Hey there, it’s Jamaica. Today I thought I’d share how a recent spread came together with some in-progress shots and internal dialog. Next time you hear me say “I was futzing” you’ll know this is what I’m doing, moving things around and talking to myself. Please tell me I’m not the only one…

This is where I started—an unfinished spread from September. I’d printed photos, jotted down the schedule and saved some receipts but nothing was coming together so at some point, I’d just flipped the page and moved on.

The biggest issue was an overabundance of brown. This spread needed color! So I pulled a few papers from On My Desk to fill the gaps. Pink, yes! Let’s add a coordinating badge. Maybe we should swap out the divided 4×6 beach shot for the single image to make room for other stuff.

Hmmm, maybe not the black paper… let’s add more red. Love that plus pattern. What about a little teal and some veneer instead? The wood goes nicely with the brown in the dessert photo.

I like the two reds, but the teal doesn’t quite match. How about two neutral gray woodgrain cards instead? And push the beach photo back to the right side so that the images are all staggered. Ooh, let’s try the Hello puffy sticker on the red. I love that puffy sticker.

Yes! I like that. Getting closer… maybe I should try moving the red cards to the inside? And add some veneer back in. If I use the ampersand, I could put names and dates on it. That could work, that’s one less thing to add to the schedule card.

I like this but maybe I should try one last thing—putting both red cards on one side and the neutrals on the other.

No, no. Reds, diagonal on the inside and neutrals in opposite corners. That’s the best option. And let’s move the Hello badge onto the top left card, that way the embellishments are symmetrical too.

That 4×6 beach shot hanging out over there on the left is really good. I should be using that. What if I break it up and put half in each corner? Just remove the drink shot, move Josh and Steph over… bam, that’s it! I love the closer shot and the blue sky on both sides of the spread. Now to add journaling and the last few details…

Let’s type the schedule of events on the striped card (takes up less space than my handwriting) and use a little pencil on the gray woodgrain…

And how about an extra pocket to hide the receipts from the two trips to Artisan? I love comparing Friday’s ticket (with one couple) to Sunday’s (with the other) but don’t want to look at them all the time. This is the perfect solution. The pocket is just cut from another page and stitched on using invisible thread, along the seam. A tiny gray label with gold foil finishes it off perfectly, picking up the gray from the woodgrain. I love it when everything coordinates. Thank you On My Desk. 

Looking back at these photos, and other spreads in my album, I can see that I definitely have a style. The photos are almost always staggered. If it’s not the photos then the colors are staggered in pockets, lights in one set of corners, darks in the opposite. I don’t think I consciously think about doing that, it just ends up that way. Have you noticed yourself settling into a preferred layout?

xo, jamaica

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