Since DesignerDigitals is giving away a new iPod Nano as part of its birthday celebration, I thought I should revive my iTunes Inspirations. Do you remember those? In addition to providing you with groovy music, iTunes is chock full of CD art (album covers for us old timers) that have the advantage of 1) being perfectly square just like a 12x12 layout and 2) showcasing cutting edge graphic design.

Today’s example comes from my OC homies No Doubt:



I loved the messy font they used to give a bold and graphic feel to the CD and found a similar font named Edo. So instead of using a patterned paper to go with these bowling photos I used words as my background design.



If that seems like more work than it’s worth, you can try Katie’s DoodleDo Overlays to get the same effect.



Kellie

Someone whose layouts always catch my eye in the gallery is Applechick (Fiona).
I love her style with its subtle use of color and imaginative layering of elements. This layout I saved into my favorites as soon as I saw it:

Its realism is amazing and I love all the grunge and distressing that Fiona has used, while still achieving a subtle, quite soft look. And those splashes of paint are a great touch!

Katrina and I took two quite different approaches to the challenge. My layout is pretty much a total lift (as soon as I got home with the new passport photos I knew I had to lift this page!). Can’t quite believe I am sharing that dreadful photo of me online though! Katrina, meanwhile, came up with a completely new twist on the design and a modern, sharp look while Caroline sort of combined the two approaches with a fresh and pretty page. Can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

Credits: Layout by Lynn Grieveson, Naked tape and Naked tape freestyle by Anna Aspnes, Counting Trash alpha, Paper Reveal overlay and photobooth frames by Katie Pertiet, Cherie paper, Take a check and In Distress 2 paper (blended together), Barcelona kit (tag) and Summer Breeze kit (staples) all by Lynn Grieveson, Tattered and torn paper template by Anna Aspnes.

Credits: Layout by Caroline, Naturally Krafty 02 paper, Notebook paperpack 02, photobooth frames,Krafty Cuts and page protectors by Katie Pertiet, Sunny Spring kit by Jesse Edwards (coming soon!), Glitzy Chips silver and gold alpha and Sequins by Pattie Knox, Flower sticker by Rob And Bob.

Credits: Layout by Katrina, Graphic pop basics paper, Doodled Block Alpha and Photo Cuts Masks by Katie Pertiet, Text Byte 12 (heart shape text) by Pattie Knox, large tattered and torn template by Anna Aspnes (coming soon), Hand drawn trims 02 and Clean and Serene papers by Jesse Edwards.

The Saturday Scraplift Gallery was full of great layouts last week:

Looking forward to seeing what pops up in the gallery this week!

~ Lynn

Make sure to checkout our Thrifty Thursday specials today.  There are 128 items marked down 30% for today only!

Experimenting with type can be so much fun.  Just take a look at this delightful page created by IdeaBooks4u Design Team member Sara Horton:

This week over at IdeaBooks4u, we’ve had lots of fun using type as a design element on our pages.  We’ve drawn our inspiration from Autumn Leaves’ book, Designing with Type.

We have not one but two challenges for you to try!  Come check out the IdeaBooks4u Blog then post your creations in the IdeaBooks4u Inspiration Gallery at Designer Digitals.  We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Have a fun!  Jill

Howdy! And, Happy Wednesday! Sorry to hit y’all with another typography challenge, but… Wendy’s computer had a slight glitch today, so I stepped in. “Three Kits Three Ways” will return next Wednesday, so be on the lookout then. In the meantime, I’ve got a very cool challenge for you this week! And, one that I actually had a bit of ‘outside inspiration’ to guide me along! This week, the Idea Books 4U blog features two typography challenges from the Autumn Leaves book “Designing with Type” (available at Idea Books 4U). Using Tina’s layout on Page 39 as my inspiration, I came up with the layout below AND your challenge for the week!

CHALLENGE: Using 5 or more fonts (and/or alphabets and/or brushes), list words or phrases to title and journal your subject. You can use font changes, color changes, clipping (if you’re using brushes), whatever… just make sure to use LOTS of fonts!

For this layout, I used SEVEN (!) fonts: Diesel, Destroy, Hard Rock, The Maple Origins, Dirty Ego, Birth of a Hero and Hootie... all downloaded from the Internet. (I can’t remember which font I got from which site, but check out dafont.com, fonts.com, abstractfonts.com for your new fonts!) I made sure that all the fonts coordinated with my layout theme, so in this case, they were all “grungy” fonts. Typically, most graphic designers would only use two or three different fonts on a document (or layout!) because the eye gets distracted with too many different typefaces. But by keeping the words bold, short and to-the-point, the title/journaling is still easily read. Think if I would’ve journaled this in one small block with all those fonts… makes me dizzy thinking about it! (hehehe) So, just remember when you are choosing all those fonts, keep them related to your layout theme AND make sure your words are readable.

Be sure to post your layout in the Designer Digitals “Just My Type” gallery! Can’t wait to see lots of cool fonts this coming week! Enjoy!