Still in love

I created this sketch last fall for Kindred Creations 'County Fair' sketch competition. (It did win the competition). I really love the round picture it uses, but I confess I had never used a round picture on a layout. So I felt challenged to actually use this sketch... yes I actually sketch ideas, not layouts I've already created. I just had to create a layout using this sketch, and with all the craziness going on my life since then I just hadn't had a chance.

GIMP Tutorial
I was playing around with a photo of my DH and I in GIMP. (I am currently using 2.6.4) I totally love the look of pencil sketches however I have absolutely no skill when it comes to drawing. The FX-Foundry filter pack(I think this is a must download if you use GIMP) has a great filter called 'Quick sketch'. I used that on the picture (FX-Foundry>Artistic>Quick Sketch). I then flattened the results, and set the file back to RGB (IMAGE>MODE>RGB). I duplicated the layer, and removed the white background from the top layer (Colors>Color to alpha and make sure white (ffffff) is selected as your colour). I then inverted the colour on the top layer (Colors>Invert) so that I could colorify this layer a sepia colour (Colors>Colorify and choose a Sepia colour or colour of your choosing). I then applied a motion blur to weep the colour in the same direction as the shadows in my picture (Filters>Blur>Motion Blur... use a linear blur and play with the blur length and angle until you find something that suits your picture.. again follow the direction of any shadows in your picture for a natural look). I took this and printed it on cheap $store matte photo paper.

I chose to adapt my sketch for an 8 1/2x11 layout, which I do scrap most often. I started by cutting my circular picture from the sketch I printed. I then searched for a background paper that would highlight the sepia toning in the sketch and found this Basic Grey Bittersweet Belgian paper. I distressed it with Radiant Rain Pewter Shimmering Mist. I then cut a small strip off the top and bottom so I could add a trim. I chose to use a Fiskars border punch on white card stock. I then inked the card stock using Willow Adirondack and Olive CTMH inks. I also cut a scalloped photo mat for my picture and inked it with the same inks.I glued the punched border trim between my background paper and hand stitched just below the trim with embroidery floss. I inked the edge of my photo paper with red ink and adhered it to the scallop mat, which I then centered on the layout. I took two Gem Art flourishes which I cut into smaller flourishes and rearranged around my picture. I then cut two different sized leaves using my Silhouette, and inked them with either the Willow Adirondack or the Olive CTMH ink. I also punched some Martha Stewart twigs and painted them with Olive Vine Twinkling H20's. I layered them between the two flourishes and added the red and white Craft flowers. I then added the journaling box and journaling using a silver gel pen. Lastly I added my title using foam stickers from Dollarama, which I scanned at 300DPI and grabbed the outline of in my ROBO Master software, and cut some shimmery red paper to line the letters with. I also cut the words 'in love' using Carpenter ICG font on white cardstock, which I adhered right over the paper covered foam stickers.