Playing Footsies

For today's adventure I thought I would talk you through how I put this layout together. It looks way more complicated that it actually is!

To jump-start my ideas I really love a great sketch, and this month's sketch challenge at Handmade by Suzanne does just the trick. What I love most is those splashes of paint in the background! That sparks my imagination in a million different ways :-)

But first I start with some basics.
I chose my papers first, and I either tend to stick to one collection or manufacturer (or else I scrap with a kit) because I'm no good at making up my own combinations of product :-) This month at HBS I'm working with the Sassafras Sweetly Smitten range, but I also threw the Starters collection in my shopping cart too and I know they'll work well together.

I pick some photos that will work with the colours in the paper and I briefly assemble a sketchy idea of how I think it'll be put together.

Despite the Sassafras Starters paper (this one is 'Intro') already having so much detail there's no reason why you can't add more! With my Silhouette I cut out a honeycomb pattern from some scrap paper (it was actually a page I tore out of the instruction manual for a piece of Ikea furniture!) To give it a subtle pink colour I used Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Spun Sugar. The foam applicator gives a quick and even coverage and because it's water-based it dries very quickly too.

But what about those paint splashes in the sketch? I grabbed my Distress Stain this time in Broken China and made a series of dots over my background paper. The applicator has a spring valve inside so when it's pressed down the ink flows. If I press the foam to the paper lightly I get just the round spot, but if I slam it down onto my page I get those happy little splashy spots!

And just like all of Tim Holtz' Distress products, these react with water. After I did all these background spots I thought they might have been a bit too bold for the rest of my layout. So even though they had dried by then I simply spritzed my page with water and let some of the colour run out of the spots and down my page which softened it all a little.

Then I started laying my design elements back in. I covered that chipboard journaling spot with my favourite paper from the Sweetly Smitten range called Dainty Sketch. And then it was a matter of filling in all the gaps. Here's where we started if you remember.

I cut some simple banner shapes for my title. The alphas are the Krafty ones :-)

And yes, those Foldies really are as good as everyone keeps raving about! But that doesn't mean they can't be further improved with some bling!

What a topic to scrap about hey? Feet! The journaling reads: "Bethany has this very cute habit of curling her toes together whenever she's concentrating. It sure beats sticking out her tongue!" It's the little memories that I like to scrap. These are the details of life that bring a smile to my face :-)

So come on over to Handmade by Suzanne and have a go at the sketch challenge. There's a whopping $30 voucher up for grabs to a random participant! It could be you!!