Easter Inspirations #3

Hello again!! This is the last of my Easter Inspirations series... but not to fret, I have a bunch more fun project to upload and share soon! I absolutely LOVE this page. I love the colors. It's always fun picking out papers that coordinate nicely with the colors in the photos. My purple shirt was a perfect match with PapertreyInk's "plum pudding" card stock. And this PTI cardstock couldn't have matched the other pattern papers better. Hooray for PTI for making my creative moments a little easier!

EYELINE.... whenever I design, I always start with my eyeline! This is the natural flow that your eye will follow on a project. This is true for scrapbooking, cards, home decor, or graphic design. Our eyes are arranged horizontally (duh! How weird would it be the other way?) So the human eye naturally likes a horizontal flow. Of course, vertical eyelines are fine, but our eyes are more at ease when processing things from side to side.

>>> EXAMPLES of Horizontal Eyeline.

>>> Movie Screens, (And now even out Televisions)

>>> Nature's Horizon

>>> Books! (yes, we read from side to side don't we?)

>>> Just take a peak at many of the photos you love, and you will often find a horizontal eye line. It might be an picket fence, or the grass line with an array of fresh flowers. Even the horizontal blinds in your home, or the mantle on your fireplace.

The eyeline in this page is probably easiest seen as the purple ribbon with the scallop border beneath. The movement of both pages creates a sense of connectivity, unity, and smooth flow.

Picture Collage: This was a fun collage to make. I had just made a previous page with similar small photos to be puzzled together... but I wanted to do something different this time. SO, I made a photo block, then used pop up dots on the top middle, and bottom left and right pictures. It is not easy to see in the picture, but it really had a wonderful effect! As much as I love digital scrapbooking... the 3D effect that is gained with any conventional crafting trumps it all for me! :)

PTI Scallop Border: Here's another picture to highlight my favorite scallop border! :) The fun part about this page was making the diamond/plaid pattern match perfectly with the two connecting scallop pieces. That really helped the flow of the page feel natural and seamless!

This page has a magnetic quality about it. It could very well by the ADORABLE smile on my son's face. (I love that kid!) OR, it could be the easy photo editing I did. There is a fun blur used around the edge of the pics that adds so much to the whole page!

Wanna know my secret? OK. I have a decent camera... but I am not that amazing of a photographer. I pretty much know a few settings on my camera, and I can frame a picture pretty well. AND, I didn't even take these pics... so what did I do you might ask???

>>> Allow me to introduce you to a favorite new website... http://www.picnik.com/ . This site offers all kinds of professional editing options with the ease of a click of a button. (Seriously! It's so easy!) You can add vignettes, color tints, focal blurs, touch ups, and so much more... ALL FOR FREE!!! Don't you just love the sound of that word?

Yes, You can upload a picture, edit, and save right back to your computer! How fabulous!! Now as a disclaimer, there are even more features offered for a small monthly membership, but I have chosen, for now, to just use all the free stuff, and I have been sooo happy with this site!

OK, now the secret's out! So now you have to tell me how much you love this website!

FLOWERS! I have to highlight this awesome flowers!!! I LOVE THEM! About a month ago Papertrey Ink sent out a blog highlight by Betsy Veldman's awesome floral creations! I was SO inspired! I am hoping to make even more on cards and such! SO, using her technique I made some colorful flowers with fun depth. I inked up the petals, handcut leaves and my scallop border to all match nicely.

I also love the simple use of the chrome brads in medium and large. It gave a slightly more playful/ masculine look for the page, which is nice since I do have a very playful boy up front and center on the page.

HYBRID CRAFTING ROCKS!

>>> I love collaborating between the conventional crafting and my digital graphic design skills. Using the PTI cardstock is perfect for this because it's already the perfect size, and it prints BEAUTIFULLY!

>>> So, after I had my layout done, I simply measured the spacing I needed for journaling on the right page, and the title on the left page. Once getting my digital side together, I just ran my PTI cardstock through the printer and it was perfect! :)

>>> I love to take quotes, sentiments or images and print them to use on a crafting project. It's a fun and cheap way to add a customized and personal look to the projects.

>>> Now for an EASTER TREAT! If you want to use any of these graphics in your own projects... just download them FREE HERE. Now you can print them and use them for yourself! ENJOY!!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the Easter Inspirations series! I think that next will be a BIRTHDAY series! So, keep your eye out for some fun new stuff on my blog!

Nothing but Grace,

Tiffany