Letting the photos tell the story

I create pages to tell stories. Sometimes the story comes through in the journaling, but sometimes the photos do a good job of speaking for themselves. In those instances, I work to keep my products and design from getting in the way!

I captured these moments on a weekend getaway for a friend's wedding. Once I had the photos arranged to showcase the beautiful location, I didn't want my design to distract from that. I decided to go with simple products: some green B&T paper from the Ivy Lane pack, Gold Polka Dot Washi tape, one fussy cut flower and a bit of subtle stamping.

The stamps I used were from a variety of sets. All similar size and all sentiments that fit with the story although the styles are very different. This fit well with my style of using words as embellishments. 


Fussy cutting is not usually one of my favorite techniques, but this flower was perfect for it! It is from the other side of the paper I used as my photo mats.




What about you? What are your tricks for emphasizing photos on your layouts?

A Lovely Easter on Ivy Lane with the Paper Trail

Welcome to the first Paper Trail blog hop of the new Spring/Summer Idea Book!  Whether you're arriving here from Amy's blog or this is your first stop, I know you're going to enjoy the elegant look and lovely colors of the Ivy Lane papers!

The combination of colors: Blush, Hollyhock, Ivy Lane Green and Ivy Lane purple, together with
the flower motifs reminded me of spring, so I turned to Easter photos. I used pattern from Make it Your Heart Vol. 2. I love starting with a pattern like this one - and then changing it to fit my layout.

Here's a closer look at the left page. I love the way the yellow of the chick pops against the colors of the paper.  The pattern included three photos on the strip, but I only had two. I cut the pieces the same size and then used the remaining space for my title.

Tip: Use patterns as a starting point, then change them to fit with the photos and products you want to use!

And, here is the right page. 

I used fancy embellishments to emphasize the elegant paper even though my photos were a bit more playful. In each embellishment cluster, I included a Cricut cut rosette, a butterfly and pearls.

I created the title using Cricut Artbooking cartridge and one of the coordinating stamp sets - Sweet and Lovely.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Come on back later this week to see more projects made with new products! For now, hop on over to Karen's blog. I'm sure you'll like what you see!