Penny for my thoughts... on Sketches!!!

Well, it's another day and I'm back with my thoughts on Sketches. I totally love sketches. I find them so easy to work with but I've been told by others that they have a really had time creating layouts with them. I totally think that it may be the tools in my stash that help me out. Want to know more of what I'm talking about? Well, let's start with my example - Always Be Yourself

Kit: Life Lessons: 101 by Lauren Grier & Kristin Cronin Barrow

I love how this page turned out. Want to see the sketch I used? Well, I found it on the Scrapbook & Cards Today Bonus Sketch Section.

Now to shake this sketch up a bit, I turned to my stash. I just love using shapers and such. For this sketch, I used Lauren Grier's Layered Up In You: Circles, Edges, Rounded and Waves. These little goodies are perfect for working with sketches.

Also, when working with sketches (or even templates for that matter) you can use all or any part of the original. With this layout, I rotated only half the sketch... I left the center portion the way it was.

So the next time you are looking for inspiration, don't be afraid to use a sketch... and look outside of what the elements are shown as.

Happy Scrapping!!!

Penny for my thoughts... on TEMPLATES!

Oh my... hasn't the use of templates just exploded in the digi community? Now the down fall of this is the amount of layouts that essentially look the same. I can often name the template before I read the credits. Of course I'm a huge template and sketch user... but let's save sketches for another day.

Now I'm in no way gonna bash the use of template... I know there are some who think of using templates as cheating. I'll admit to having to come to terms with my use of them... but I really look at them more as a starting point. The best compliment I got was from the designer of said template stating that she didn't realize it was her template til she read the credits.

Sometimes I use the template in a straight forward kind of way... really not changing it up much. Please note that all photos are linked for full credits.


Other times, I will spice it up so to speak. With this layout, I really loved the blocking pattern, so I decided to spice up the background by adding layers.

Now for this page... instead of using solid papers... I used little frames... and I just love how it turned out...

One the big things to remember is that a template is an outline for you layout... a guide so to speak. You don't have to use any or all of the layers or in the way in which the are designated. Part of my 2011 Scrapping Goals is to use templates less and one scrapping friend suggested that to break my template habit, I delete like half the template when I open it and use my imagination to finish it.

The next time you open a template... challenge yourself to see it in a whole new light. Flip it, turn it, delete parts, use a round element instead of a square one. Just try to make it your own!