My Creative Sketches - January edition

My Creative Sketches posted a new sketch this week and its a good one.

When I use a sketch for inspiration, I often look at the elements and move them around to fit my photo and the products I have readily available.  This was one of those times.  Here is the layout I ended up with.

While the placement of the basic layers stayed pretty close to the sketch, the embellishments moved around a bit.  When you are moving elements in a sketch, the trick is to stay focused on the visual balance in the design.  For example, if you move an element from the bottom to the top of the layout, look for an element at the top of the sketch to shift to the bottom.  The same goes when you move an element from the left side of a project to the right side of the project.  Here are the shifts I made:

• The sketch uses an embellishment cluster anchored by a tag at the bottom of the photo block - I moved that element to the top.
• The embellishment cluster to the side of the photo moved to the other side on my project.  I was using that fun transparency phrase element as a layer and didn't want the embellishments to cover it up.
• I used the garland sticker under the photo instead of the row of hearts at the top of the layout.
• Those two hearts at the bottom of the photo block on the sketch - they moved to the other side and became arrows and stars.

Hope this makes sense - it provides a ton of flexibility and the changes mean you can use the same sketch for multiple projects (that all look really unique).

This is Friday - I am really excited to have made it to the weekend.  I am planning to do some organizing, some scrapping and lots of recovering over the next couple of days.  I hope you have some fun things planned.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mixing My Kits with My Stash

One of the goals I set for myself this year is to use more of my stash.  I belong to two kit clubs so I get lots of pretty new things every month (even if I manage not to hit up the Paper Issues store for products I just can't resist).  And I'm a little bit like a child - the shiny new things in my craft room tend to capture most of my attention - and my stash keeps growing and might collect some dust.

So this year, after I make one (or a few layouts) with just my kits, I am going to trying to mix pieces from my stash in with the products in my kit.  I'm not sure I will accumulate less, but at least I will use some things that aren't brand new to my craft room. 

This layout (my current favorite project ever) is a great example of this strategy.  I started with the Arendal products from Studio Calico.  The layout base is a piece of white cardstock with the vellum (which is to die for) from the main scrapbook kit layered over the top.  It creates a soft neutral base for the project but still adds a lot of dimension and texture. 

My layout was inspired by the same sketch as my Merry layout - I used the diagonal lines to create different layers in my photo block - it was a fun way to add lots of patterned paper without overwhelming the photo. 

Here is a step by step of my process.

• I started by building the layers that used diagonal pieces of papers.  The papers that came in the Arendal kits were my starting place, but  I pulled the mint piece from my stash when nothing seemed to work with the heart paper - it was perfect. 
• Next I build the full photo block, attaching the photo to the smaller block I created by piecing two papers together.  I added some strips of patterned paper to the layers I constructed using triangles until I was happy with the general look of the photo block.  I felt like it really needed some green so I dug in my "small scrap basket" for that green stripe paper.
• I attached the vellum to the cardstock (proud of myself for not hoarding the vellum) and added the photo block to the page - I moved it around til I liked the placement.
• I used some Thickers from Pebbles to add the title (3rd stash product) and added a gold arrow from the same pack.  This helped frame the photo with the gold elements.
• I added phrase stickers from the Maggie Holmes Shine collection (4th stash produt) in between layers at the top of the page - this effectively creates extra layers without a lot of bulk or patterns.  And the phrase stickers help capture the story I was trying to tell.  I added a gold arrow to the embellishment cluster at the top of the page.

• Next I build the embellishment clusters at the bottom of the page and along the side of the photo block using label stickers from the same Maggie Holmes sheet and some vintage Crate Paper stickers in my stash (5th stash product).
• I finished the layout with gold spatters and some Lemon Lush sequins (my all time favorite sequin mix that I hoard and the 6th stash product).

 I'm not sure the photo does this layout justice - it really is my favorite project in a long time.  And it was so much fun to see what I had in my stash that would work well with the kit to tell my story.  I love my kits because they mean I spend less time choosing coordinating products.  But picking the papers and embellishments was always one of my favorite parts of scrapbooking - this might be the perfect way to have the best of both worlds.

Hope your having a great week - I'm fighting a nasty case of bronchitis so I am not really scrapping much at all.  But I do have a few things to share with you, so stop by again soon. 

3 Generations

For me scrapbooking is generally about finding a way to excercise the creative side of my brain.  But the chance to capture special moments is a big part of that too.  And when there was a rare picture of me with my mother and my daughter, I knew I wanted to scrap it (probably for both my daughter's album and our family album) even though the photo quality was poor.

The January Studio Calico kits arrive on my doorstep Friday and I fell in love with all the papers and embellishments immediately.  It is just beautiful and packed full of bits and pieces.I started by pulling some of my favorite papers to work with.


I haven't been scrrapping much so I knew I would have a hard time getting started.  So I went looking for a sketch. The current sketch challenge at Paper Issues was just what I was looking for.

I really liked all the layers (of course) and the angled paper under the photo block really caught my eye.

The angled paper under the photo block in the sketch inspired me to angle all my layers.  And I am seriously in love with the large alphas that are so trendy right now.  These color theory alphas are amazing.  And the alternating colors reminds me a little bit of candy canes - perfect for the theme of my layout. 

Hope you all are getting your scrappy mojo back after the holidays.  I am trying hard - I still have my December Daily to finish and have started working on my One Little Word album (this is a first time project for me and I am super excited), but am determined to find time to make some traditional layouts too.  Have a great week.

Thanks for stopping by.