Packing a Punch with Graphic 45

Hi there.

I've just returned from 5 days in gorgeous Port Douglas. I've never been there before and I was pleasantly surprised at how laid back it was. We walked, snorkeled, explored and of course, ate and drank far too much! It was a fabulous place and I can't wait to return one day.

Of course, now I have heaps more photos to scrap - 370 to be exact! Luckily it's my guest DT month for The Scrapbook Store and I have the most amazing Graphic 45 papers to scrap with! The range I have is called Bohemian Bazaar and you can find it here.

Graphic 45 can have incredibly bold, bright papers, and this range is the boldest and brightest I have ever seen! I remember someone saying once that Graphic 45 papers scare them. I can understand this but I hope to show you over the next few weeks how you can make the most of these amazing papers. They can make truly incredible pages and off the page projects.

I have started with a very straightforward page. I wanted to make the entire layout from G45 papers so I kept the design very simple as a busy design would have clashed and detracted from the photos.

Here's my layout:

Don't the bright colours just knock your socks off? I chose papers that matched the clothing on my (very silly) family. Although the background paper is bright and busy, I chose it as it contains only one colour. This allowed me to get away with using a whole sheet of it.

I nearly always back G45 papers with black or white cardstock. This helps to define the space and clearly separates the layers. To show you what I mean, look at the papers around the photos. If I hadn't used white cardstsock between the layers, the papers would have all just merged into one another and the photos would have got lost among the papers. Here's a close up.

Note that I left the strips behind the photo unmounted as I didn't particularly want them to stand out. They're just the support team, not the feature!

To help create a border around the layout, I backed the page with white cardstock too. I used a Martha Stewart border punch to soften the straight edges on the top and bottom and to add a bit of interest.

I only used about 1 1/4 sheets of paper to make this layout, plus cardstock. The joy of good double-sided paper is that it looks like I've used more. The reverse of the blue paper is the red and yellow one and the reverse of the green and blue paper is the blue diamond one. I cut the paper away from underneath the photos, cut it into strips and flipped some of it to show the other side.

The Bohemian Bazaar range also has chipboard buttons, tags and shapes, some of which I've used here, as well as a sticker sheet with letters, border strips and other designs.

I hope to show you more of these over the next few weeks.

Hope this has "brightened" your day!

Heather