Tuesdays with Michelle - Photo Montage Layout

Hello and Happy Tuesday Everyone! A few weeks ago I had mentioned that I had completed a 19 (yes, nineteen) photo montage, double page layout. This is something I had never done before but I challenged myself to stretch my creative muscles. So how did I accomplish this layout? Read on…

Something new for me that I learned was how to effectively crop my photos. Now I am no scrapbooking guru. I have no set of rules per say. You may notice the following…

1) Different sized photos.
2) Photos cropped at the same height despite different lengths.
3) Some photos are butted together while others are separated.

So how did this make sense for me? Well I guess I do have a ‘rule’ (I personally call it a mantra, my new mantra albeit)… Start with your photos first, then place your title next and make room for journaling (if applicable)!

Pick and choose all the photos you want to have on your layout. These photos may not be the ‘best’ ones. 
You know the ones that are slightly blurry or cut-off; pick any set of photos that have meaning to you and tell your story.

Look at the focal point of each photograph and then determine how you will crop. Can’t figure out your focal point? Close your eyes for a few seconds then open them and what do you see first? That is your focal point.

Crop away then organize your photos together in an arrangement that makes sense to you. Perhaps arranging them on your craft table is best or a piece of cardstock (or two if a double layout) just to make sure everything fits.

Starting out on a blank ‘canvas’ really helps you focus on the photo placement before choosing your patterned papers, colors, and embellishments.

Once I was able to do steps 1 through 3 above, I made sure there was an adequate amount of space for my title then my journaling spot. And because I was placing a huge amount of emphasis on the photographs; I kept my patterned papers to a minimum but tried to inject in a lot of color through my title, journaling mat and photo mats.

The die cut lettering was created from 2 machines:

• ‘Two-iffic’ was cut using the Cricut and the Pooh Font cartridge, sized at 1-1/2” using both the standard font image and its shadow creative feature.
• ‘birthday’ was cut using the Slice and the Words and Expressions Calendar design card cut at 3”.
• ‘BOY’ was cut using the Slice and the Big Kids design card cut at 2”. (Note: I had to do some playing around to get the proportions right between the 2 different design cards)

Well I hope I have inspired you to look at photo montage layouts in a whole different perspective. These types of layouts can be fun to do as long as you can stay focused on the photo, title and journaling placement.