Before we had kids...

life was different. Very different. Cue another Arthur Howard inspired layout...

This was a fun layout to do, and it was very quick and easy - I suspect you will be seeing a few more along these lines in the future! Although I have done a few mini album projects, all of my album layouts have been 12x12 (30x30cm)... until now. This was the first time I had done a layout 'this size' ('this size' being a hybrid between A4 and letter - I may need a separate post to explain that one!) ANYWAY...

The original plan was for a 12 x 12, and then, as the journaling grew, chatterbox that I am, the plan changed to a double page layout. Next thing I know I am checking how it would look 'this size' , and the 12 x12 plan had been abandoned.

The beauty of this size, and the reason it is suddenly now my favourite, is that you just type out the journaling, and print it on the card. No fiddling about to get it in the right place. No figuring out how to get my computer journalling onto my 12 x 12 card using my A4/letter printer. No cutting. No sticking. Just type and print. SIMPLE.

To add a little interest, and help to break up that big block of journaling, I changed the letter size to emphasize different words or sentences. The 'titles' were the largest size, and I also used a different colour to help them be seen (they maybe could have been a little bit bigger again, but this size is nothing I cannot live with). The first page was life before kids, the second page was life with kids. For both pages I started many of the sentences with 'before we had kids' to help tie them together.

To finish up I added a strip of patterned paper, and a sticker border to the bottom of each page, and then attached the photos on top of that. The photos are all from different occasions, but all show us being big kids. I am thinking I may make a note of dates and locations on the back of the layout, but the front will stay as is - the photos are really just to reinforce the sentiment in the journalling. This way the emphasis can be on the words.

I decided against any additional embellishments - this one is going to be a nice, simple layout. I went through a phase a couple of years ago when lots of my layouts were like this - some computer journalling, straight lines, minimal fuss and bother. They are still amongst my favourite layouts. Combine that kind of simple with 'this size' layout and those albums will be full in no time!