thinking*through*design

LEAP Day! and an ISSUE challenge :)

HAPPY LEAP DAY ! I am excited because how many of us always complain we need more time.. well WE have a whole extra 24 hours this year!  that means we can get more crafting done!  So we have a new ISSUE challenge posted and I am excited too because tomorrow I get to post one of my favorite Thanks Living Challenges! 

Here is my layout from this week and I encourage you to pop over to Club CK and check out the ISSUE Challenge I think it will apply to every person! 

A thought on this layout: Adding the names of famous friendships of enduring characters that most people can identify with builds a familiarity that the readers can identify with-- the two pairs of friend given before my daughters and her friend will trigger for many readers a memory of the loyality and commradary these pairs of friends shared.  Also the by adding these names I give a peek into how deep the friendship between Ally and Osh Kosh is.

When you create a layout for the ISSUE CHALLENGE, this may be an approach you would want to take-- some famous friends could include beloved TV characters like Lavern and Shirley or Cartoons like Tom and Jerry.. I am excited to see what you come up with!

A few great things I was at ScrapbookSteals.com and got a ton of the Amy Tangerine line from American Crafts for a smokin deal.. so that is what got me excited to use this product and spured on this layout--I also found that Jillibean Soup worked really well with this line. I am excited to see what you guys come up with -- I am thinking of adding a Mr. Linky to this blog tell me what your thoughts are on that...

Blessings

e

 

Butterfly Fruit

Inspired by the old butterfly collection boards I decided to make one from paper, and as I was making it, I was inspired to share the fruits of the spirit...so here is my butterfly board! Hope you are inspired. 

 

To make this you only need a few scraps of pattern paper, white cardstock, a black journaling pen, 8 stick pins, 8 eyelets a butterfly punch (or diecut)-- large letters (I used Jillibean Soup) some foam tape and about an hour.. Makes a great gift and I think I am going to add the scripture to the bottom with DYMO label. 
Blessings,

e

ISSUE Challenge #9 (JAN/FEB 2012) --- and.... ACTION

GOOD morning to you my friends.  I am excited because there are so many big and wonderful things going on here at Thinking*Through*Desgin-- let's just say it is gonna be a HOOT around here!  SO today is Wednesday and everyone know that is NEW Challenge Day  - so I have a funny story for you .  I created a layout and was so happy with it and then I realized.. DUH this is from the March/April ISSUE of Creating Keepsakes (which I might add is WAAAAY full of great ideas), it was then that I realized opps... you probably should use the JAN/FEB ISSUE for this challenge.. SO last night I did something I have never done but worked out well. 

I took my JAN/FEB ISSUE and plopped it on the desk and whatever page it opened to I would use it i the challenge... page 103 was the winner winner chicken dinner and I was a little giddy.  See page 103 falls in the middle of an article I wanted really badly to use but was a bit intimidated because the MOVIE I wanted to scrap was done by Kim Watson.. (she is sooo talented) and well that is a hard act to follow, BUT I did it.. I conqured my fear and scrapped away.  While my layout is NOTHING like hers, it was just being happy with using the same movie as she did. 

I hope you will pop over to Club CK and check out the ISSUE challenge this week.  I really want to see what you come up with. I admit I am a little American Crafts crazy these days. I am excitedly waiting to get the new lines from CHA-W and while I am waiting I am using up my still hip and fabulous Amy Tangerine line... anyway, Here is my sample for the challenge

Have some fun scrapping this week.. I am hoping to have some news for you you soon on whats coming  your way!  I think you will be happy!

 

What's cookin at T*T*D?

Something BIG is brewin' -- I can feel something BIG coming on... sooooon check back soooon

ISSUE Challenge #8 -Jan/Feb 2012

SO much to take care of today.  First I thought that I would give away a little prize as promised from last week... here is the winner -- I went to Random.org and the winner was post number 1 and that is SandyP! So I need your adress love and I will send you a little Welcome to the new blog prize!

Next -- I was going to try and keep this blog all business, but I don't like only posting a few times a weekk so hopefully I will be able to get more fun creative stuff up and it will be more inspirational here then just a challenge-- I may even begin posting challenges that I had left over from ISSUE challenges.. maybe I need to get a team together to help -- what do you think-- give me your feedback

FINALLY --it's Wednesday, and we all know what that means! YUP the ISSUE challenge is LIVE and kicking.  There is so many neat ideas in one ISSUE of CK that I sometimes forget to look at the actual articles.  I mean that, well I was flipping through this week and realized there is an entire article devoted to one of the scrappers best friend.. STICKERS.. Joannie McBride brought together some amazing ideas for us and I hope you will take a few minutes and be inspired in that article..and then participate in the ISSUE CHALLENGE 

Here is something fun I did this week.

I used the ISSUE challenge and altered my letter sticker... they are the vanilla foam letter thickers  from American Crafts 

and then I used my Copic markers to color the entire letter -- NOW I am working on collecting a new product called TOUCH markers that are basically the same as Copics. I love these new markers!  But that will be a different post... the TOUCH markers will do this a well. BUT I needed red and I had red Copics so here are the colors I used after I colored the entire foam letter sticker I had an idea....Did you know that the colorless blender in both TOUCH and Copic markers doesn't "blend" per say but more removes excess color to achieve a blended look? Its true.. so I decided to try something fun and it seems to have work pretty well. 

Here is what I did: after coloring I decided to remove the red ink and make little hearts. I love how it came out -- the next morning I went and took out even more then shows here.  It give a softer less graphic feel and I like it. All you have to do is simply push back the ink into whatever shape you like.

Well after all that chatting here is the layout I came up with for the ISSUE challenge. I liked how I was able to change the plain vanilla letter sticker-- and these letters were able to be altered so easily, if you have TOUCH or Copic markers, you will be set for any color letters you ever need!

So that is all for today my friends, I hope it was informative-- let me know your thoughts.

Blessings

e

ISSUE CHALLENGE #7 Jan/Feb 2012 - Calendar Craze

Good Morning my friends!

Here we are a bright Wednesday Morning!  I am excited because this is the first ISSUE challenge being posted on my new blog-- that makes me want to give a little prize away... what do you think?  So let's say next Wednesday morning if you leave a comment you can be entered into a random drawing for a little blog candy. 

The ISSUE challenge is really fun this week because CK has a free download that can be used to get your mojo flowing!  If you click over to the challenge (HERE is a LINK) you can find out how to get this great resource.  What I love about it is that you can use it for sooo many things. I don't know if you know this, but CK offers free stuff every ISSUE! 

I would like to mention, Kaiser Craft was one of my favorite booths at the CHA-W 2012 -- and not just because of all the cute Aussie guys with amazing accents.. it was the product.. I saw this line (Tiny Wood Collection) and knew straight away what I was going to do with it. I love that that bar code strips have fun patterns adorning the backs--the colors and patterns were amazing I love the muted natural feel of this line! I truly was inspired by the product this week!

Here is my layout for this week,  I hope it inspires you to get scrappin'

SO here are some of my thoughts on this design: 

I used a grid approach to the placement of the elements, but incorporated the rounded corners on the white outline.  I did that to bring balance to the "starkness" of the grid, additionally the flowers shape helps to bring visual interest to the rigidness of the lines.  I also created a "bleed" of the photos by cutting the photo of the jaguar and the "wonderful" embellishment, I gave a continuous flow onto the second page. I did this because the photos on the second page are not heavy enough to carry the second half of the layout without being anchored to the heavier half of the layout.   I also was able to use the great pattern of the paper to provide some of the much needed weight for the second half of the layout.

Please share with me your  thoughts! 

Thanks Living #2 Feb 2012

As promised, I am posting the second Thanks Living Challenge on thinking*through*design.  I hope that you enjoy the little thought on visual heirarchy.  Please do join in this amazing life changing challenge!  You can post your layout here

OH yeah-- Be ready tomorrow begins the posting of ISSUE challenges, and tomorrow's is a great one!  Please check back and see what we are up to!

Blessings

e

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Thanks Living #2 - Feb 2012

How are your Thanks Living statements coming? Have you formed a habit of jotting them down?  According to research, it takes anywhere for 3 weeks to 30 days to form a habit, I sure hope you are creating a life habit Thanks Living along with me.  It will be a blessing for the rest of your life!  I am so blessed some of you have even taken time to share how this challenge is making a difference in your life. TALK about a blessing for ME!  I also want you to know it is NEVER too late to get started!!! It can be Dec 30 and you can still begin a year of Thanks Living.. please invite your friends.. it will change their lives and yours!  OK on to the fun...

Our design element this month is visual hierarchy.  Many of you know, I am very interested in psychology and the workings of the human brain. Perhaps that is why I am so intrigued by design concepts; they give us a peek into the working of our minds. Did you know that the concept of visual hierarchy is somewhat based on a psychological theory? It's true! Gestalt's theory explains that the human brain has innate organizing tendencies that structure individual elements, shapes and forms into a coherent organized whole.   What that means is people like to organize things and have them make sense!  Think about it, humans put order to almost everything!  From to-do lists to military ranking, knowing where something fits best is a desire we have.  When something is out of its place/order, we desperately try to give it a label so we can identify what it is and why it is located in that place. Thus, understanding how to control visual hierarchy can and will allow you to create layouts that make sense to the brain, and are effective and powerful!

Visual hierarchy is a very weighty matter (ha-ha).  To enable control of hierarchy, you will learn to control the weight of the elements on your layouts.

Keep this rule of thumb in mind:  The more it weighs the more it matters.

By controlling the weight of an element, you, the designer, you have the ability to effectively share a story even before you write your journaling!  This weighty matter should always begin by asking (and most often, we do this without even realizing it)... 

WHICH elements do YOU want to be the focus of your scrapbook layout? 

Is it...

*Your title (which is clever)?

*Your photos (which are precious or maybe not so good and need help)?

*Your journaling (which is touching)?

*Your embellishments (which inspired you)?

Once you arrive at the answer, you will naturally move on to assigning a weight class to these elements. The next step is determining how to highlight the focus and control the supporting elements. When doing that, here are a few ideas for sorting out your different "weight classes".

• 1. SIZE-it does matter- The bigger the element, the more weight it will carry.
• 2. COLOR-This is a very powerful aspect of design that we will cover more in-depth later, but for now consider this example: red is often thought of as the weightiest of colors, it is dark and demands attention, whereas, a yellow is the lightest of colors and give the illusion of space.
• 3. DENSITY-Packing more elements into a given space adds greater visual weight  think of clustering elements. When a scrapbook artist clusters elements, she is adding a great deal of visual interest and weight.
• 4. VALUE-The darker an object is the more weight it carries. This is especially true when working on a white foundation!
• 5. WHITE SPACE-I need to take a moment here and share some terminology. In scrapbooking, we often use the term "white space" when referring to a style; however, every layout has white space. I would like to redefine space as not necessarily "white" but as being either positive or negative.

               a. Positive Space = a space that is occupied by an element, such as a photo, title, journaling  or embellishments

             b. Negative Space = Any space that is clearly a part of the design that is acting as a resting place for the eye and is clear of all other elements. (This is we often call white space)

When a designer uses negative space, she is giving POWER to the positive space by directing the eye to the most important or weighted, area.  Remember our minds LOVE order, when you have a clear focus -in this case you have given the weighted area importance-the brain KNOWS what it look at  and it makes sense. 

How does visual hierarchy express meaning?

We will quickly go over some of the major design elements and discover how they affect meaning in design.

Keep your rule of thumb in mind: The more it weighs the more it matters.

• 6. ALIGNMENT-Last month we talked about lines.  They create order and direct the reader's eye. LINES allow you as a designer to connect elements across the page, and define a starting and ending spot (recall our "Z" formation?)
• 7. REPETITION-Repeating elements attaches meaning to them: Repetition immediately indicates the repeated elements have the same level of importance (for example the bullet points in this section will carry equal weight of importance, provided I repeat the formatting identically for each one)
• 8. CONTRAST-Contrast is very important. In contrast, it is not just color but SIZE and style matters. (sample forth coming but I don't have it with me at th show sorry--check back soon)
• 9. PROXIMITY-A final element that deserves a little attention is proximity. By creating separation from the primary focal area, the designer forces the reader to try to make sense of the randomness. The reader's brain is seeking to create order and the surprise of the small cluster of elements will intrigue the brain and bring balance to perhaps a very weighted focal point. It is a very clever technique.

Understanding the psychology that goes into visual hierarchy allows you as a designer to control your work-it literally is a practice in mind control.  I hope you enjoy your newfound super power (sorry, it cannot really get the kids to do the dishes)!

SO you know a challenge is coming right?  Well it is... Here is what I propose to you. Take a look at this post. Did you notice that when you scanned it that visual hierarchy was in play?  Did certain words pop out?  Why?  Well they were bold, and some colored... Yup that is visual hierarchy at its best.

So here is your challenge:  I would love to have you use one of your Thanks Living statements, and create a layout that POPS certain words more than others-from your title to your journaling you pick.  THEN in your post tell me what you loved about this technique!  Take a look at our exculsively made free downloads that were created by Deena Wuest and see if you can add one of those in your design. 

I am excited to hear  about  your Thanks Livings this month! 

Blessings

e

Thanks Living Challenge #1

At the beginning 2012 I decided to live a life that is focused on my blessings so I would not be able to get stuck in the muck that can drag us down--

I also am a BIG fan of design principles so I combined them into a challenge that I hostess at Club CK .  I am going to begin to post these challenges and principles here at thinking*through*design as well. All the information that I post is for personal use if you want to copy or reproduce any portion of the Thanks Living post please email me for permission.  The content and images are copyrighted! 

Here is the first Thanks Living Challenge-- if you want to enter for the grand prize at the end of the year, CLICK HERE for information on how to play along in the challenges. 

 

THANKS LIVING - JAN 2012 - LINES

Count your blessings and you'll lose count of your misfortunes" - Jean Clervil

 

WelcomeFriends!

So how are your Thanks Living statements coming along? Maybe you are just beginning the journey today and that is great, this is a month long challenge so you have plenty of time to come up with your Thanks Living statements—for more information on the Thanks Living Challenge and Thanks Living statements, check out this post.  Luckily for us, we can begin a life of Thanks Living ANYTIME! 

 I have been working on mine and one thing for sure I am thankful for is my brain.  Our brains are always at work!  I love that our brains are always seeking solutions. For years, I have been interested in furthering my knowledge of graphic design. I have read many books on design of all variety.  I would like to begin our THANKS LIVING adventure by letting you know, I am no longer a professional graphic designer, and when I was designing for a company, I was a self-taught designer. My goal with Thanks Living  challenges  is to open a small peek into what I have learned over the years. If you have something to add or correct  to the design principle portion (say that three times really fast)of this challenge, please feel free to email me at [email protected] .  I promise I will act in due diligence to ensure the information I have is correct; however, if I blunder, be kind, I will gladly make corrections! 

Our Thanks Living journey will begin by concentrating on POINT, and LINES.  All things are made up of points and points make lines, so they go hand and hand.  The importance of POINT and LINE in scrapbooking is well… everything!  Understanding lines is very important to scrapbook design. 

Let’s begin with POINT, as this journey progresses, you will notice that we come back to point often.  It is after all the POINT! (ha-ha)

POINT: as defined (by me) in scrapbooking, usually refers to a focal point.  Where do you want your reader to focus immediately when looking at a layout?  Our goal in POINT development is literally to control the reader’s immediate attention.  How do we do that?

This month we will focus on creating POINT with LINES. 

LINES are a very powerful tool.  The human brain LIKES lines, the (most the time) give order. The brain likes order!  I want to share with you a diagram I made for my blog a while back that will help with the concept of LINES.

Let’ s take a look at lines:

Horizontal Lines: convey peace and are foundational on scrapbook layouts.  These kinds of lines are a natural flow for the reader’s eye.  Horizontal lines are baselines for most text as well.

Vertical lines: are dominant, demand attention and the readers mind will attempt to understand the purpose of the vertical line.  These lines stand up (literally) and say, “LOOK here”.  In addition, because they stand, they can give a layout and air of spirituality, as if to say they are reaching to the heavens.   Vertical lines will take over a layout if not controlled.

Diagonal lines: These lines create a sense of movement, and in 2D (scrapbooking) they can create a perspective of “space”. When a layout needs directions given, placing elements on a diagonal will help the artist control the flow of the layout.

Interestingly, when you combine a vertical and horizontal line, you create a sense of stability. It is often practice of scrapbook artists to innately create this stability.  If you look at several scrapbook layouts, you will notice a harmony that is created with the uses of horizontal and vertical lines.

Zigzag lines are a combination of diagonal lines that connect at points. Zigzag lines are dynamic and maintain the high energy characteristics of diagonal lines. They create excitement and intense movement. They  can express confusion and tension at times as they change direction quickly and frequently.

The arch or curved line: Did you know that magicians use the brain’s love of the arch element to make the illusions work?  See when a magician wants to utilize the “sleight of hand” all he must do is create an arching motion, a handkerchief arching in the air, the motion of a magic wand… that’s because the arch motion is almost irresistible to the human brain.  When we use the corner rounder on our photos we are creating a most alluring line for our brain.  Curved lines are fluid and soft, they are a great way to bring a very defined smoothness to a layout.

FOUNDATION:  Lines=Foundation, or grounding.  Lines are the base of all design.  To prevent your work from looking scattered, disjoined or misshapen, using simple lines (and we will discuss weight of lines another month) to ground your elements such as a photo, or title will make for a beautiful beginning.  Floating elements don’t make sense to the brain (unless it is a bird or balloon) so we need to ground elements on our scrapbook layouts with lines and create that foundation.

When scrapbooking try and play with lines, but remember, there is a natural flow using the “Z” form when setting up a layout is a great beginning.  The eye tracks similar to the way we read; therefore placing your important elements on the “Z” lines will help to create a layout that is easy for the reader to distinguish.  Notice within this layout hard lines from the design are softened with a curved line creating a frame to draw my reader into the page.  The hard lines of the content follow a “z” form ensuring that my reader investigates my layout thoroughly. 

 

We will return to lines often as they are the foundation of all design.  Understanding that your lines form a foundation for your scrapbook layouts will allow you to draw the reader in and will make beginning a new layout less of a chore.

REMEMEBER if you need to bring POWER to an element, for instance a weaker photo, place it on your strongest line! 

Your challenge this month: use your list of Thanks Living statements and create a layout using the line principles you have learned. Then tell me what you found as you created. Try to use your Thanks Living statement in a predominant line! (Journaling or a title) For fun, I like to add a little CK in everything I do so, the Latest and Greatest article in JAN/FEB 2012 has a definite LOOOOVE theme.. so let’s Make it OURS..

HOW ARE YOU THANKS LIVING THE LOVE IN YOUR LIFE! 

I am terribly eager to see what you come up with—

xoxox

e

__________

REMEMBER YOU CAN BEGIN THE THANK LIVING CHALLENGE ANYTIME... JUST COME ON OVER AND HAVE SOME FUN!

When I create a layout, I like most of designers want to have feedback. I asked my daughter if she liked this layout and she replied "yup, I like how the photos are done"

my thought--

by adding a cluster of photo that resemble one another creates a focal point. However the stray photo in the lower left demands attention because it has been separated from the similar photos.  It is that technique that helps to draw attention to the fact that while she wanted to be serious the silly side lies just below the surface.. it was a great way to draw out the personality on this layout. 

Let me know what your thoughts are!

A new blog!

Well I decided to set up a blog solely for the use of my adventures in scrapbooking and the like.  I am hoping to redirect traffic from my old blog (www.mynewlittlespottobe.blogspot.com) here.  I have decided to use typepad as it is a more professional forum.  I will have a great deal of photos up soon from CHA! 

I hope to keep the ISSUE challenge and Thanks Living Challenges up-to date on a blog and here is where it will all begin!

The next post will be the Jan and Feb Thanks Living Challenges and beginning Wednesday you can find the ISSUE challenges here at thinking*through*desgin

Blessings

e