Time for the August edition of Sketches for Scrapbooking. Just in case you missed July’s post, each month I’m taking an older sketch from one of our Sketches for Scrapbooking books and creating a new layout. What is old can definitely be new again when it comes to sketches!
This month I am using a sketch from Sketches for Scrapbooking, Volume 4.
If you have the book, it is the seventh sketch in the book. If you don’t have the book, you can purchase it at Scrapbook Generation, here:
Have you ever had a piece of paper that you loved so much you just couldn’t use it until you had the perfect photos to go with it? That was the case for me and the wave patterned paper I used on this layout. I’ve had this collection, Hometown Summer, from Pink Paislee for years, patiently waiting for the photos that were just right. I felt like I hit the jackpot with these photos from last summer.
Sometimes a big difficulty with water pictures is finding papers that match. Water can take on so many shades of blues and greens that getting that perfect match can feel impossible. I was ecstatic to find that the water in my photos matched the greens of the paper so well.
The sketch I used has a long, wide strip along the bottom that I replaced with the wave patterned paper. There was also a striped strip that went all the way across the sketch, on top of the bottom inch or so of the 4 x 6” photos. I thought it would be fun to cut along the wavy pattern of the paper and then overlap it onto the bottom of the 4 x 6” photos. I really wanted to showcase that wavy pattern and since the focal point of my photos is at the top of each photo, I had plenty of space at the bottom of each photo that could be covered without out losing anything. I also cut out a few pieces of the wave pattern and overlapped them onto the first piece so I had different layers in a few spots. Since I’m a striped strip kind of gal, I added a few striped strips to the top and bottom of the layout.
I also added some stitching to the waves. I love adding stitching to enhance the design on a piece of patterned paper. To me, it gives the paper more life, more interest. It can take a design from good to wow. When picking my embroidery floss, I used two different shades of the same color to match the different shades of the paper.
The second change I made was straightening the 4 x 6” photos going across the page. Since I had so much going on with the waves, I thought straightening the photos was a better option.
On the left side of the sketch there are a few vertical strips that I removed. I decided, because of the waves, to kind of create a “scene” on my layout. By scene I mean that since I had the waves on the bottom, why not create a sky on the top. I added a few clouds and a sun in place of the strips and title.
I moved the title and journaling strips to the top of the waves. They are still in the same general area of the sketch where the journaling strips were, so it just seemed like a good spot.
On the right side of the sketch there was an embellishment overlapping two of the photos. I had a few more pictures that I wanted to include, so I created a little cluster of photos and embellishments, roughly in the same spot as the embellishment on the sketch.
Whenever you are using sketches, don’t be afraid to add more or less depending on what you are working with. I always see sketches as a starting point and I love adding my own creative touches or adjustments due to the products and photos that I'm using.
If you have this sketch or have used it, post your layout in the comments! I would love to see how you make something old, new again!