Beginning Life's Journey Together

I have been sketching again (and I still have old sketches I haven't published...I normally have projects to post but no time to post them.. but if I ever find myself on the other side of the fence I will post those as well).  I have even managed to create a layout for the sketch because I was really inspired by it.

I just had to create a layout from this sketch.  I switched it up and created an 8 1/2x11" layout, switching out the three landscape pictures for one portrait picture.  I took plain white card stock and embossed a diamond pattern on it using the Martha Stewart Score Board.  I then took another  sheet of white card stock and and cut it 1 1/2" smaller, inked it with cranberry Adirondack ink.  I also took a piece of black card stock and cut it yet another 1/2" smaller.  I centered the three pieces over each other and adhered them.I then cut my sepia toned picture down to 4x7" and sanded the edges and adhered it to the top right hand side of the black card stock.  To the left of the picture I arranged various mulberry roses with the wire stems spiraled and Heather Flower Soft stems.  I tucked some leaves punched with a Martha Stewart twig punch around the arrangement.  I then took the two flowers remaining from the  Zva Double Butterfly & Flowers and nestled them among the mulberry flowers.  I then took Zva Crystal Dots and placed them in a line 1 cm apart (0.39") above and below the floral arrangement.  I cut the title from white card stock using the font Berylium, which was inked with VersaMark and Blush Perfect Pearls, and adhered it under the photo.  I then added the remaining title with Sakura white Souffle pen.  I also cut a tag from white card stock , printed the journaling on it and edged it with Blush Perfect Pearls, and tucked it on the edge of the red card stock beside the floral arrangement.  Lastly I took two white satin butterflies, coloured the smaller one with Blush Perfect Pearls and adhered it to the top right hand side of the photo.

Haley

I created this layout for a rendition of layout tag and was given this layout by Adrienne to lift.  I started with a purple bazzill card stock base.  I then cut the flowers from a sheet of Colorbok Floral Tapestry paper.  I then took my photograph and mounted it on light purple card stock.  I pulled a pink colour from the center of the flower to create the journaling on the bracket shaped tag as well as the pink baby girl patterned paper I created using this technique.  I cut the bracket shape from white card stock using the Silhouette and coloured it very light pink using water colour crayons with a darker pink edge before feeding it through the printer.  I cut a piece from the backside of the Floral Tapestry paper larger than the baby girl paper.  I then layered them under the top right hand side of the matted photo and tucked the bracket shape under the left hand side of the matted photo.  Next I cut a strip of white card stock and created a border strip using the Martha Stewart floral vines punch which I coloured green using water colour crayons and adhered them under the picture.  I added a piece of white trim over the border strip.  I then adhered the flowers I cut from the patterned paper and mounted them with foam adhesive to the top left hand corner of the layout and the bottom right hand corner of the photograph.  I then printed a digital stamp by Annebodil in purple and coloured it using water colour crayons, cut it out and adhered it to the right of the photograph.  I used American Crafts Lax glitter Thickers for the title above the photograph.  I added three KaiserCraft jewels between the journaling and the photograph.  I then took a Crafter's Workshop template and pearl pink Liquid Pearls to create the swirls along the top and left hand sides of the layouts.

Higher and Higher

This layout was created for another rendition of layout tag.  I was given this layout by passion4scrappin to lift.  I decided to keep the general layout the same except that because I do scrap 8 1/2x11 I reduced the number of pictures to fill the width of the page.  I maintained the background paper (3 Bugs in a Rug, Seeing Stars, Fancy) with the small strips along the top and bottom except that I switched out for a fancier edge (3 borders from Silhouette) cut on my Silhouette. I chose to matte the pictures; the smaller pictures were matted on a continuous strip running the width of the page and sanded the edges, and I double matted the larger picture.  I inked the edges with a cloudy blue Adirondack ink.  I ran my tracing wheel along the top and bottom of the patterned paper to give the illusion of stitching.  I then cut out two leafy branches using my Silhouette and used some water colour crayons to give some definition/veins to the leaves.  I added them above the pictures on the right and below the pictures on the left using some strategically placed foam adhesive squares to add depth to some leaves and not to others.  Using a date stamp and black CTMH ink I stamped the date on small  piece of white card stock and rounded the bottom edges.  I then inked the edges using the same blue ink, added dots of Pesto Adirondack Acrylics on either side and adhered it just under the mat below the large photo.  Above the smaller photos I adhered a sticker from the Seeing Stars collection using foam adhesive.  I then added the title using Make it Special foam alphabet stickers that I covered with card stock and a smaller version of the letters cut from card stock. Here is a tutorial on how I used my Silhouette to cover the foam stickers using card stock.  The word 'and' was done using Provocraft Leere Black Alphabitty stickers.  I love the way this layout turned out and highlight these great pictures.  I love the delight you can see on the smile on his face; kids are so wonderfully authentic!

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.

Flower Girl

I have another layout to share with you finally. It is another round of layout tag; it is always fun to try and create a truly unique layout while drawing on the inspiration of another. This time I had the privilege to lift this layout by Susan. I really drew my inspiration from the patterned paper Susan used. I started by matting the photos of my dear niece taken at my dear brother and sister in law's wedding. I took the colours for the layout from the wedding colours (and red is a wedding must have for the Chinese). It is a more unusual colour combination but I think it does look lovely! I then edged the photo mats with some lace I had found at my local thrift shop. I found the perfect colour to distress the edge of the card stock in my Twinkling H2O's which I brushed on the edges with a water brush. I then cut out a number of leaf sprays with my Silhouette. I strategically placed these under some Forever in Time Gem Art. Every Flower Girl needs some flowers; the large flower in the center is by Prima. The smaller ones are by Scrapbook Sally which I painted a coordinating colour with Twinkling H2Os. I then edged two of the petals with a little bit of darker ink using a water brush to match the Prima flower. I centered the flowers with Kaiser Craft Pearls. I also used some foam adhesive to add a little dimension under some of the flower petals (although some get their lift from the jewels). Lastly I added a double bow with large swooping tails to the embellishment cluster which I created using the bow easy. I used some American craft glitter chipboard for the title, adding 3 little flower shaped jewels to the O, and a gel pen for the second half of the title. Lastly I used a date stamp and Adirondack ink to subtly add the date to the layout.

Formal Banquet

Layout tag was revealed today, so I can share my layout with you. I was asked to lift this layout created by Tracey. I thought these pictures of one of the formal banquets I went to while in University were perfect for this layout. I matted the pictures on white card stock embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing plates. I then picked the Porcelain Silver Birch by Basic Grey for my background, and using some bazzill card stock I cut a large fancy frame. I cut out a piece of lace from the Porcelain Chatsworth Basic Grey paper. I also took a strip of Porcelain Villeroy Basic Grey paper, and folded it in pleats. I layered that with a piece of Prima lace and some plain white ribbon and a $store buckle. The tail on the ribbon is an extra little detail that gives a look of purpose to the buckle. I then took some Petaloo and Scrapbook Sally flowers, coloured or added shimmer using Twinkling H2Os, and leaves I cut out using my Silhouette. I further dressed the flowers by adding Pebeo Touche and $store jewels, pearls and jewel flourishes. I cut a tab, coloured it with green Adirondack ink, added a Stemma rub-on, and $store jewels. I then finished the layout by copying the subtitle onto the layout with gold pen, and cut the title out of white vinyl. I love the prettiness of the layout. I hope you've enjoyed this layout and have been inspired to create a layout for yourself.

'De Familie Popken' and 'My Brother and Me'

This past week I finished up another layout for a game of layout tag. I like the way it challenges you to think outside the box a little and take another person's layout done in their scrapping style and convert it into your own layout, and add your own tastes and techniques to it. So I can't share this layout with you yet until the big reveal... I'm very happy with how it turned out, I had a great layout to scrap lift! Instead I will share the two prior editions of layout tag that were recently revealed. Hopefully one of these days I will get around to adding a second page to this layout with some remaining pictures I have of our visit with this family.

I created this layout for November Layout tag at Kindred Creations. I was given this lovely layout to lift by Linda. For my layout I chose to use a piece of red Bazzill card stock, and a scalloped mat using a scalloped frame file I created and cut on my silhouette. I then took an older line of Basic Grey patterned paper, Urban Couture, as well as some white card stock I inked with Adirondack ink for the photo mat. I find that it is a great little technique when you can't find the right shade of card stock in your stash, and it gives it's own unique look that is easily attainable on the outside rim of the paper and the little strips between the photos. I then also cut the flowers in various sizes on my Silhouette and inked them to match the paper, and embellished them with Pearl centers. I curled the bottom layer of the flowers to give them some dimension, which also lifts the top layer of the flower. Lastly I cut out the title from some brown card stock, to bring out the touches of brown in the paper, and I really liked the idea of adding it in a circular fashion to change things up a little bit.

In December I was first in line for Layout tag and I received this lovely layout created by Merrilee to lift. It really made me think of these pictures I took of my nephews while we were having family portraits done as well as the 3BUGS Seeing Stars paper and stickers that were a Deal of the Day on the Kindred Creations blog. I matted the title sticker by scanning it and taking the outline of it in the Robo Master software. I then enlarged it just slightly and cut it out of the green 3BUGS paper. I also cut the tab using my Silhouette, added a few brads, and stamped one of the stars from the Autumn Leaves Scribbles Hearts and Stars stamp set while masking the picture and the mat. I distressed much of the paper by sanding it, softening up the edges. I also love the simple effect of using an office date stamp I picked up at the dollar store to quickly add the date. It's such a simple, clean and understated way of adding information to a layout. This layout ended up a little simpler than some of my layouts, although more of my masculine layouts probably do tend to be simpler because the guys in my life are far from stuffy and frilly.