I’ve been collecting Paislee Press digital products since I first stumbled upon Liz’s blog back in 2011, and while the individual items from kits (like this one) work so well together, one of my favorite creative challenges is to mix and match digital products within a layout to create something unique.

I somehow skipped documenting last summer in the fog of newborn life! So I went back and edited and printed a batch of photos so I could fill in the layouts, starting with June.

Here’s a look at the full layout I’m sharing today:

I’ve been documenting monthly rather than weekly in this album, so for layouts I try to group photos that go together within the month and then find digital supplies that match the colors, fill in the blanks and help tell the story. For this layout, I chose a summery set, with photos from my sister’s visit, hanging out with friends and swim lessons. Here’s a closer look at the left side.

And a closer look at the right side.

I always start by choosing and editing the photos I want to print, mixing templates with regular 4x6s. I used a template from pictures + words no. 18 to create the “love” photo in the upper left corner. The word art was centered, so I moved it to the lower left side of the photo and added a little text to complete it. The “S” template is from 4×6 photo templates vol. 5. I love the mix of text with a photo.

I also usually end up creating diptychs using 4×6 photo templates vol. 1. There are so many ways to do this, but I like including two perspectives of a similar shot, like this one that’s a full shot and then a close-up.

Next up: journal and “filler” cards. I was totally inspired by Liz’s recently released summer manifesto kit, which really highlighted the colors in my photos. The aqua, yellow and coral shades definitely work well with summery subjects like swimming pools, watermelon and sunshine. The heart card, “summer manifesto” text and patterned papers are all from the summer manifesto kit. I printed all of them on one sheet of cardstock (like this) and cut them to size.

Word art is a simple way to mix it up in your layouts. I knew I wanted to include some kind of title card for the layout, and the “summer is my favorite” word art from pictures + words no. 7 was perfect. That set from a few years ago is still a personal fave! I moved the text to a kraft background from summer manifesto, and voila – a new journal card.

On the right side, I used currently (wordart) and patterned paper to make another journal card. A little text goes a long way to tell the story of the layout and add a bit of interest.

Mixing and matching digital patterns and products can be a little overwhelming since there’s just so much great design out there, but once you get the hang of it, I think it’s pretty simple (and really fun). Here’s how I mix and match digital supplies:

• Start with photo templates. These 4×6 templates are simple, beautiful and super useful for pocket pages.
• Find a kit or set of digital papers that compliments the colors in your photos.
• Use your favorite word art to add journaling to photos and cards.

You can see more of my pocket page layouts here, say hi on Instagram, see what inspires me on Pinterest or read more on my blog. Do you tend to stick to one kit or do you like to mix it up in your layouts and projects?

Products used: summer manifesto journal cards, summer manifesto papers, 4×6 photo templates vol. 1, 4×6 photo templates vol. 5, pictures + words no. 7, pictures + words no. 18, currently (wordart). Project Life Design A pocket pages.