Love Shack Studio

Steps for Completing a Power Layout

Yesterday I showed you my completed Family Portrait Album and today I’m going to share with you the steps to a Power Layout so that you can complete your own albums.  First up, you will need several, 12”x12” squares of chip-board, matt board or heavy cardboard to sort your photos on.  Along with a 12”x12” box to hold your finished boards/photos until you are ready to mount them onto your album pages.  In the photo below you can see my album and my black, power layout box which is a Creative Memories  Product…but you can just use any 12”x12” box to hold your power layout boards.

Next, you will need a large table (or any flat surface you have like a bed or the floor ;) to layout your 12”x12” boards onto.  If like me you have limited space…then perhaps you have a scrapbook store to work at…like I did here at Archiver's last week.

 

Philbrick Family Portrait Album

A few weeks ago when I posted about going home to visit my Mother in New Hampshire and how I worked on my father's Tribute Album, I also talked about my Family Portrait Album.  So last week I went to Archiver's since they were having their Tuesday 1/2 price special on all photos, copies and scans and I scanned my entire 12"x12" Family Portrait Album to share with you.  I made a quick slide-show/video of it since it has 48 pages...in lieu of trying to post a photo of every page in one post...oh yeah!

So to help you put together your own Family Portrait Album here are a few tips that I used when putting this album together:

1. Collect all of those formal portraits that you and your family members have taken through-out the years, i.e., weddings, births, annual school photos, Graduations, sports, Holidays, Military (and job related) achievements, other activities like Band and Dance, and glamour shots, etc.
2. Pick one formal portrait for the "Title Page"  that best represents your family.  I began my album with a photo of my parents because at the time I was single and my parents had just gone and had a formal portrait done of themselves for us kids...which is something that we had been asking them to do for years!  You can choose one of your immediate family with a title of "Established 2001" {indicated which-ever year you were married ;} etc.
3. Complete a power layout to sort your photos first by person (family members) and then by chronological order...more on how to do a power layout tomorrow ;}
4. Chronological order means adding ALL those photos of your family members that you receive through-out the years {of your nieces, nephews, cousins, grandparents, etc ;}  We all love to have these significant photos of our family members but...we do not necessarily place them in frames for display...now you have a formal way of showcasing these photos as well.
5. Attach your photos to your pages with photo corners in case you want to make copies of these formal portraits at a later date...something that I will definitely be doing for my next album ;}
6. Use as little decoration as possible...make the photos the emphasis in this album since it is all about the portraits.  Simply hand-write or use alphabet stickers {for those of you who do not like your own hand-writing ;} to get the important information down...like the dates, ages and occasions for the photos.  Use border stickers for accents when needed.
7. Every year as your new photos arrive from school or other activities...and you replace the old with the new in your wall frames...simply add them to your Portrait Album to keep it updated.

Well that about sums it up!  Should you have any questions after reviewing the slide-show about my process or about how I layed-out my pages, please feel free to ask me in the comments below...because others may have the same questions.

See you all tomorrow with tips on how to complete a power layout.

Fondly, Roberta

Sneak Peak Friday: Home Away from Home Studio

This past week, when I went home to visit my Mom in New Hampshire, I carried a few projects on the plane with me to work on while I was visiting.  So the first thing I did was to set up my studio space in my Mom's living-room.   Here's a sneak peek into my home away from home studio.  Those of you who follow my blog know that no matter where I find myself in my travels...I'm always about making due with whatever space I can to work on my art journals or albums.