Tuesday Tutorial #6

Welcome to Tuesday Tutorial. What follows is the layout that inspired me to start Tuesday Tutorial. As I was making this layout, I decided to photograph each step for my blog and then realized that I could make this a weekly feature.
So here's the layout in its' finished form. I apologize for the 'crappy' photography. I decided that I wanted to create a layout using a bunch of photos that I took driving around the complex we were staying in. The thing about Palm Springs is that it's such a contrived environment - who decides to build 18 million golf courses in the desert???? We were staying in a complex that had over 1000 units and a full 18 hole golf course and 19 outdoor swimming pools. And this complex is only one of many in Palm Springs. So one day as we were returning to our unit, I decided to photograph the entire drive in from the passenger seat. So the photos are not anything special. So what to do when creating a multi-photo layout?

I decided that I really wanted to use the Petal Party Simply Scrappin' kit in order to expedite the process (what a joke that turned out to be as you will soon find out) The cardstock and DSP all coordinate which means you don't need to spend time fussing with matching up colours. So I took out the cardstock and laid all the photos on it and chose a colour to matte them all on. Matting them all on the same colour simplifys things and allows me to use busy'er cardstock in the layout.

After laying them all out, I decided that Pumpkin Pie was perfect as a background as it didn't detract from the colours of the photos.After matting all the pictures I placed them on DSP from the kit. The first page was still very busy on this Old Olive coloured DSP, so I placed a plain piece of 8 1/2 x 11 inch cardstock on it to reduce the busy background, but still allow for a big contrast with the photos. Page 2 of this layout was started on So Saffron cardstock. I then decided to add a strip of DSP. I really didn't want to show a lot of the Pink flowers, so I tried many layouts until I was happy. I finally decided to focus this page around the view of the golf course. I placed the photo in the middle of the page and popped it up on dimensionals for depth.

So why did it take me so long to publish this layout? Well, I decided to use the chipboard letters that I had received at regionals to make the title. And I decided to ink them up with the colours of the photos. But after deciding that the so saffron didn't work well on the grey chipboard, I decided to ink them up with white craft ink, and when that had dried, sponge on some other colours. What I failed to realize was that craft ink takes FOREVER to dry. How long you might ask? Well, 2 weeks later it was still tacky. Yes, that's right - 2 weeks later!!!! So I decided to try sponging on the colour and - well it turned out pastel. And this kit has BOLD and BRIGHT colours, so a pastel coloured title was not acceptable. So I tried to dry it with my heat gun, and it just stunk up my craft room. So I left it for ANOTHER week, and...still tacky. So, in desperation I decided to heat emboss with white embossing powder, and below you see the results. I'm not very happy with the title, but I love the rest of this layout. All of the flowers are stickers form the kit and several are popped up on dimensionals for depth. AND Petal Party is NOT retiring so look for it in the new catty in July!