1 Sketch, 6 layouts - Part 1

It's sketches week! This is now a monthly feature on my blog. The second week of the month is now officially sketches week.

This time I've used one sketch and created five layouts based off that sketch. The sixth layout is the original that the sketch itself is actually based off of.

The original layout

"Bad Hair Day"

The only thing that changed from the layout to the sketch is a few minor elements on the accent cardstock tabs. On my layout I had used word stickers and on the sketch we went with stars.

This is the sketch, from Sketches for Scrapbooking, Volume 3, that I will be using as a starting point for each layout.
One thing I love about this sketch is that you really don't have to do a lot to get multiple layouts out of it. It really doesn't need a lot of variations to change the look. With the large squares of patterned paper as a background, simply changing the papers makes a huge difference.

Another thing I love about this sketch is how the most important elements (the title, journaling, and photos) on the page are all grouped together in the middle of the layout. It makes it so much easier to find everything on the layout instead of searching for certain elements.

Layout #1 - "Can't Hold Him Back"

Patterned papers - Kaisercraft, chipboard arrows - BoBunny, alphabet stickers - American Crafts (can't), SEI (hold him), Doodlebug Designs (back), removable adhesive (for texture technique) - Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, stickers - Scenic Route (circles), 7Gypsies (word)

Variation #1 - What probably stands out the most is that everything is smaller than the original sketch. I had every intention of using 4" x 4" photos, like suggested on the sketch but it just wasn't working with these pictures. The pictures are from a festival we were at and on each side of Jackson were legs. Lots and lots of legs from the people all around us. It was kind of distracting so I decided to crop them even smaller. I kept the 4" height but cropped the width to 3" to cut out the busy surroundings.


Variation #2 - Since I ended up cropping my pictures down to a smaller size I was afraid that the 5" squares suggested on the sketch would be too much. I didn't want the patterned papers to overshadow my pictures. I ended up using 4" squares instead with the same placement and the same amount of squares.

Variation #3 - I used arrows in place of the accent cardstock tabs and stars around the picture block. They may not be in the exact place and they may be a different size than the rectangles on the sketch but, like I told you all last time, it's all about taking a sketch as a suggestion. They may not be exactly what the sketch suggests but as long as it's in the same area, it's going to work.


• A little technique for those of you with boys:
This is one of my favorite things to do to add a boy-type texture to elements. The chipboard arrows I used on the page where just plain blue. To add the texture I used a tape runner with removable adhesive (little dots) and ran over the top of the arrows. Then I took black paint and painted over the arrows. After the paint dried, I ran my finger over the dots to remove them. Super simple and so fitting for a boy page!

Variation #4 - Instead of journaling on an accent cardstock below the photo block, I decided to write mine directly on the paper.

Variation #5 - Because this page had so much white space, it looked a little plain to me. I added a stitched border around the patterned papers in hopes to take up a little more space and not have it look so swallowed in all of the white.

Just like last month, I'll be doing a giveaway! I'll be posting everyday, Monday - Friday, with a layout based off the same sketch. All week you'll have a chance to leave a comment and next Monday I'll post the winner who gets a copy of Sketches for Scrapbooking (volume choice is all yours.) You can leave more than one comment through the week to be eligible but not on the same day. :)