Cool Kid | Sarah Costain | 6x6 paper pads

Sarah here today with my take on this months challenge.

I have lots of 6x6 pads in my stash from my card making days. I chose to use the Cool Kid collection by Crate Paper as it is so perfect for my numerous pictures of my little boy.

I started my layout by creating a mixed media background using inks and water. I let the ink run through the water to create fun splashes in colours matching the papers.

When my background was dry I added pages from my 6x6 pad across the bottom of the layout. I trimmed of the excess and secured it with some messy machine stitching.

The off cuts from the papers were perfect to create lots of layers behind my photo. I added some vellum and popped it all up on foam for added dimension. 

I used a journaling spot from the sticker sheet and added a silver clip and embellishments in the bottom corner which helped balance the overall look of the page.

You can check out the process video here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvCiyo8JJpQ

Thanks for joining me have a scrappy day :)

Sarah

Dad met Bear / Sheena Rowlands / Sketch

Hi there x Sheena here again x

For this months challenge Jackie set us a sketch to use or be inspired by from Page Maps. I find sketches to be a really useful tool to speed up my scrapbooking or help when my mojo is lacking.

I generally scrap 12x12 layouts so continued for this challenge.

Dad met Bear.

I love this photo taken at Windsor Castle when my Eldest was collecting his Queens Scout award. Bear was chatting to the crowds & I asked him to pose with my Dad who had also received an award. I only had 1 photo but that didn't stop me using this sketch, I just adapted it.

I used Crate Paper - Cool Kid range as I wanted to add some primary colours to this page to co ordinate with their neckerchiefs. I reduced the details of the sketch so it no longer touched the edges of the 12x12 background paper. I added lots of layers mixing different patterns & colours and ripped the edge of one for more interest. I just had to add this Bear from the chipboard sheet as its so cute.

I clustered embellishments in 2 places to draw you into the photo and rather than stitching then added arrows at the top and bottom. I added black splashes and blue ink through a stencil to the background patterned paper.

I still think my page looks like the sketch, kind of! Hope you get the chance to create soon x

Be Brave | Pol Prince | Sketch

Hello my lovelies! It's Pol here today to share with you a layout I created for this months 'Sketch' theme. I'd already made a layout using Laura's single page sketch, for NSD, so I decided to have a go at Susan's double page sketch. I don't 'do' double pages however, so I chose one side of the sketch and rotated it 90 degrees, which then gave me a base for a single page.

As you can see, I used the right hand page and rotated it clockwise....

The good thing about sketches is that they really are open to your own interpretation. Some people like to stick to them rigidly and some people will just chose to use certain elements. I used to hate using sketches because I took them far too literally and thought 'well I don't want my title there, or that embellishment there', and 'I don't want to use hearts on this page'! Yes, I know, I'm a bit slow sometimes! Eventually I realised that I could still use a sketch in my own way and make the page my own. 

I don't often use multiple photos on a page either, so I enjoyed the challenge of that too.

I chose these photos of my gorgeous little 4 year old niece being totally fearless and scaling a climbing rock at the park all by herself! I love the Crate Paper Cute Girl collection, it's perfect for her - girly and pink but strong and fearless too.

The colourful striped paper is my favourite, I adore stripes! I love fussy cutting as well so I enjoyed cutting the flowers out of one of the papers, which I then arranged across the top of my page as the 'circle' on the sketch. 

I made a little cluster of embellishments in the top right hand corner with my title (which was from the Crate Paper Cool Kid collection). 

I wanted to use birds and butterflies for my embellishments to symbolise my little niece 'flying free' and doing her own thing.

The beautiful glittery die cut butterflies are part of a pillow present from the recent Like For Ever Retreat I went on. We had an absolutely amazing weekend and it was so lovely to be reminded of it as I was making this layout. The little wood veneer birds were also a present from that weekend.

I layered some of the butterflies with vellum die cut butterflies to add extra dimension. I absolutely love that little 'Bucket List' piece of ephemera in the bottom cluster. It's exactly what my niece would write on her bucket list, and what I would have written as a child too!

I added a few little puffy stickers from Shimelle's Little By Little collection, a few black ink splats (I really had to reign myself in on this one and keep telling myself sometimes less is more!), and I was done. 

Thanks for stopping by and reading, please pop by frequently or subscribe, to keep updated on the awesome layouts and advice we have coming up!