I really struggle with layouts and the whole design aspect. Last fall I participated in a layout challenge on Oriental Stamp Art Forum and had my eyes opened! There are all kinds of layouts archived on a blog for OSA members to use (I've since learned that there are many online). Yeah, I know
where have I been? Anyway then I obsessed and began copying and pasting the layouts into a Word document. When I thought I accumulated enough of them, I printed them out on half sheets of paper and bound them in a book. Now when I make cards and other types of paper art, I refer to the book for design ideas. It really helps me branch out and try new things.
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| This is my layout book. |
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| This is a card I made today using one of the layouts in my book. I had to alter it a bit. Instead of using a rectangle for the cutout, I used this Nestibility label. Then because the width of card couldn't be more than 6 inches to accommodate the opening of the Big Shot, I didn't have room to put the verse next to the ribbon on the green cardstock. So, I printed it on white, then cut it out with a smaller label die. I outlined the edges with chalk a bit to make it stand out. Pop dots on the back of the martini glass, and flowersoft around the hole were my ideas. |
I'm also in the process of compiling a spreadsheet of all the available Spellbinders' dies. Someone did this on Splitcoast Stampers and shared it with everyone. She ended up posting it in PDF format as the file is smaller. I tried to convert it back to Word so that I could add the newest dies but wasn't successful. So I'm making my own. I refuse to ask that poor girl to make any further changes. After she posted the initial document, she was inundated with requests for different types of files because some couldn't open what she had. Then others pointed out an error or two and that girl very graciously accommodated them all! I kind of felt like some of them were a bit presumptuous ya know? Or maybe they didn't realize how much time and effort was involved....
