Use Product Packaging on Layouts

 

Supplies: October Afternoon (all patterned paper, all alpha-numeric stickers, journaling card [I used the decorative B-side], wild card ["Happy" bingo card], and chipboard hand), Ellison (diecuts), Bazzill (both shades of blue cardstock), Wausau Paper (white and peach cardstock), TPC Studio (green cardstock), Autumn Leaves/Stampology (ink), Zig (pen), Fiskars (decorative scissors), and misc. (adhesive by 3M and Glue Dots International, ballpoint pen for journaling on slick paper, and mechanical pencil for drawing journaling lines and outlining some elements).  This layout was created in response to the May 16, 2011 challenge on the October Afternoon blog.

I used quite a bit of paper and other supplies on this detailed, two-page layout.  Yet I was still able to take a green approach by including product packaging on my layout.  Can you spot the packaging?  Believe it or not, it's the ledger paper (journaling)!  It is part of the backing card in the packaging for the October Afternoon Board Walk/Sea Mist stickers that I used in the title of the layout!  Keep your eyes open for fun ways to use product packaging--you will be surprised at how useful these "throwaway" items can actually be.  The designers of craft supplies want their products to look beautiful and appealing on store shelves, so the product packaging they use is often quite pretty.

Here are a few detail photos from the above layout.  First, let's look at the journaling (below):

 

I journaled in list format.  My list of steps for how to feed a baby is:  "Step 1: If weather permits, remove all of Baby's clothes (except for the diaper).  Step 2: Give Baby a spoon to play with.  Step 3:  Place bib on Baby and use a second spoon to begin feeding.  Step 4: Continue feeding until all of the food is either in or on the baby.  Expect clean-up to take quite some time."

Now, here is a look at the title (below).  The grid in the yellow patterned paper helped me position my letter stickers in a straight line. 

 

Next, take a look at a closeup of one of my number embellishments (below).  To help the individual elements stand out in this layered accent, I used a simple outlining technique.  I ran a black ink pad along the edges of the circle and the rectangle before I attached them to each other.  The number sticker was too intricate and delicate to run along an ink pad, so I outlined it with a mechanical pencil instead.

 

When I created this layout, I knew I wanted the first three photos to be in a row, since they show the steps in a process.  I wanted the fourth photo to be set a bit apart from the first three, since it is like the punch-line to a joke--humorous and a bit unexpected.  To accomplish all of this, I knew I would need to create a two-page spread in my album.  (In a 12x12" album this could probably all fit on one page, but these photos belong to an album that I have already begun in the 8.5x11" format.)  I knew that my chosen layout would, therefore, include a large, photoless area in the upper area of the right hand page.  Not wanting that area to look blank and distracting, I filled it with a cluster of embellishments (shown below) that support my theme.  

The cluster includes a heart (to symbolize my love for my baby), a cute diecut paper baby, a card with a number print that echoes the numbers elsewhere on the layout, and a "Happy" bingo card (to emphasize the happy, light-hearted nature of the layout).  All these embellishments are clustered on a vertical mat of striped paper that matches the striped paper in the four circular mats under the number stickers, thus tying the whole layout together.  It takes a little extra time to coordinate page elements like this, but I think it is worth it, in order to add that extra bit of meaning to the layout.

Last, let's look at the chipboard pointing hand (below).  It came as part of the ephemera pack in the October Afternoon Five and Dime collection.  To make it match my layout, I placed it upside down on the back of the yellow paper (the same paper in my title bar), traced around it with a pencil, and cut it out.  I adhered the cutout, yellow side up, to the chipboard.  Then, I carefully filed the edges of the paper with a nail file, to get rid of any excess paper.  To finish it off, I inked the edges with my black ink pad.

 

Thanks for looking at my layout!  I hope it made you smile.