DIY Design Boards
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
Posted in Design Concepts, Planning Advice
One of my favourite wedding blogs is Abby Larson’s Style Me Pretty, which is jam-packed with gorgeous weddings and design inspiration. If you haven’t already, make sure you pay it a visit, but be sure to allow plenty of time because you will end up swooning at all the beautiful details!
Abby’s recently added a fantastic new feature called the “Style Circle”, which includes a tool where you can create your own wedding design boards. I use Photoshop for all of my design concepts, but as not every bride has access to this software (or indeed the patience to use it!) I thought I’d check it out, and here are the results…
In order to use the design board tool, you first need to create a Style Circle account. This only takes a minute and doesn’t ask for any personal information other than an e-mail address. Once you’re logged in, select ‘new inspiration board’ and start by choosing your layout, either from a set template or a blank canvas to create your own design. I used a template for the ‘Country Elegance’ design, and a blank canvas for this ‘Seaside Sophistication’ board.
You can search for images using a drop-down menu, which sorts by categories (e.g. flowers, invitations), tags (e.g. candles, vintage) and subjects (e.g. ceremony, getting ready, first dance). It only takes a few seconds for all the images to load, and then you just pick the ones you want and drag them onto your board. Move and re-size your pictures, and once you’re happy with the design just click save – simple!
The only major drawback is that you can only use SMP images at the moment. However, they are currently working on a tool where you will be able to upload your own pictures, which should be available in a couple of weeks. Try it out and let me know what you come up with – I’d love to see your ideas!
