Starting the holiday album.

In my last post I showed you my Counterfeit Kit I'm using for  our recent holiday to Tasmania.

 Today I thought I'd share with you some of my process of planning the album.


With so many photos, the first step was choosing which photos to print.  I took out my pocketed page protectors (I have 4 different styles and ended up using 3 of them) and then went through my holiday photos on my computer one event at a time. (Our new computer is too new for my old edition of Photoshop Elements, so I'm using Picassa at the moment)

I chose which orientation of page protector worked best for each event, and then chose my photos.  I  cut up a whole bunch of scrap paper and wrote the file number of the photos on them, placing them in the page protectors. I also "starred" those photos in Picassa, ready to have printed.  I used those same slips of paper to hold the spots for title and journaling spots as well.  Here's a typical page at this point:

During the process, I chose which photos I wanted to have enlargements of, and placed a traditional page protector, complete with photo number, in the appropriate spot in my pile of page protectors.
Then I waited with baited breath for my photos to arrive!
I decided that it made the most sense to make the "traditional" pages first, then use the leftover bits of paper to decorate the journaling cards. So my next step was to break my big kit of papers up into a series of smaller "page kits".  Sounds like a job that needs the dining room table! 

 With each of my 16 enlargements sitting against the neutral background cardstock, I started moving the patterned papers and cardstock around, trying to get an even spread of colours that worked with each other and the photos.

Here's my thinking face:

In the end, I added one more sheet of cardstock and managed to get at least 2 full 12" pieces for most photos, or one full sheet and at least one significant sized offcut for the others.  In the kit was also one striped sheet of paper.  I've kept that aside for cutting into strips, which can be scattered throughout the album.
 

Of course I knew at this point that once I started making the pages, I would have more offcuts to play around with.

Here we've got a beautiful waterfall, and a shot of the kids at Salamanca Markets in Hobart, enjoying their Dutch pancakes.

This photo is at the blow-hole at Bicheno, on the east coast of  Tasmania.

As well as my tickets, cameras, and perfected "sequins", I've also added some washi tape and some white Silhouette "fronds" to my kit.  For continuity, I'm inking all my edges in "bark" ink.  I'm also trying to make the most of my stamps and inks by stamping on the coloured cardstock. I'm considering adding some splatter, but I can always do that later, and then I'll do it to all of them.

You'll notice there's no titles or journaling yet, I'll do that in conjunction with the pocketed pages, and work out what needs to go where.  My plan is for all the titles to be in the same font (Franklin Gothic Demi Condensed, 65 pt if you're interested) and cut on my Silhouette - probably using the positive for the traditional pages, and the negative on the title cards in the pocketed pages.

Well I hope all that makes sense, feel free to ask me questions if it doesn't, and I hope you're finding time to get a bit crafty this weekend, too!