The Perfect Collection

So, I've been on quite a Shimelle Laine kick, watching every free video of hers I could find, signing up for a few of her classes.  Most recently, I watched "The Perfect Collection", where she teaches you how to cut up an entire collection of paper to make multiple layouts.  I love collection kits, and the concept was a little scary at first.  Being able to actually use up the paper, is very liberating, though!

I used my August Counterfeit Kit as my first attempt.  This was probably more difficult than using a coordinated paper line for a few reasons.  First, the patterned paper base color varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.  Some of the papers were cream based, and some leaned more towards white.  This can pose a problem when putting the sheets together in one layout, because they can tend to look "off".  That made putting the layouts a little more challenging.

Secondly, I had over 100 photos to choose from.  I had trouble deciding if I was just going to scrap them randomly, or if I would just stick to one theme, like vacation 2012.  I decided to go with random photos, but then I had to go through a ton of photos trying to find one that fit my pre-made starting point.

I don't do two page layouts very often, so I was not able to us all the starting point examples that Shimelle gave in her video.  On her website, if you do a search for "starting points" you will find many many examples of different ones to use while putting yours together.  I liked having this flexibility, but not having to think too hard coming up with my own starting points.  

It was definitely a learning experience, which I hope to repeat soon.  I want to scrap all these layouts first before I move on.

Here are the eleven "starting points" I came up with.  I will post the layouts as I complete them.