Hi T*T*D friends!
I am very excited that you made it to this weeks thought. I hope you will find it as fun and informative as we do! We have been working hard over the last few months to bring you some great information. We are always excited to HEAR FROM YOU! please hop to our facebook page and share your thought with us. DO you have a technique or design principle you are interested in? We want know about it.. you may even get a chance to be a guest TG!
This week we have a great thought on adding dimension to your layouts...
By Laura Mooney and Erika Hayes
3-D movies have become very popular lately and for good reason. They seem more real and they grab your attention and hold it. They add a level of dimension that brings the movie to life in a way a “flat” movie can not.
Let's begin by defining dimension. Dimension is the depth that items appear on your layout. Layers are important because the tell the brain the level of importance. Adding dimension to a layout, card, or other project can be a great way to bring life to your project. Dimension brings visual interest to your design, moves photos or embellishments to the forefront of the visual hierarchy, and helps it move from the flat plane to the 3-D plane and giving it a sense of reality that is missing in 2-D.
One of the easiest ways to add dimension is to elevate embellishments with pop dots or foam tape. Elevating a piece of a cluster can be both interesting looking and powerful. One thing to keep in mind when using foam tape is that layering the elements will keep the dimension much more appealing.
Other ways of adding visual interest by means of dimension is with bulky pre-made or hand-made embellishments. From flowers to chipboard dimension is a great way to bring your layouts to life.
Dimension can be added with:
- Foam dots/tape which lifts your embellishment
- Chipboard elements
- Paper flowers
- Pre-made items such as brads, or layered stickers and die-cuts
This is a short list of dimensional items you are not limited to scrapbook supplies, dig though your office supplies for even more great dimentional items. We are excited to see what you come up with for this thought.
One of the best things about adding dimention is the fun you can have adding planes of interest.
One fun tip for dimension if you have a flat object but don't want to add a pop dot becuase you want to maintain a flat surface, you can bring the illusion of depth by adding a shadow to your item by inking the edges or using a Copic marker. It is a simple way to add the visual excitement you may need.
Here is what our TD's came up with
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Devra’s thought: I originally started this LO for another purpose. As I continued to work on it, I realized I was altering it to add some dimension, and decided to use it for this *thought* instead. I wanted to separate the rays to give them an 'above and below' feel. First I sewed along the edge of all the cream rays. Then I cut all the grey rays apart from the others, lifting them with pop dots. I cut a few of the stars out of the rays and outlined them with Stickles, both above and below them. In other places I used wood veneer stars that I covered in glitter. I matted the photo on the same blue paper as the under piece so it would really pick up the cut out stars. The glitter letters in the title, led my eye back to the glittered stars. The dimension is subtle, however, the effect above and below is present.
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Colleen’s thought: I know adding dimension is a key design element when working on scrapbooking pages, and adding pop-dots or dimensional glaze is easy. However, for it to look really good, it has to be paired with layering, and well, layering is a skill I’m still developing. When I saw the pictures of my daughter in the leaves for the first time, I knew I could handle layering a pile of leaves. To add a bit more dimension, I folded up the edges on the leaves and popped the letter tiles up with dots. I still would love to figure out how to do a layout with a lovely cluster with lots of layering, but for now, this works for me.
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Jennifer’s thought: I like layering elements on top of each other. Sometimes it's easier to put them on pop dots to do the layering. On this page, I wanted to sneak some sequins under my photo; the sequins themselves had some dimension, so I mounted the photo on Dimensionals to make it easier to slide the sequins underneath, along with the tag and the patterned paper card. I also used Dimensionals to layer elements around my title--specifically, the hexagon die cut. I like the real-life "drop shadows" that the elements I layered with Dimensionals created!
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Carolyn’s thought: My thoughts: I have to admit that adding dimension to my layouts is fairly new to my scrapping. When it first came out, I refused, thinking it would add to much bulk to my albums! I didn't like chipboard or foam dots, they were just too thick! I can say that I am happy that I decided to get "with it" and love it on my layouts, can't imagine doing a layout without adding dimension. For this layout I started with the pleated paper below the photos, stitching it down with my sewing machine since it didn't seem to want to stay down....I also love stitching on my layouts. For more dimension on the pleated pp, I added a premade MME layered sticker over three handmade pennants on the right and framed the MME "Happy Day" title to the left, using foam dots. I made the banner in the upper right corner and added the names and ages of the children in the photo. I chose not to add foam dots behind the journaling strips since I had already added dimension in this area by adding the twine between the two pink brads. To finish the layout I used two different chipboard fonts and colors. With encouragement from other scrappers over the last couple of years, I have tried several new ideas on my layouts.....so glad that I broke out of my comfort zone.
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Laura’s thought: I love adding dimension to my layouts, to not, leaves them feeling flat to me. For this layout I made sure my photos were matted, which I think adds dimension without a ton of bulk, and double matted my focal photo. Then I added foam tape under the matted focal photo to give even more elevation for its importance. Then I added dimension all around the layout by: cutting away on of the surfboards and sliding a photo underneath, using chipboard embellishments, using flat and raised letters for the title, adding the bottle caps, cutting out the starfish and raising some of them with foam tape, adding dimensional glaze to the raised stars and the cutout surfboard, adding string, raising the main body of my journaling.
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Erika's thought: I think making cards is a hoot--hahaha-- OK seriously, I was working on this fun card for The Scrap Review and I realized it was perfect example of dimension used on a card. I tend to pull out my pop dots anytime I feel like my layout or card needs a little something to make it look complete. I create pretty simple designs so using dimension is a great way for me to maintain my clean graphic look and have fun layers of visual interest. You can find the entire review of My Little Shoebox here.
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Well friends... show us what you have for us... We have a great new feature beginning here at t*t*d we will be choosing a featured layout/card/project and giving you a great blinkie for your blog or siggy line. We also would like to welcome AMANDA onto the editoral staff here. She will be heading up our highlighted projects! Welcome Amanda.
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