Another week, another amazing kit… this time it’s Life: May Extras by Kate Teague:
The wide variety of tags make this kit extremely versatile, and the fun colors will work with practically any theme. Don’t you love that bi-colored alpha? What a fun addition!
I was super in love with the fun flowered stamp, so (I confess) I built my layout around it. The photo I snapped of my daughter a few weeks ago matched perfectly (YAY!), and the same flowered stamp made a perfect frame for it. A little bit of stitching helped to keep everything grounded, while the torn edge (Tiffany Tillman’s Tears Set 2) provides a fun peekaboo effect for the aqua paper from Kate’s Life: May Papers. I also added a rub on (from Carina’s Daisy Jane Borders) to break up the straight lines, and add a little bit of whimsy; Although the kits are very different in style, they work together beautifully here!
Heather Guenther also started out with an element! Here’s what she had to say: “I began with the ribbon tie as I love the big bow of it. Then I wanted to anchor it down so used the brads in the soft cream color so as to anchor it but not distract. Then I chose to use just one line of one of the word arts as my title and journal beneath it. I love the shaping of all the tags in the kit so used one of them as a clipping mask for my page. The soft cream color and hint of blue of the background paper I thought helped to draw out the blue flowers in the photo yet still stay nice and subtle.”
Great minds must think alike, and Tiffany Bodily is definitely great! Here’s her process: “I found the floral stamp to be so beautiful I just had to use it repeatedly. I decided to use it to create a border along the bottom of my page. I created a matt for my photo by repeating and connecting a tag three times. By using the buttons over the tag holes and along the border at the bottom of the page, I was able to tie the page design together. To make the word art fit into my composition, I dissected it and reassembled the portions I wanted to use. I chose a neutral background paper from the coordinating paper kit which let the photo and design elements take center stage. I loved the alphabet and was able to use it as a monogram letter as well as in part of the journaling. I would encourage you to look at the elements in a kit with a different perspective. What can you use them for beyond the obvious? You’ll be amazed at some of the results you achieve.”
Jennifer Valencia walks us through her layout: “I thought the colors in the kit would go perfectly with some photos of my sister & her daughter. I love to match element and paper colors to photos, and this kit was just right! I used just part of the word art, and turned it into a sticker by adding a thick white stroke and drop shadow to it, and tinted it purple to match the baby’s onesie. I layered two of the tags and anchored them with a button to make the label at the bottom of the pictures, and used the curved/arced tag as a backdrop behind the photos. The background papers are from the matching Life In May paper pack.”
Did you notice how perfectly this kit works for both soft and subtle pages, as well as vibrant, strong layouts? Versatility rocks!
If you want a chance to see how you can rock this kit, just tell me how you start your pages… Are you inspired by your photos? Start with supplies? Build off of your memories? What gets your creative juices flowing?
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Tags: 1 Kit 4 Ways, Design House Decorators, Digital Scrapbooking, Gennifer Bursett, Inspiration, Kate Teague, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements
Such fun elements !
Sometimes it’s the photo that gets me started, but mostly it’s the supplies. You see a kit and know it’s perfect to use with that specific photo or photos.
That’s a tough one. I would say I work from both ends! Sometimes I’ll have a photo I really want to feature, sometimes I have a new kit that I love and go looking for photos to match, and sometimes I have a story I want to tell, pick a photo and then work from there. All depends on my mood
My pages always start with the photos. Then I determine how much story I have to tell (i.e. amount of journaling). Then, and only then, do I move to digital selections. A template & the papers are almost always the first things I select.
Sure would love to win this kit as I love the papers I see in the sample layouts. It is lovely and looks super versatile.
Since i don’t feel i am that creative at this point in my growing understanding of digi i start with a template and scaplift looking at other pages. I am more photo driven than embellishments so that would be what i work around most. But i am still learning. Thanks!
Beautiful kit!
I’m generally inspired by the elements, so I start there and look for a photo that’ll go with it. But sometimes it’s the other way around!
I love colours too, and the ones in this kit are amazing!
Sometimes its a paper/element I’m just dying to use so I build off that but other times its an event (like a birthday) that needs to be scrapped so I build a LO around the photos. As a newbie to digi I am still learning techniques so that factors in too…for instance, I want to try a LO using a photo as the background…so the technique will be my starting point.
I design my scrapbooks around events so I always start with the photos. Of course, the best inspiration is looking through galleries. I often see a layout I like and decide to use it as a template for a group of photos I have. So I guess the photos and the templates come first, and then I choose papers and elements that complement the photos or the mood of the event.
It depends. Sometimes I find a photo I love, other times I buy a great new kit/element/template that I can’t wait to use and go from there.
Not always, but mostly, the STORY is what gets me started. We had a great day at the zoo, or with friends, or chasing the neighbor’s dog, and I snapped a few pics and I want to rememebr the story so I start with that – a general subject for journaling. Then I (think this is backwards but do it anyway) usually look to see what kit or kits I would like to use in the LO, bc hey – I like my digi stash and playing in it is fun
THEN I look to see my pics and how many I have and what their orientation is and whether they are any good and which one/s best support the story. I put the pics into the page and then play around with papers some more if necessary (It’s almost always necessary lol), then add in elements. Oh – then I write the journaling that started me off in the whole adventure lol
my goodness you guys are so inspiring!
Usually its the photo and then the story. This helps me determine the mood I would like to create and builds a color idea, embellishments are added last to pull the look together.