Design Decisions Class Prompt 1

Design Designs is Shimelle's newest class which ran throughout November and as the name suggests is all about breaking down and analysing the decisions we make on layouts.

As someone who has taught classes, it may seem strange to others that I actually take them myself, but it's something many crafters do since we all have something to offer and I love seeing experienced crafters willing to learn from their peers.  Nobody ever truly stops learning. 🎓

Attack of the Man Dollies

I often (OK pretty much always) do a "post mortem" on my layouts and cards when I'm done.  I'm probably overly critical, but this isn't a bad thing.  It helps me to continue to identify what I like and dislike and what I should or should not repeat on future projects.

For me, a lot of the classes I take aren't necessarily to learn new techniques (though some are), but if I find a fellow crafter whose style matches mine, taking her classes gives me material to use when Arthur* doesn't allow me to do it all.  Something needs to give and I need to remove some part pf the process.  It's the difference between having a layout done or not.  In such cases,  using a sketch - either an actual sketch or using a layout as a sketch helps me most.  For others, removing another part of the process might be more useful.  This is possibly something to revisit in the future.

For this first layout, I was so inspired by Shimelle's use of October Afternoon papers - especially a multi coloured stripe which OA does ever so well.  I loved the slight retro vibe the papers give to the project and I immediately thought of these pictures.

I chose a different stripe with colours that better reflected my memory of the photos and the colours in the pictures themselves.  I also wanted to use a fair bit of woodgrain since that (for me) often evoke a vintage feel.

I tried to stay towards "boy" colours and motifs since the story is very much a boy story and my boys (yes even the Man Child is included in this) are very BOYboys.  As a general rule, I don't have a problem using pinks or florals on boy pages, though.

 So in addition to the three design questions that Shimelle presents us with each prompt, I usually have a lot more of my own.  It started with the supplies for this layout.


Next part of the analysis is always the "post mortem".  I wish the red piece of paper was smaller,  but it was slightly complicated by the fact that the photos were not the same size as the ones in the sketch.


Overall I'm pretty happy - wish I had a third star with the woodgrain pattern but this was out of my control.




The embellishment areas are a bit different to what I usually do. and I don't normally use so much orange so that was nice for a change!

I was feeling a bit brave, but really I wanted to capture those retro feels.  I admit I used some filters on the photos since the boys were all excited about their "rare" find.



Remember that scene in The Big Bang Theory when they find those dolls and...More than one person has referred to NPCH* as Sheldon.  Anyway...


I'm also using this class as my challenge in Mercy Tiara's challenge for December which is to finish something!  I'll have to make sure one of my layouts fulfils the Tic Tac Toe mini challenge

Feline Hydration Appliance

This layout shows that it's possible to use a travel themed collection (Shimelle's  Go Now Go in a layout which has nothing to do with travel (unless you count the 5 minute car ride to buy the thing).  😉

Plenty of the papers and embellies in that collection have lovely neutral patterns (as in non-themed - lots of bright colours!).  Even the bits that are travel themed are so versatile that they can be used to document short trips or used more metaphorically in terms of taking journeys in life etc.  I really love using themes in unexpected ways.







I wanted my product choices to reflect the look of the fountain (The drinking fountain looks like a white daisy with a green stem and yellow centre). It isn't easily apparent in the photo.

I found a packet of green Sassafras blossoms quite by accident which look a bit big for the embellishment areas, but I really wanted to use them.  The navy floral is a way of doing that without being really matchy matchy.  

Several pages later in the album, there is another layout about this and it shows the rest of the story.  I plan to use similar (though not the same) colours and motifs on that page.  I have a page kit ready, but page not made.  

I think in both layouts, my urge to "Use ALL the things" kicks in strongly after a hiatus of any decent length.  It's something I recognise and try to control and it settles after a few layouts of more regular crafting.  

I even made a third layout (It was for Prompt 14, though) in the small hours of the morning and definitely less than pleased with the outcome, but more on that in due course.  The main thing is I have identified what bothers me, but not to the point I want to pull the layout apart (been there done that! 😱).  


Anyway enough of that - I need to get through the whole course before 27 December if I'm to succeed in my challenge!

*Please refer to left sidebar for acronyms! 😊