Get the best of both worlds by including more photos with a large photo block on one side of your layout while still having some fun by creating a more traditional scrapbooking design on the other.
Supplies used - Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned paper, die cuts, enamel dots, stickers, and brads: Simple Stories; Flowers and ribbons: unknown
It seems that usually my layouts for these "Fun With Photo Blocks" posts have a large amount of photos. It's common for those layouts to have 10, 12, 14 and more photos. I often go to this concept when I have a lot of photos. However, today's layout shows that this concept works with a smaller amount of photos too. With a smaller amount of photos you have more room to play around with cards and fun details and that's exactly what I did here.
On the left page created a large Christmas tree out of circles.
This paper collection had a piece that was covered with 2" circles. I'm always on the lookout for different ways to create Christmas trees so I had an idea for those circles. Here's how I created the tree:
1. I used a circle punch to punch out 15 circles.
2. I then arranged them in a pyramid/triangle on a cream-colored piece of patterned paper.
3. Then I used my paper trimmer to cut right on the edges of the circles pyramid and form the triangle/tree piece.
4. After the tree was adhered to the layout and my photos were adhered on top of the tree, I added lots of fun details. I added some hand-stitching on some of the circles. To help fill in the gaps between the punched circles I added circle stickers, enamel dots, and brads.
5. I finished the tree with a flower at the top and a decorative ribbon at the bottom.
On the right page I used a mix of a 6 x 4" photo and cards, a 3 x 4" photo and a 3 x 4" card, and then a 12 x 4" strip along the top. A lot of times I rely on the standard 4 x 6", 3 x 4", and 4 x 4" cards to create these large photo blocks, but sometimes it's fun and nice change to add in some larger pieces like 12 x 4" or 6 x 8".
On that 12 x 4" strip, I cut it from a piece of patterned paper that had the "believe in the magic of Christmas" printed on it along with a few stars.
I added a few enamel dots and a star sticker to give a little dimension and texture to that design.
I also added my journaling and two wallet size photos on that strip.
One of my favorite cards in this collection had a really cute, small Christmas tree made up of strips of washi tape (not actual tape, printed to look like tape.) I wanted to add more detail and texture to the tree so I used enamel dots, brads, and a banner sticker.
I also included a 2 x 2" picture of our tree on that card.
On the second 6 x 4" card I added some stitching and a really cute bundle of berries with a holly leaf and a candy cane sticker.
One thing I love about Simple Stories is how well designed their products are. With their cards, I will usually add just a few details to add some texture and dimension. I feel like my layouts with their products always go together so fast because they are so well designed. (I promise this is not a paid pitch for Simple Stories. I just love them and if you follow me you know I use their products A LOT!)
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