Tips to help you achieve a cohesive layout :)

Hi there Canaries!

Linda here today with another Welcome To Craft post for you!

Some scrappers (and cardmakers, and project-lifers) find it hard to get a layout or spread, to look cohesive and purposeful. I'm here today to show you a couple of tips, that help to create a 'smooth', finished look to all your projects!

So first of all I'll show you my layout

The papers in this Bohemian Scrapbooking Kit from last month are REALLY bright and busy (and fabulous) but as a scrapper who loves layers, I had to be careful to ensure they all worked and still felt cohesive as an overall layout.





OK so here is my biggest tip, and it really sounds silly, but it works.


With colours, with embellishments, with everything. Even if you're working in a grid pattern, or a circular layout, work in triangles!

Here's an idea of what I mean:


As you can see from my super technical diagram (tee hee) I've worked in three sets of triangles, just for the colours. Orange is in the top left, the larger amount in the title, and a tiny pop of it as the tag.
Pink I've used in two triangles (this still counts!), and to save your eyes, I didn't add another triangle, but there are triangles for the yellow/gold elements too!

By having the elements/colours in triangle shaped zones, it helps the layout to look even, without looking too strict or pillar-like (I always imagine big pillars when I think of two rows or columns)

If you work in twos (i.e. NOT a triangle of 3), your layout will tend to look stagnant. It wont feel natural for the 'viewers' eyes, to move around the page. With a triangle, their eyes will naturally flow, and take in all the elements.
Also, if you work in twos, everything has to be SUPER even and straight, and that will end up making your layout or card, look UNEVEN. it's a crazy thing :)

Tip #2

Don't be afraid to use slightly different tones of the same colour.

I've used yellow and gold in this way. The yellow within the arrow-tag at the bottom of the main panel is a different yellow to the yellow in the 'my happiness' along the bottom, and that's different again from the gold glitter tape, BUT, because they're not right up next to each other, it totally works.


Tip #3

Use different textures and mediums. 

 Eg the top panel of arrows

If I had only used a line of the acrylic transparent arrows, this little top feature, would have faded into the background (and therefore be pointless! BUT by adding in some patterned paper arrows, and popping in the little gold foiled 'scenes from today' phrase sticker, this vignette sits comfortably at the top of the page and does a great job of giving the page a boundary, without it looking too heavy or bulky.


Tip #4

Overlap, overlap, overlap

As you can see in this photo, I've done a LOT of overlapping, and this is just a photo of one small section of the layout.

If you overlap things (eg the tags and flags onto the photo, the patterned papers over each other, the title over the patterned paper), even if only a little, it connects all the facets of the page.

If I hadn't overlapped or butted things up against other elements on the page, it would all feel like separate, floating pieces, and the layout wouldn't feel nice to look at.

Take another look.




If the 'favorite snapshot' banner had been further left, and not overlapping the photo at all, it would have felt last-minute or needless. The same goes with the little arrow/label on the bottom right of the green panel; if it sat BELOW the green panel, in the white area, it would look like its floating aimlessly out to sea.

Last tip for today, #5

Don't be afraid to give your layout borders.

I love a good white background, I'm particularly obsessed with airy, floaty layouts (thus why I choose white cardstock as my base over and over), but by adding a small, thin, or light strip of paper, or row of items (eg the arrows) to the top and/or bottom of the layout, it gives the layout grounding. It doesn't feel floating in a bad way, it feels light and airy, but purposeful.

OK! That's it for me for today, I hope I've given you some helpful tips on how to create a cohesive layout or spread!

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See you again soon!