Simple Sketches

I have been cranking out pages. It helps that I have some local friends who want to get together weekly to craft plus a church group who gathers once a month. Throw in that I'm a speedy scrapper and I'm creating more pages than I can keep up with! A fine problem to have.

Here are some recent sketches from Simple Sketches and my take on them.

Simple Sketch #19

Croquet in Florid

Croquet- I went really simple with this page. I loved the design with the clever little inchies along the sides. It didn't need much as the design was interesting enough without fussing with it too much. Plus I got to use up some old MOXXIE papers in my stash and that always makes me H-A-P-P-Y!

Still in the travel theme, I then got the assignment to create a sketch that had a sun ray on it. I adore sun rays on pages and have made a couple recently that really pleased me. So I printed some small summer pics (perfect for sunshine) but when I created the page, the sun rays didn't work. I used a background I created with paint, brayer, gelli plate and template. And I used a HUGE accordion flower that I had made as party decor previously. I then laid transparent letters over the accordion folds. 

Simple Sketch 21

Summer at Grandpa's

Check out other people's takes on these simple sketches
http://simplesketches.blogspot.com/2014/01/simple-sketches-21.html

Sketch Diggity

Check out the great sketches over at Simple Sketches.

My Son's professional portraits from his swim team along with a ribbon he won. Go Piranhas!

I usually start and finish a page on the same day. This one sat and sat with the pics and squares laid out. Then I got the cork arrows and stitched tags in a page kit from The Scrap-Room and the page came together. 

I adore this sketch and will use it again with more white space. But I still like how this page came out, with the country warmth of the burlap mat and and stitched on gingham. 

My son created this rectangle with tissue paper and his cut out photo at VBS. Using the sketch from Simple Sketches I was able to save it in his scrapbook. 

Simple Sketches

Going green

The fun part of this page, in my opinion is definitely the textured, colored background. I used molding paste and a rough diamond mask to create a raised texture on scrap paper. Then I went to town with colored mist- light green, dark green, brown and some turquoise. When I created this background, I had no pictures or page planned for it. I just created for the sake of trying something new.

Then I got a sketch assignment from Simple Sketches. I wanted these "dressy" pictures of my hubby and I dressed up for a wedding in San Francisco to work with it. I pulled some "fancy" papers and tried to force it. I happened to be at a crop with my friend Sonia who informed me it wasn't working and to use the papers she happened to be working with at the time. Here scraps of paper, my pre-made textured-colored background and these photos worked together.

Ups and Downs

Simple Sketches put out a sketch that had 3 up, 3 down with a combo of 3 pics and 3 decorative tags.
When I started to scrap it, my design went towards clean and simple. I used some die cuts I bought for a bargain at the recent scrapbook flea market.

Here's the sketch:

Here's my take on it:

One item of note, the page is about us viewing the sea lions at Pier 39, a San Francisco tradition. The bottom die cut is a sea otter - also adorable and precious and in the area but NOT a sea lion. I was aware of this when I put it on the page, but although not accurate, it worked aesthetically and well, I like it.

Christmas time anytime

On a discussion board, someone mentioned they have a mental block to scrapping Christmas pictures.  I get it. Christmas to me is such an important holiday- the embodiment of my faith, family, generosity, good will. There is pressure to scrap those pictures JUST right. And I take soooo many on Christmas. But alas, I recently challenged myself to get all of 2010 photos done and those pesky, wonderful Christmas pictures need to be scrapped.

So I used the sketch #5 from Simple Sketches to capture the joy.

Tilting the vertical elements really added a playful touch to the page. 

I used a textured paper for the center strip that was pre-sewn with curly stitches. Then I added some older Basic Grey Figgy Pudding paper (which likely came out around when these photos were taken). 

Simply Sweet!

Simple Sketches # 3

What do I love about Simple Sketches- they are so easy to work with.
You can use parts to inspire you without being bogged down with the details.

Here is Sketch #3

And here is my take on it.

Cute kid, huh? The blue on the page really makes his little man glasses pop. 

The fun part of the page was creating those arrows out of washi tape. I wouldn't have thought to do that had I not been inspired by the arrows along the bottom of the sketch. 

Want to try your hand at the sketch? 

Check it out http://simplesketches.blogspot.com/2013/09/simple-sketches-3.html

Saving money by spending it!

Once a year, our local scrapbook store holds a scrapbook flea market. People are invited to sell their old, unwanted scrap goodies for a % of cash or store credit. I LOVE saving money and I LOVE buying scrapbook stuff. Although low in cash these days, I couldn't resist.

But check out these deals!! Flowers for under $1. Embellies for a quarter.

Many of the photos still have items in their bags with price tags so you can see the cost. Amazing!

A few of my favorites- a film transparency for $0.25, a word stamper (change letters) for $1 some Prima flowers for $0.50. I'm now stocked for the year. 

SCORE!!!! 

Now to create with them....