A Few Tips On The August Challenge Layout

Thought I would do a little bit of a 'how to' with hints and tips in case you want to follow the initial layout done for his months challenge.

Materials needed:

2 sheets of the same double sided patterned paper (Ideally with a pattern to one outer edge of the paper)
1 sheet cardsock to compliment the colours in your paper.

16 brads

1 sheet alphabet stickers

Chalk ink

Foam 3D sticky pads

For my version I used Petals in the Sand, from the Rusted Sun collection by Fancy Pants, these were purchased from Paper Maze. Contact Vanessa at the shop if you wish to purchase the same paper. Fancy Pants have other paper lines which have suitable papers too. I also got the Doodlebug Designs alphabet stickers from Vanessa. I used Bazzill cardstock and this was from Cardinal Colours, but Vanessa sells this too. The brads are from American Crafts, a stock of which I already had in my stash.

 

You can refer to this sketch if it helps, if you copy and save onto your computer you can print this out for easy reference while working.

 

First trim one sheet of patterned paper down to 11.5" x 11.5", this is the sheet you will be working on. Do not attach it to the cardstock yet. Ink the edges of the paper.

You may also find this template helpful, print out onto a see-through medium, I used tracing paper, Jakey used acetate. This will help you to select the right size of photo by checking through the centre circle. You can also use it to work out the placement of your apertures on the page. Once you are happy with the placement use a paper piercer to make a tiny hole in the patterned paper where each petal meets the circle, you should end up with a circle of tiny eight holes. If printed onto A4 this should give you apertures of about 8.5 cm, so 4x6" photos are ideal.

oops gone to get template, back soon!

The beauty of using patterned paper which is double sided means the pattern on the reverse side (blue dots in this case) show through when the paper is cut and folded back. I used two sheets of this paper. The flowers from the second sheet were cut out and layered with 3D sticky fixers onto the first.

This picture shows where to cut, use your craft knife, cutting mat and a metal ruler to join the tiny holes you made, across the diameter of the circle four times.

This is when I inked the edges of the points.

Use the paper piercing tool again to make a tiny hole through each point (where you want the brad to sit), and the paper underneath. Add the brads.

Add some double sided tape or other adhesive to the back of the aperture you have now created. Flip the paper over and lower down over your picture, stick down firmly when you are happy with the picture showing through.

Once the photos are in place you can attach the paper to the cardstock, You should have a 1/4" coloured border.

Add your title using the sticker letters. Cut out some flowers from the second sheet and apply them to the layout using 3D foam pads so they are layered and 'pop off' the page, bringing the whole thing to life. I inked my flowers before attaching them.

That's how I made my layout and I'm really looking forward to seeing yours. Don't forget if you want the same papers they are from Fancy Pants and Paper Maze have them in stock (at time of writing this post).