There was a thread on 2peas about a class called Perfect Collection that sounded interesting. The basis of the class was that you take a paper collection/pad, etc and just start cutting strips, squares, rectangles, etc. to form base layouts that you go back and add photos and embellishments to. I didn't sign up, since the class was more geared toward 12x12, but decided to give the premise a try. I had two almost full sets of EP Little Boy, minus a few sheets used for other projects. I started out with this:
In the end, I was came up with 17 layouts (12 one page layouts, 5 doubles). I mostly used older photos of the boys as babies/toddlers. I reused photos that were already on layouts, but that I didn't like (as in, when I started scrapping there wasn't much in the way of paper and sticker choices). I spent about 2 hours making the base layouts, and then time off and on over the course of an afternoon making the layouts.
This turned into:
No embellishments, but I think it turned out pretty cute.
Double page layout that I first thought I would use for a page about their Little Tykes cars, but ended up using it for these photos of Jacob.
I think one of the things I like best about this system was that I didn't have to add too much to make it look like you put a lot of effort in.
I honestly didn't have high hopes for this one, since it seemed so blah.
But I like how it turned out.
I rescued the punched heart from the original layout.
When I first flipped through the papers, it didn't occur to me to that a pack full of so much primary papers that would be so useful for holidays, like 4th of July. I added in a pack of bling embellishments, just to jazz it up a little.
And it just occurred to me that I didn't put any journaling on the right side block. Oops.
And I really never expected to see Christmas combinations in a kid's paper pack.
But I love it!
I just love the little airplanes. Other than the cars above, it's probably the only "a" side paper I really used.
I liked the multicolor polka dot paper, but it's very overwhelming as a full size sheet, but cut down, it's pretty cute.
It still feels a little unbalanced, but it's better than the layout that the photo started out on.
I felt a little sly on this one; the paper at the bottom and the cut out at the top are actually the cover sheet for the paper collection. I thought I was clever using a stamped piece to cover some text, but then I looked and discovered that there was a sticker of the exact same image in the kit. Whoops.
Lining up some tags is one of my favorite techniques, and it worked well here to transition from the mat to the title.
I really expected to use this layout for a 4th of July layout, but I changed my mind when I flipped through one of the albums and saw these photos from when Jacob was born.
My justification was that Brandon's shirt in the pics are red, white and blue :) I misted the background to tone down some of the brightness, and used some stamps to make a visual triangle of the red elements.
This base page reminded me of a circus, so I used a newer photo, that I took Friday of Jacob in his new big top pop up tent.
I was hoping for darker letters, but I didn't have any, but I think these look ok.
I originally thought I would be using this base for a camping layout, but I thought they might look cute with these photos of Brandon with chocolate pudding all over his face.
I needed to balance out some red, so I used a BoBunny summer die cut behind the photos, and then I needed a tag up in the corner to complete the visual triangle.
This was literally the quickest base to make; the kit had a couple sheets that were 4 6x6 squares on the backside so I slapped a couple of them down.
And it proved to be a cute base for some pics of Jacob meeting his new lion George for the first time.
Somewhere along the line I had purchased a few extra sheets of the journal squares, and this soft blue was the background. Since I had multiples of it and wasn't using the journal squares as much as I thought I would, I trimmed some down for a double background. I didn't have enough of the yellow left to fully extend it across, but I figured I could hide that with a photo.
And luckily it worked. The letters might be a little bright, but to help counterbalance that I used some silver stickles on the journaling blocks and on the extra color block.
Another quick base. I literally grabbed 3 strips that were sitting there and anchored them with another strip and a journal block.
And while these thin foam Thicker letter stickers are cute in the package, it is next to impossible to put them on a layout and not get them wonky. After 4 or 5 tries I gave up.
And another Christmas-y base.
Not sure I 100% like this, but it's cute and keepable.
When I made this one, I wondered if the placement was going to seem awkward, and it kind of was.
I had a hard time with this one; I wanted to keep the journaling blocks and the paper pieced bottle from the original layout but they were hard to place. I still wonder if I need a separate title with some sticker letters on the green block.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the layouts, and it was such a straight forward and simple concept, and enjoyable, that I'll probably do it again with some of my other collections/paper pads.
365 Layouts total: 283 layouts, 1 card and 5 mini albums.
