I have found sketches really useful lately. I have struggled more than a little to work with some of my SC kits of late and sketches have been a life saver. The Stuck site sketches have been a good starting point.
The first March sketch caught my eye for a number of reasons.
I have found I have a number of odd bits and pieces left over from cut apart sheets for Project Life or odd shaped boxes of patterned paper after I have finished with a kit. I knew I wouldn't use square images like those shown in the sketch but decided to use a standard 4 x 6 under the title wording.
Most of this project is from scraps and cut aparts included in the January Studio Calico kit, Block Party. I started off by misting the centre of the wood grain paper with some plum thumb Mister Huey just to carry the red throughout the layout. I replaced the photos from the sketch with pieces from a Carta Bella cut apart sheet in the kit. This photo makes everything look a little more washed out than it appears in reality. The cut aparts are not as far from the colour of the thickers as they appear.
I took my title from the piece of flair included beside the photo. I have a very confident daughter and she loves getting out into the world, seeing new places and meeting new people. This shot just seemed to fit with the theme.
If you think you would like to try this sketch there are prizes to be won until the end of the month so visit Stuck Sketches and have a go.
I had a spare few minutes earlier this week so I grabbed a drawer of supplies and a photo from 2011 that I really wanted to get scrapped. I didn't really have a plan, I just wanted to spend some time creating.
This photo was from our trip home at the end of 2011. Scarlett and I had a lovely meet up with my old work mate and good friend, Natasha and her daughter Bethany. We met at a very child friendly cafe in New Brighton. Miss Three was very impressed with her first Children's Platter. Bethany was a star at looking after Miss Three (who was then nearly two) but I think she wore her out! It was so nice to catch up with Natasha and for Miss Three to have a big girl to play with.
I still love chevron paper as a background and this grey was no exception. I added a few scraps from the December and January kits. The journalling card is an October Afternoon one from my stash. I used a few pieces from the new Amy Tangerine collection to embellish the page and another Pink Paislee star .
Sorry for the quiet patch this week. We are in the middle of a long travel stint for my husband and that drastically reduces my creative and free time. I am hoping to be back on top of things next week.
Have a wonderful weekend. I am solo parenting this weekend so I suspect I will need a holiday by Monday morning!
Well not really, but my second layout for Christmas 2012 has a decidedly non Christmas colour theme.
I never really intended this pink paper to be part of a Christmas layout but Miss Three's favourite present by far this year was her Little People palace which is a cacophony of pink and purple plastic. I am working hard to kill my December Studio Calico kit before my March one arrives and this picture made sense with the pink paper.
I based this layout on Inspired Blueprints Sketch #82.
I stuck to it pretty closely. I replaced all the floral embellies with arrows and bypassed the twine altogether. I loved the way the Pink Paislee glittery Christmas labels finally got a chance to be used. Add in some Christmassy journalling cards and the North Pole paper which I think is from Crate Paper and the not terribly Christmassy looking layout is complete.
Have you scrapbooked your Christmas photos yet? I really need to finish my December Daily and then make some layouts to finish telling the story.
You may recognise the photo in the layout I am sharing with you today. It was my Wordless Wednesday image from last week. Sharing the photo prompted me to actually print it out and create a layout using the photo. I love it when my creative urges work in tandem like that!
I just love this Amy Tangerine paper. I keep saying I don't use much pink which is starting to suggest to me that I use a lot more than I think I do. The pink does match one of the colours in Miss S's leggings so that was enough for me. I used some scraps from a previous layout to layer under the photo. I also added a couple of journalling cards - the ampersand is from the SC Project Life kit and the hidden page clipped under it is a Creative Bubble printable. I then threw in some vellum die cuts from Studio Calico and a glittery title from the Christmas Add On and called it pretty much done.
I have just started a blogging course to help me organise my blogging process a little better. It is run by Melissa at Momcomm. I do have a vague plan of how things work here but I think the time has come to be a little more focused. I have even set up a twitter account for the blog and when I figure how that all works I will be sharing it with you.
To be honest, I am feeling a little overwhelmed by the course as some of the people taking part are serious bloggers with huge followings. I am not sure if my little spot in the blogging community is grand enough to be taking part. I have learnt a huge amount already though and I can see some ways that I can improve the blog.
As always I would love to hear from you, my kind readers. Are there things you love or loathe about this blog? I really would value your feedback.
By the way, Geralyn has some gorgeous new printables up this week. I especially love her new neutral set but the Valentines ones are also very cute.
Happy Wednesday!
Good morning. We are on Day Two of Miss Nearly Three going to school four days a week. She was full of the joys of school when she got home yesterday and couldn't wait to go and see her teacher this morning so so far so good! She will be making the switch to five days in a couple of weeks provided she isn't totally exhausted. At that point I guess this mother needs to start thinking about a proper job.
Being in denial about the future is one of my favourite mind spaces and what better way to ignore stress than by looking back on a recent summer holiday. Shimelle has been on fire lately with loads of wonderful sketches and a starting point. I couldn't help myself and pulled out one of the few photos I had printed from our recent trip to Phuket to give the starting point treatment.
This starting point was simple and I wanted to make the most of the patterned papers I had already cut into from my December Studio Calico kit so it looked like a good way to do it.
Here is my take on the starting point:
I forgot to take a picture until after I had adhered my photo to the layout but you get the general idea. The background paper and all the blocks and strips are from 34th Street kit and the Murray Hill and Kris Kringle add ons with the exception of the shorter green strip which used up a last scrap from the older Central High kit. The picture is of my daughter and sister at our morning banana pancake hang out right on Bang Tao Beach in Phuket.
I have been looking for a layout to use the Smile tag from Dear Lizzy for quite some time and this photo seemed to be the right fit. Once I added my title and journalling there really was not much need for a lot of additional adornment. I am still not entirely happy with the Just Add Water sticker and it may disappear from the layout before I file it. I will give it a few days before I decide.
This photo makes me want to plan a beach getaway pronto. I will I think, as soon as we know where we are going to be!
I hope to have two further weeks of Project Life up on Thursday. Week 4 has turned into a 3 page spread so it is taking a bit longer than I intended.
I am off to have a first attempt at making Chia Pudding. It sounds delicious so I hope it turns out OK for me! If anyone has a favourite chia recipe I would love to see it.
Have a wonderful Tuesday.
