Little is Big
Some of the hottest embellishments out there right now are small—small flowers, small die cuts, small letter stickers, and more. These undersized accents made me think small, design-wise, as well. How could I take some of the ordinary parts of a page and shrink them down? After all, almost everything is cuter in miniature size. But what would it do to the overall design if only some parts of my page were tiny? I wanted to find out, so I played around withsizes in five different areas: title, embellishments, journaling, photos, and paper. My little efforts got me big results.
1. Go small, not big, with the title.
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Supplies: patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye) • stickers (October Afternoon, Crate Paper/Studio Calico, Hambly) • ribbon (American Crafts) • buttons (My Mind’s Eye) • floss (DMC) • butterflies (Studio Calico) • card (Studio Calico) • gems (Hero Arts) • pen (Zig) • stitching template (Bazzill) • 12 x 12 layout by Jennifer Larson |
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When I design a page ordinarily, I think BIG when it comes to the title. It’s supposed to command attention by its size, right? Wrong. Look what I did with this page, “Evanescent.” Even though the title letters are small, the card is white, which makes the title pop on the colorful page. Overlapping the photo connects the title to the photo of my rambunctious boys.
2. Cluster tiny embellishments for a big effect.
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Supplies: cardstock (Stampin’ Up!) • patterned paper (Basic Grey, October Afternoon, Crae Paper) • stickers (Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras) • ribbon (Making Memories) • die cut (Sizzix/Stampin’ Up!) • die cut button (Crate Paper) • ticket (Pink Paislee) • spray mist (Studio Calico, Maya Mist) • star pin (Maya Road) • pen (Zig) • floss (DMC) • linen thread (Stampin’ Up!) • thread • 12 x 12 layout by Jennifer Larson |
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I love using embellishments on a page, but even small embellishments can pack a powerful impact when they are grouped together, like I did on the page “Big Snow.” Clustering three small embellishments by the title—the ticket, the buttons, and the star—draws the attention to the title first, then moves easily on to the journaling and the photo of that big pile of snow.
3. Tell the whole story in one short sentence.
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Supplies: cardstock (Bazzill) • patterned paper (October Afternoon, Basic Grey, Studio Calico, Cosmo Cricket) • stickers (Basic Grey, Doodlebug) • ribbon (Fancy Pants) • buttons (My Mind’s Eye) • punch (EK Success) • spray ink (Studio Calico) • flower (Prima) • stamp (Studio Calico) • ink (Stampin’ Up!) • pen (Zig) • thread • 12 x 12 layout by Jennifer Larson |
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Sometimes the story I want to tell is big and involved, but I hesitate to put those stories down since they are so involved and difficult to write. Instead of putting the big story down, sometimes you can encapsulate the whole thing in one line, like I did with “Keep Calm.”
My son, who has autism, is going through a rough patch in first grade. The story is a big one, but I wanted this page to focus on the positive—what he is learning right now—rather than what his struggles have been. To do so, I picked the famous World War II motivational line as the text for this page. It sums up everything I want for him.
4. Use small photos to tell a big story.
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Supplies: patterned paper (Studio Calico) • stickers (Studio Calico) • chipboard letters (Studio Calico) • butterflies (Studio Calico) • floss (DMC) • date stamp (Studio Calico) • ink (Stampin’ up!) • pen (American Crafts) • thread • 12 x 12 layout by Jennifer Larson |
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This technique is a tough one for many people. It’s often most convenient to print all 4 x 6 photos to tell our stories. This makes it hard to winnow down the photos when making a page, though, and limits our design opportunities. How can we use small photos to tell the full story? Here’s what I did.
It might not look like it, but I fit all these photos on one 4x6 print, using Photoshop Elements 7. I learned to do this by watching this tutorial by Cathy Zielske. I trimmed the photos apart to put on the page, thereby not having to choose which photos to use and which to leave out!
I also asked Alexandra Sirugue-Macleod, a master at using small photos to big effect, to share her work:
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Supplies: patterned paper (Webster’s Pages) • butterflies (K & Company) • tags • stitching • fonts • 8 ½ x 11 layout by Alexandra Sirugue-Macleod
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Alexandra says, “I'm a fervent believer that a tiny photo can have more impact than a poster board if surrounded with elements that will draw the focus toward that photo.
The title means ‘The Last Time’ and the page is about the realization that one shouldn't let time fly away without making time to visit our family members. (My grandma passed away last week and we realized that the last time Gabrielle saw her was in April 2008.)”
5. Use mini bits of patterned paper for maximum impact.
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Supplies: patterned paper (Pink Paislee, Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey, Sassafras, October Afternoon) • stickers (Studio Calico/Crate paper) • chipboard letters (Studio Calico, American Crafts) • ribbon (Fancy Pants) • butterfly die cut/embossing plate (Sizzix/Stampin’ Up!) • spray mist (Studio Calico) • fabric strips (Studio Calico) • flowers (K & Company, Studio Calico) • button (My Mind’s Eye) • pen (American Crafts) • 12 x 12 layout by Jennifer Larson
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I love to use patterned paper—as the background, in strips, in blocks. Patterned paper and I are BFFs. It was challenging to think about shrinking down the lovely paper and just using bits, which I did in “Early Garden.”
I had lots of small pieces of paper left from a kit, so I pulled out an embossing die and made a rabble of butterflies, adding some movement to an otherwise static, sedate page.
I hope that you have fun playing around with the various ways that you can go small instead of big for design impact on your pages!