Tami came up with the name and I thought it was so cute.  On the 10th of each month here on the Creative Passion blog, I will present a topic that I hope will jumpstart your creativity. Topics will vary from month to month, this month I am focusing in on page design. 

My favorite aspect of the creative process is figuring out the design of the page. 

I will admit that my heart beats a little bit faster when I look at a blank canvas.  So, I like to create little challenges for myself to spark my creativity.  I thought it would be fun to share one of these challenges with you today. 

I love to use shapes in design. 

I think shapes can really help create a strong design that will allow the photos to shine.  I will use the marquee tools and the shape tools to create different shapes on my page.  I will use those shapes as a starting point for creating my design.

I started this page with a circle, a rectangle, and a square.  I like to work with shapes in this simple format because they are so easy to manipulate and move around. 

When working with shapes, you are basically creating your own template.  I love the freedom and flexibility it gives me. After some maneuvering this is the design that I finished with.  You can see that I resized and layered the shapes as well as duplicated the rectangle.  I really liked this design because it is clean and simple which is certainly my style.  This design includes white space to support the photo and I like the depth that was achieved through the layering. 

This is the page that I was able to create using my shapes.  I simply attached the photo to the circle, digital papers to the other shapes, and added a few embellishments.  This layout came together in no time. 

Sales Team by Jana Morton | All products are from Designer Digitals.

I enjoy doing challenges such as this because it allows me to step out of my box.  When I step out of my box, I learn new techniques, I learn new ways of developing my style and I learn faster ways of creating pages.  It is a win-win-win in my book.

The Challenge:

My challenge for you is to open a blank canvas, draw three shapes on it and let your creativity take over from there.  I think you will enjoy a new and rather simple take on the creative process.    Tami has set up a gallery for us called “Jana’s Jumpstarts”.  I would love to see how your page shapes up.  I hope this has inspired you to create.  I’ll be looking for you in the gallery!

In her studio spotlight, Vee discusses some of the challenges of having a small workspace and offers useful and creative solutions for getting the most out of your space.  

Hop on over and have a look!