Vacay! | ScrappyNerdUK (Claire) | Sketch

Hello Friends.

I'm pleased to be bringing you my next layout for the UK Scrap Addicts Creative Team. This months topic is "sketches".

They're like Marmite - some people love them and some people hate them. There are 2 arguments to be had when it comes to sketches. 1. Some people need them to create a layout and struggle to think of a concept on their own without it. 2. Some people find that it takes away their own style and design by using a sketch and restricts their artistic freedom.

Or there is a third argument - someone like me who is impartial to either side and sometimes use a sketch if it takes my fancy and other times just going with the flow and delving into my own creative expression. (Was that a little deep!!?!)

I've done 2 layouts based on the sketch - purely because my first video didn't record properly so I had to do another layout - I have added the other layout at the end of this blog post too to show the 2 layouts based on the same sketch and how different they both look.

For my filmed layout I have used the Crate Paper, Oasis collection as this is very geared towards holidays and I decided to scrap a photo of my husband and myself on holiday in Los Angeles.

I had an idea that I wanted to try something different with the mixed media background as I always resort to "the packaging technique" and fancied trying something innovative and different. So I decided I wanted strips of mists and I wanted these to be clean and crisp and clearly delineated from each other. So I cut strips of what cardstock and used these as a  mask when spraying my mists. You'll see in this photo that you can see clear lines where the mists have been sprayed but not overlapped each other. I was really pleased with the way that this turned out and will be using this technique again on future layouts.

I then started on my layers and I stuck pretty close to the sketch for the layers. I used one to mat my photo, there was a layer slightly to the right of the photo and a layer slightly to the left of the photo. Then finally a small strip to the right hand side with a hint of the same paper to the bottom left of the photo. These layers were very simple to do. It creates interest behind the photo but doesn't detract from it. I then used a doily from my stash and raised the photo up using some fun foam (or craft foam which is the same thing?!)

 Now for the fun part - the embellishments. I used only the ephemera, chipboard sheet and cardstock stickers to embellish my layout. First of all I used 2 gold foil leaves to the top left of the photo and layered over the top the ephemera piece that said "vacation time". Now I know that this is an American term but I am at peace with the differences between American and British terms for things. You have to be really when it comes to scrapbooking products or you'd end up throwing quite a lot of embellishments away!! Next I added the "LAX" tag from the sheet and this couldn't have been more apt for this layout as this photo was taken when we were in Los Angeles. I added a tiny word sticker from the sticker sheet that said "Me & You". I then added the camera and a gold glitter heart from the chipboard sheet and used the sticker that said "VACAY!" underneath the camera which created my title for this layout. I used a few more tiny word stickers below my photo and finished the whole layout off with a few enamel dots - and I called it done.

Here is the completed layout; And if you want to watch the process video for this - follow this link here - https://youtu.be/vsufy0AWcsc

And as mentioned above, here is the first layout I completed (before my camera went crazy on me and stopped recording mid way through!!) You'll see that the mist technique is the same, the embellishment positions are the same and the layering is the same but it looked a completely different layout.

See you all next time!!