April Lilli Design Team: Hello Berlin!

It is an new month that means, I get to work with another collection for April Lilli. In April, the Design Team is working with the colorful, bold "dream on" line by pinkfresh studio. My creative process when working with a collection is very similar every month.

First, I film the unboxing video. This is a great way for me to have a closer look at the colors, papers, embellishments and themes included in a collection. Then I go to my computer and look at my photos. For this design team I have decided to narrow my choices down using these two self imposed rules: No. 1 - Look at photos from 2010 to 2013. No. 2 - Look only at photos that were taken during the month that the collection you are working with is featured in. For example, for this collection I looked at photos from April 2011, April 2012 and April 2013. Every photo that sparks a story will be marked and placed in a separate folder. Then I go back through all of my marked photos and choose 4-6 photos or sets of photos that will work well with the collection. Finally, I edit and print these photos. The television tower (Fernsehturm) of Berlin was one of those photos that sparked a story. When looking at that photo I immediately knew I wanted to make a layout about my love for Berlin.

When my photos are printed, I go back to the collection. I take out all of the papers and try to find ways to pair photos and papers or specific embellishments. Sometimes these papers also spark layout ideas, just as the photos spark story ideas. With this very muted circle background "Wish" this was exactly the case: I saw it and knew it would lend itself perfectly as the background for a centered layout. It fit perfectly well with the muted photo and the blue "Reverie" paper brought in the much needed contrast and also helped emphasize the blue in the photo. So the decision was made: a centered layout using these papers and this photo.

Having these ideas in mind, I went ahead to create my layout. I filmed the whole process, you can watch it here on youtube: Hello Berlin! In addition to the dream on collection, I also used the Saturday Hello phrase thickers by Dear Lizzy that had the perfect title for my layout. When looking at the "Hello" you will find that the letters overlap the stitching, the photo and also the different layers. This helps to connect the different layers and also to break up the clear lines of the layout.

I used very few embellishments on this layout. The few I used were placed very deliberately, like the washi sticker "one of a kind" that nestled perfectly above the "Berlin" and right next to the "o" and filled in an awkward space. I used several other washi stickers from the washi sticker set on the layout. I especially love how this rubber banner from the rubber chips helps to strengthen and ground the title. Having it underneath the stamped "Berlin" it balances out the heavy black bold "Hello".

The dream on collection by pinkfresh studio is 20% off for the whole month of April 2017 in the April Lilli shop!