I have a number of photos and although they are very cute, they are not as striking as we would like for a showcase layout. This means that we need to do something a little different to keep people's attention focused on the page. Including an interactive element is just the thing!
I select four photos of equal size and all in portrait. The photos have to be on the small side to fit on the page. I lay them out on the grid of my cutting mat and discover that if I arrange them in a square, the measurements of the square would have to be 18 x 18 cm to allow enough space around the photos.
I now need to create a circle with a diameter of 18 cm. That means that I need to set my compass to a radius of 9 cm. Center the compass on the 0 mark of your cutting mat and stretch the pencil leg to 9 cm.
Circumscribe the circle of diameter 18 cm on the paper you want to use as matting for the photos.
I intend to double-mat the photos. I therefore select a second paper for the bottom of the matted layers. The second circle needs to be larger than the first. I decide to use the whole width of the A4 paper, which is 21 cm. I therefore set the radius of the compass to 10,5 cm.
Circumscribe the circle with diameter 21 cm.
I now need to create the cover circle that goes on top of the other two. This one is the one that will be handled by people. It needs to be cut from a very sturdy cardboard if its going to withstand the handling it will be subjected to.
This circle needs to fit snugly on top of the others and the radius is therefore once again 10,5 cm (diameter 21 cm).
Use the whole the compass made in the cardboard to guide you to find the center of the circle. Draw a line through the center of the circle. Let the guidelines on the cutting mat assist you to construct a perpendicular line to cross the first at a right angle, dividing the circle into four equal quarters.
Cut out the smallest circle of radius 9 cm (diameter 18 cm).
Divide this circle into four quarters as well. Make very light pencil lines that can be erased again.
Lay your photos out on the circle so that no important bits stick out past the edge of the circle. When you crop the photos to fit in the circle later, you want to loose only 'dead' space.
Stick the photos onto the circle, each in its own quarter, using double-sided tape.
Erase the pencil lines.
It is optional to draw lines with a marker, but I liked the idea of doing this. I used the same marker to draw a border around each of the photos as well.
Turn the circle over and let the edge of the circle guide you in cropping the photos.
Mat the top circle on the bottom circle, centering it precisely.
Set your compass to a radius of only 1 cm.
Draw only a quarter circle in ONE of the quarters of the top circle.
Cut out only the quarter of the circle that has the small circle. Do NOT cut out the small quarter.
Lay the top circle on the circles with the photos matted onto them.
Use an awl to line up the centers of all three circles.
Drive a split pin through the centers of the circles and open the legs up at the back. Only the bottom circle gets double-sided tape with which it will be fixed to the page.
Make sure that your wheel is turning properly before you fix it to the page.
The focus of this blog is not on a full page layout, but rather on the construction of the photo element. Suffice it to say that the rest of the photos on your layout should be treated in a manner that compliments the photo wheel. My photos is matted in the reverse of the wheel and I once again drew borders around them.
One photo had a figure small enough to fit into an old slide frame.
I used the slide frame to guide me in cropping the photo.
I stuck the photo to the frame with Tombow glue.
I did not want elements that would draw the attention away from the photo wheel and chose to use these cute stickers.
I punched the journaling for the page from a complementary yellow using my alphabet punch set. The pages were now slid into the album, but now came the real challenge. For the page to be interactive, I need to create an opening in the plastic sleeve through which people can reach the wheel to turn it.
I set my circle cutter to radius 2 cm (not 1 cm as shown). The circle cutter works exactly the same as a compass, except that it has a blade where the compass has a pencil.
I center the circle cutter on the split pin and carefully cut a circle with a diameter of 4 cm all around the pin. Take care not to cut into the paper.
It is a little hard to make out, but I am holding the cut-out plastic circle in my hand. In the background you can see the hole left in the plastic sleeve.
You can use this hole to turn the wheel on the photos by simply pushing the cardboard with the finger tip.
The final product! I'd love for you to post photos of your own photo wheels. Please do!
For more crafty ideas and great products, visit APrettyTalent.com.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.
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