it; it's a family photo that my husband took.

Inside, the flag book itself:

The back:

The "spine" of the book is a concertina to which you attach paper strips; when you open the book and pull the concertina, the paper strips overlap creating a moisac-like image with repeating patterns.

If you do try to make one, choose your image carefully, mine was pretty but boring with too much white space and lacking a strong focal point.

I am definitely going to have another go, but next time, instead of a photo, I'll use random bits of paper.