1. Find a photograph of a subject.   The subject should be a person place or thing that is meaningful to you.  Enlarge or reduce the subject and make a photocopy in black ink, cut out.

2. Using a sheet of paper 9 X 12 or 11 X 14 as a guide make design decisions.

a. colors: colors that work together and perhaps have a relationship or meaning to the subject (photograph).

b.  Shapes/Design

1.-Overall design to include where to place the focal point (photograph). Never directly in the middle.

2.-designs to complement the story like things that feel antique or contemporary-depending upon the focal point.  Stencils, various papers to include handmade, tissue, woven, pages photocopied from books, magazines, and/or sheet music.  Found objects like hardware, sewing notions, game pieces, etc.

3.-layers of interest:  how to place the layers of information, important to have things relate to the focal point, support the focal point and overlap and weave itself through the story.

4.-information relating to focal point:  words and/or numbers like addresses, quotes, important dates, titles.

3.  Use the decisions made above to do a rough draft of the potential piece.  The idea is to see if the shapes and colors work together and to practice the placement of information so that it tells the best story about the focal point and has a feeling of cohesiveness and depth.