Noteworthy (Stuck?! Sketches)

Hello!  I'm back again today, this time to share a layout I made for the latest sketch over at Stuck?! Sketches.  I've been super busy with work this week, so I've been a bit slow to get this layout made!  I decided it was time to use my homemade kit that I made for Sam's 8 year old birthday photos, and this sketch was perfect!

I started with this October Afternoon Sasparilla woodgrain paper for my background. I thought it worked nicely with the wooden furniture in the background of my photos of Sam opening his presents.  It is truly one of the most amazing woodgrain papers, it is so realistic!  Even Sam was commenting on it, he though it was a photo!

I built my layers very true to the sketch, and was able to use up some really old papers and stickers!  The products are a mix of October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Basic Grey, Elles Studio and Eco Park.

A close up of my left cluster, with a mix of paper and stickers!

I fishtailed two scraps of paper, and popped up the title sticker with dimensional adhesive.

I used the blue letter stickers to spell out his name, and to cover up part of a word on the underlying paper.

And here is Laura's amazing sketch:

I had so much fun with this sketch.  Thanks so much for looking!

Brielle Alyssa

As you may have noticed, I've gotten over my "too scared to scrap beautiful photos" moment, and have scrapped several of our new baby girl Brielle.  Today I'm sharing the cover page of her album, and inspired by Ashli Oliver, I put a "V1" on the page to represent Volume 1.  I'm using the Becky Higgins Strawberry Project Life Album, and am doing a mix of traditional 12 x 12 layouts and pocket pages.

I used mostly older Echo Park stash on this page, and the newest product is the Amy Tangerine Cut &  Paste pink grid paper on the bottom half of the page.  The hot air balloon paper is from Everyday Ecclectic, which I've hoarded as I love it.  However lately I've been challenging myself to use up my stash while I still love it.

The papers layered behind are cut apart cards from Today's Story, the stickers are from Beautiful Life, and the flower border sticker between both papers is from Sweet Girl.  The Thickers are from Dear Lizzy.  

I love dressing babies in white, so fresh!

And a close up; as always lately I'm loving adding drops of India ink at the end.

Thanks for looking!  I'll be back later on with some more pages that haven't been made for Design Team assignments.

Be blessed

Melissa x

Lets Get Sketchy "Inspired Magazine" Issue 3 - May 2014

Hello, well I'm so excited to announce that the third Lets Get Sketchy magazine is live here.  Brenshevia and Laura have done an amazing job again!

I have three layouts published this time. The brief for this first layout was to use twine.  I wanted to try something different, and was eager to use Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party, so I punched circles and butterflies and tied my twine on the butterflies.  This photo was taken during my nesting phase when I washed all the newborn baby clothes in preparation, and I just adore it against the blue sky.  It's hard to believe that Brielle is here now, and she is so little that she swims in that hat and all the newborn clothes!

Some close ups:

The design brief for the second layout was Summer or Spring.  This Instagram photo that I took at the wedding rehearsal for my friend's was perfect.  Shaun and I were singing at their wedding, and the location was so breath taking that of course I had to take some photos.  I used a Paper Bakery Kit for this one, and my journalling is hidden in the pocket.

A close up of the fun elements:

The final design brief that I created a layout for was to use Echo Park Paper products.  I used the Beautiful Life Collection, which is lovely and girly, so of course I had to scrap Azaria.  I started with the 4 x 6 card, and the rest of the layout flowed from there.  I used some modelling paste mixed with white acrylic paint to add some texture to the background, and also added a doily. Very minimal patterned paper on this one, I decided to mainly work with the sticker sheet and cut apart sheet.

A close up of my texture and journalling:

Thanks for looking.  Make sure you check out the magazine, it is so beautiful.

Melissa x

Love This (Lets Get Sketchy)

Wow, can you believe its February already?  This means a new month of weekly sketches over at Lets Get Sketchy. This week I scrapped a page for my pregnancy album, and its of a onesie that my sister sent over for the baby bump for Christmas.  Its perfect as we don't know whether the baby is a boy or a girl, and I had to take a photo to document it for my album.

I used predominantly Echo Park Paper's Beautiful Life Collection, with some Heidi Swapp and Dear Lizzy which matched really well.  I just love the tiny hearts on the background music score paper.  I added some gesso under the banners at the bottom to help them stand out from the music notes.

This weeks lovely sketch was designed by our awesome leader Brenshevia Baker:

I loved this sketch so much that I stuck pretty closely to it, I just added a few extra layers, including tissue paper as the bottom layer.  I love the soft dreamy look it adds.

Thanks for looking, make sure you play along this month for a change to win, and because we all love to see you pages!

Be blessed 

Melissa x