Paging Jen (raynjen): Layouts for critiquing, please!

[nitaghei]

Here are the two I've worked on so far.

The intro (one-page) isn't finished as yet, and I'm not particularly happy with it. Too many patterned papers, I think.

The other is the 2 page one I'm reasonably pleased with - as a first attempt, anyway.

Constructive criticism welcome! :)

I couldn't make the pictures smaller, so you'll have to click on the links below - I didn't want to mess up viewing the messages.

TIA

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[raynjen]

Nita,

I think you did a great job! I actually like the intro page just as well as the other two (by the way, those expresions on 'Toddler Mood' - priceless).

On the intro page you might try reversing the colors. The white next to Neel will tend to wash him out. If you put the Blue next to him and THEN the white I think that his picture would 'pop' a lot more. This might mean that you add a third layer of blue (because the white against the white patterned paper would get lost). One way you could do this with very little work is to add a blue mat on top of the white one.

I REALLY like how you took the ribbon and followed the patterne in the paper!

Another small touch that you could consider is rounding the corners of the mats around the photo - this would tie the photo to the title another option would be to mount the title to a rectangle of plain paper (probably white) and mount it on blue as well.

These are all ideas for the future, I think that it looks great as is!

The photos on 'Toddler Moods' are framed perfectly! Because the background is dark the white really pulls the eye in to the photo. I really like the font you chose as well.

Well done! Nobody would look at this and say it was your first page. One thing I can't tell from the photos - are your pictures mounted on the cardstock or did you actually cut the cardstock out (like a real photo mat)? I ask this just to say you can cut the photo and mount it on the cardstock because I know what a pain it is to cut a 'real' frame. Did that make any sense?

I'm eager to see more now! Happy Scrappin'!

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to a wonderful preschooler,
who is almost three, Noelle!

[nitaghei]

Thanks Jen!!

Confession time: the titles on both pages are stickers. I hand wrote some stuff on the top right corner blue square of the Toddler Mood page - small enough so it doesn't look sloppy. The .5mm Zig pen is great - thanks for the tip!

All the photos are mounted on cardstock; I just cut out extraneous stuff in the Toddler Mood page to get 4x4 pictures, and cut up more cardstock for the mats.

The white on the photo on the intro page is actually part of the photograph - a border I added when I got the print from Shutterfly. Thanks for the suggestion of a blue frame - I think that will do the trick. The rounded corners sound like the perfect detail - but I'm not sure if I can do that now - since everything is now stuck together. But I'm heading over to Michael's or ACMoore this weekend to get the thingy to do corners. :)

Anyway - I owe you - big. I've had some of this stuff sitting around for close to a year and hadn't done anything. Now I've actually waded through all the photographs, and ordered enough prints to have several more pages done, and have some sense of being able to get this accomplished. THANKS!!

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[raynjen]

Hey stickers, rub-ons, die-cuts, it's all the same, and once YOU put it on the page then your page is hand-made! Part of the process of making something personal is the choice and you chose well.

I wouldn't try pulling things up to redo anything - that was more a 'something to consider for the future' comment than anything else. When you go to Michael's look for EKSuccess they make great punches.

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to a wonderful preschooler,
who is almost three, Noelle!

[nitaghei]

Jen,

Thanks! Got the punch, and made sure it was EKSuccess. I did two more pages - Halloween and Easter. Still can't figure out the best way to do the title on the Easter page - but playing around with options is fun. The Halloween page came pretty well. But I'm beginning to understand about the difficulty of doing layouts of events with much emotion invested - I've played around with various options for Neel's Hindu naming ceremony as well as his baptism, but haven't had the nerve to actually start cutting and gluing.

BTW, what are rub-ons? Just trying to expand my scrappin' vocabulary. :)

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[abigailsmom]

Not Jen, but I can help with this one... they are titles, words, or frases that look like stickers, but you take a posicle stick looking this and rub the word onto the page. I think that you can even put some of them directly onto photos. Here is an example that I pulled off of a random site. I have bought them at scrapbooking stores and Michael's...

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/14699.jpg

HTH

Robyn
Mama to Abigail

Robyn's Nest Creations

[raynjen]

Nita,

Robyn answered your question so I'll address something you didn't ask - those emotional events. Sometimes its helps to 'journal' an event first. Just jot down emotions, specific memories, or particular aspects of the event that you want on your page. Think about what you say to a friend when you talk about the event (a cute thing that DS did, something meaningful your MIL said, etc.) Write down those things to help the event 'gel'. I sometimes start and stop a page several times before I actually do it (with days or weeks in between each attempt). Also remember that you can do a page again further down the road! Sometimes knowing that frees you to work on it. Good Luck!

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to a wonderful preschooler,
who is almost three, Noelle!

[nitaghei]

Thank you both!! Appreciate all the info and hand-holding! :)

BTW - I LOVE the internet. Just found a site with cool, FREE, Hindu clipart - with a couple of images that will be perfect for the naming ceremony layout. Now, I just need to get the work I get paid to do, done - so I can move to the fun stuff. Got to go get some vellum!

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD