2 layouts...1 sketch

Hard to believe my second term with Sketchabilities is coming to an end.  What a wonderful experience it has been!  I have been endlessly inspired by the Sketchabilities sketches I have been given to work with, and they have challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and dive into many different styles of paper crafting. 

These are my last layouts as a Sketchabilities design team member and I hope they highlight just how much you can do with these awesome sketches.  CLICK HERE to see the rest of the design team's creations and come play along with us.

 The first layout I am showing is actually the second one that I did for this sketch, but I prefer it, so I am sharing it first.  Man, I am telling you this kid's smile could melt the coldest hearts on the planet.  She truly exudes such incredible joy that when you see her, you can't help but smile too.  Right?  Tell me you're not grinning... :-D

I started out with heavy weight mixed media paper and then layered on a Tim Holtz mask with Tattered Angels mist in Clambake.  Then I used a small plate to draw a circle with brown watercolor paint, letting the water pool a bit, then tipping it to the side so that the colors would drip to the left.Once dry, I added another Tim Holtz mask of paint spatters/coffee stains using Heidi Swapp mist in Blush, and some more of the same mask with Tim Holtz distress paint in Weathered Wood.  Then I repeated the addition of a little water pooling and dripped the colors to the left. 

I love the soft colors of the feathers, which were a great clearance find at JoAnn Fabrics a few months back.  I found a great bag full of assorted feathers for about $1.50.  The title is Heidi Swapp.

These triangles were made using a cheap cardboard stencil I found at Michael's that is actually meant for other home projects, but I love it and somehow it is holding up, despite being paper and being repeatedly covered in modeling paste.  These triangles were made by mixing a bit of the Tim Holtz distress paint in Weathered Wood with glass bead gel medium.  I love the glass bead gel because not only does it give some texture, it has a little bit of sparkle to it.  To compliment the colors and the glass bead gel, I added some literal glass beads scattered around the page.

I added some of the Tattered Angels mist to raw chipboard circles from Creative Embellishments and layered them on either side of the photo, then lined the right side circle with some great little word stickers from Studio Calico.

So now I'm going to do a 180 and share the layout I first did for this sketch.  I wanted to end my term with Sketchabilities with a vibrant mixed media layout, and I thought this photo taken of the sunset would be a great opportunity to use lots of dramatic color.  Somehow, the layout ended up looking a bit "dark" vs. serene.  My mom said it kind of looks like dead trees and the cover of a spooky Stephen King novel or something.  Looking at it impartially, I would have to agree.  LOL  But oh what fun it was to get messy with all those colors!

I started with black cardstock, with some swipes of gesso over it where I was going to put my colors.  Then I pulled out my gelatos in shades of yellow, orange, red, pink and purple and just started layering and blending them with a watercolor brush.  Once dry, I simulated the trees with black watercolor using a fan brush.  In hindsight, I think I probably could have included a few more branches. ;-)  The house is a little vellum embellie from Studio Calico.

Another Creative Embellishments chipboard piece was used here.  I absolutely love this circle chippie and bought 2 of them. CLICK HERE to check out all of the other gorgeous chipboard and product Creative Embellishments carries. I painted this one with black watercolor, then painted the circles white with some acrylic, decorating them with some gold Thickers punctuation periods, gold liquid pearls, and some various gold enamel dots I had in my stash.  The key is another bargain find from Michaels.  No idea of the brand but it came from the dollar bin.

Here's another angle that that shows the Maggie Holmes for Crate paper gold vellum photo film reel behind the photo.

So there you have it.  My last hurrah with Sketchabilities.  I hope you have found some inspiration here and will come play along with this latest sketch!  Have a great day!

xoxo,

Shawna