Insider Tips

Hi guys! Today I want to share my stream of consciousness while creating a kit layout. 

Once I'm done with any projects that need to be done with an individual kit only, I lump all the kits together. Papers together, alphas together, embellishments together, and so on. It all goes into a big jumble on my (messy) desk. 

To begin with, I choose a photo from my photo drawer. I typically print a lot of photos at once and then throw them here for future use. It saves time when I'm ready to scrapbook. 

Next I decide if I'm going to scrapbook 8.5x11 or 12x12. This is usually decided by the size of my photo; today I'm working with an Instagram photo printed at 3x3 so I'll go smaller. I cut my base card stock to size and then cut my inner sheet of card stock and lay them on top of one another. I do not adhere at this stage. Then I lay my photo on top and look at all the different patterned papers and grab whatever catches my eye. In this case, it was the Cosmo Cricket paper, mainly for the colors but upon closer look I see the text is fairly appropriate too. I trim that up to the size I want and lay it down. 

Looking at this, I know I need more color. I think maybe yellow. I find some yellow paper in my kit pile, but realize I only want  a teensy bit of it so I punch it with my AC Knockout punches and then lay it down. That works for me, so I punch another tiny strip for the other side of the page. I love the Echo Park camera paper and I know I want to use it somehow but I'm not quite sure yet. I'll just lay it down in the general are I'm thinking for now and come back to it. 

Now I'm going to add in my title. A lot of times I will move this around quite a bit before I make a decision, but this time I think I'll just leave it where I started. Also, I'm going to adhere everything I have so far because this is the base of my layout, I really just need to embellish it from here. 

So now I need to embellish. I think I want to add some of the mistable hexagon Thickers from the main kit but I'm not sure what color, so I'll try a few different colors. I definitely like the Dewey Mister Huey color best - its more subtle and just adds a little something extra - so I mist a few more and add those in. 

Add a few more embellishments - I tuck the Echo Park camera that I wanted to use underneath my photo and then realize it still needs a little something else so I wrap some Lawn Fawn cord from add-on 4 around the page and tie it off with a Prima wood button. I also add a  Heidi Swapp Color Magic number - it took a few tries to get the color right and it's a tiny detail but I think I like it. Now I need to think about my journaling - I realize I really want to just tuck it under my photo somehow so I grab one of the cards from add-on4 and slip it under the photo. Finish it off with a few jewels and some staples along the edge of the yellow trim and I think I'm done. 

Now I need to photograph my page. I thought I'd share how I photography my pages with you guys but it's messy. You've been warned. I use a piece of foam core board and just set it on top of my drawers and adhere my page. As you can see by all the dirty adhesive - I've used this a lot. :) I just photograph a bunch of shots until I'm fairly certain I have the image straight. 

Next I import my photos to my computer and crop my layout image, and I sharpen it a little and brighten it a little in Lightroom. I make sure it's sized properly, name the file - and that's it!

I hope you guys enjoyed this peek into my layout process. Thanks!

Comments

[Lindam]

I loved this peek into your layout process Jen!! Beautiful page!!

[Kim G]

Great post Jen...I love being a part of your creative process. I also love that you put all the add-ons and main kit together after awhile...I am going to do this too when I have add-ons.
Thanks for all the inspo!

[Maria Therese]

Love it!!

[Gracie]

What a great post Jen! I love your layering so much and it's fun to see the process unfold. Thanks:):):)

[Kristin Tweedale]

GReat post! I Love seeing your steps :)

[Sara Andrews]

I love this! Thanks for all the tips.

[alisyn]

thanks for sharing this, Jen! it was really interesting to me :)

[Kristen]

This is so helpful, thanks!

[Bel]

Fantastic insight! It shows you don't need to over-analyse a page to death to get a lovely result.

[heidiY]

Love it!! Thanks for sharing your process! Great layout too!

[Jen Thompson]

Love this, thanks for sharing!

[Danielle Higginbottom-Brown]

This was fabulous! thanks for sharing! I'd love to see this more often from all the DT!!!

[Penny B.]

I found your process very helpful to me. I love the final result!! I always gravitate toward clean lines and a very balanced look. I love the shape and design you created here and it inspires me to give this a try myself.

[Penny B.]

By the way, how long does a layout like this take you to complete?

[Jen Jockisch]

Penny - a layout like this takes me about 30 minutes or so.

[Jane]

It is so coolto see the whole process of how you create Thanks Jen

[Brianna Byman]

Love seeing your process!

[Linda Johnson]

Love watching you create your layout. Thank you for sharing. I learned a lot!

[Amanda]

I think the photo drawer is such a good idea! I might just start doing that!

[Ruth G]

Awesome, Jen! I love the LO and all you shared about your process! Thanks so much!!!!!

[Patricia]

Loved hearing your process!

[Jennifer Grace]

Great insight, thanks! x

[Johanna]

Thanks so much for sharing your process, I love seeing how other people work :)