Sometimes a scrapbook page has something different that reaches out and grabs your attention. Danielle Quarmby’s Day Dreaming layout did that to me. I found it while browsing the 2 Peas In A Bucket gallery this week.
It turns out, if you’re an Aussie, you may have seen it. When I contacted Danielle to ask permission to feature it on Paperclipping, she informed me that this layout was part of an article she wrote for an Australian scrapbooking magazine.
Normally I wouldn’t reprint a layout that I knew a magazine featured first, but since there are so many of us non-Aussie’s who might never get a chance to enjoy it, I decided to post it anyway.
The “Echo” Technique
Danielle sent me a copy of the article she wrote for Scrapbook Creations Magazine. In it she explains the concept behind “Day Dreaming,” which she calls the Echo Technique.
The idea is to think of the layout as an artistic echo of an element in your photo. In other words, you want to create a visual echo of the photo featured in the layout, using the page around it.
I love the way Danielle’s daughter glows from all that black depth; and that the rainbow on her shirt is the one thing with color, connecting the photo with the rest of the layout.
Notice how the white scratch-marks on the photo background not only pull your attention to the photo, they also lead the eye back-and-forth from the girl to the title and rainbow. They even emphasize the direction of her eyes, which seem to be looking directly at that rainbow.
Here is a little more from Danielle’s article:
First I digitally edited the photo, making everything else in the image black and white to highlight the features I was echoing. For the title I simply hand-wrote on white cardstock and cut around the edge. To make the rainbow echo, I combined pieces of ribbon, paper frills and hand-cut patterned paper, putting it together with staples and tape. I carefully placed the rainbow on the layout to draw the eye across and up the page. The placement also gives the illusion that Sienna is looking at the rainbow from within the photo.
To see more of Danielle’s layouts, follow this link to her gallery on 2 Peas.
