The Beauty of Spring

I just love the beauty of springtime in Tennessee. The flowers just explode with gorgeous color, and none is more beautiful than my three-year-old Clematis. I took so many photos of this plants because it grew prettier every day. I don't know how anyone can look at this and think it is an accident of nature.

Of course, with all these straight lines, you know I had to use my KellyCraft Get-It-Straight Laser Square. It makes it so easy to create a layout in no time at all. (Don't you love the new blue animal print shown in the photos below on my Laser Square?)

After printing my photos and headline, I put the whole thing together in less than five minutes, including the time it took to photograph it and move the laser guide each time. My printer is on the fritz and has been printing text with a shadow on it, so I had to use hand-written journaling. That's on the tag tucked behind the photo, lower right.

Here's how I did it:

Supplies
KellyCraft Laser Square
Gold butterflies from Paper Dreams Factory
White pen
Deep purple card stock, 8" x 8" and 2" x 4"
Printed photos

Instructions
1. Open main photo in Photoshop or any other photo manipulation program. Set the size to 7 1/2" x 7 1/2", cropping if necessary. Set the layer opacity to 50%.
2. Open another layer and set the page title in 100% purple over the tinted photo. Save it as a jpeg file.
3. Size three additional photos to fit within the 7 1/2" square. Saves as jpeg files.
4. Print all photos on photo paper (I used Ilford Galerie Classic Pearl), and trim all except the screened photo with title, leaving a 1/8" white border all around. This saves creating a separate layer, saving you time and money. Trim the large screened photo flush, unless you prefer leaving the border here as well.
5. Line up the 8" piece of card stock with your laser square and place the tinted title page on top, leaving a 1/4" border.
6. Place the other photos according to the sample, lining each up with the Laser Square.
7. Place the large butterfly on the top left of the large flower photo.
8. Attach the small butterfly to the purple journaling block. Add journaling with white pen and slide it under the photo.

It was so easy that it makes me want to make matching pages with all my spring flower photos.