GIU Day One - Design Principles

Yay, I'm so excited to be your GIU this week! I've decided to bring some basic design principles for card making and scrapping, for that matter. I love to always be learning and why things work and what engages the viewer, so I hope you find these helpful. If not, you can at least look at the pretty cards! Oh, and possible win some deeply etched red rubber of your very own. Who wouldn't want that?

Today's lesson is on grounding. What does that mean? Does it mean always including a ground in your work? No. It simply means anchoring your focal image so it isn't "floating" there, confusing your viewer. There are many ways to ground and most of them don't include dirt.

Grounding to the Ground

Ok, well, one of the ways is to ground to the "dirt". I love the Angie Girl line and I like to make sure the head to toe girls are grounded and not floating on my card base. The brain is confused as to why she's weightless otherwise, even though it is just on paper and 2-D. This doesn't just hold true to people, but objects too.

Tricia Girl, Tuxedo Bunny

Grounding to Design Elements

Not all Angie Girls are head to toe. Some are just the torso, so how do you ground these? Glad you asked! You can ground them to the additions you make to your card. Some twine, washi tape, a banner, your sentiment, a die cut shape. This way she isn't a ghostly apparition, just floating there. And as above, the principle works for all sorts of objects. No ghosts carrying vases either.

Don't Be Perfect, I Want You To Know

Grounding in the Sky

Ok, you'd think that you wouldn't need to ground say a hot air balloon or a bird, because they are in the sky and meant to float. No, the brain understands this, but I always feel like my card is more complete if I do anchor these things. Clouds are my favorite way to anchor in the sky, but birds or design elements work too, even a sun. I'm not sure why I feel like they hold up my balloon or whatever, but they do.

I hope you have found this helpful. These are just some of the things I think about when I'm assembling my cards.

Hoppy & Hedgie

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Until next time, happy stamping!