Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - On the Border

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

A great video showing the Page maps border die and Simple Stories latest line sets up the challenge using borders to create a layout based on the sketch.

I decided to use one photo for this one.  The border idea worked really well with all the camouflage strips.  On their own they would have been too much but with strips of each it worked together.

 

I have a few of these photos.  Stories I want to tell but don't have the pictures.  I have found different ways around it.  Sometimes there is a photo I can use that may not be of the actual event but a representation of it and other times I put in a non-photo.  Just because you don't have the perfect photo doesn't mean you can't tell the story.

On a different note

I have been busy with sketch challenges I thought it would be good to throw in something different.  I needed a birthday card for a boy and was inspired by one of my boys shirts to put something together.  I thought I would give you a little more of an idea into how I go about making my cards.

Once I have the colour sorted I start with the stamp images that I want to use.  From there I dip into my colour drawers to find embellishments that I could use.  So the creating begins.  For this one I started with building up the layers with the grunge stamps and then added the words with ink and then embossing. A little stitching and finishing touches - Done.

Colours: basic grey, going grey, green galore
Stamps:  all about me (kaiser), grunge me (PTI)
Finishing touches: stitching, black embossing powder, stone bakers twine (the twinery), washi tape, brad and anchor, button

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - Grand prize

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

What is a celebration without a grand prize? $200 from A Cherry on the Top. This challenge was to use the sketch provided to create a layout.

So here is my take on the challenge

I decided to flip the sketch upside down this time. I have been keeping fairly close to the sketches that I have done till this one. I have gathered several different Christmas themed products since Christmas so it was fun to see how I could use them.  The 7-gypsies sticker sheet worked well for the different journalling pieces.

Journalling reads ' There's nothing like trimming the tree to make it feel like Christmas.  So cool we get to go down the bottom and choose one we have grown ourselves.  Note to self.  They are always bigger when you get them inside. We had no end of trouble this year with trying to keep it upright!'

I love pages that come together with ease.  This one did apart from getting to the last job which was the journalling.  Done now.  Better add it to the link before the competition finishes!

Competition goodies from Scrapbook.com

Do you remember my layouts from my fun day with Scrapbook.com?  Well my prize that I won arrived in the mail this week.  So impressed, there were some fabulous goodies inside. 

 Lots to play with.

Thank you Scrapbook.com

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - Colour suite

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

The challenge for this one was to use the colour palette and the sketch provided to create a layout.

Pink is always a little tricky when you have mostly boy pics.  But I found the perfect picture of my sister and I that had just the colours in the palette.  I stuck mostly with the greys and pinks with a little of the others, and kept to the sketch. 

Page Maps Anniversary Challenge - Make your own stamps

Page Maps 7th Anniversary Celebration

The challenge was to create your own stamps and then use them in one of the sketches for a card or layout.  Stripes are a favourite of mine.  I love cutting them thin across all the lines for a different border. I never seem to have quite the colour combo for what I want to use so this is a great way to do it yourself.  There were lots of great ideas. Loved the use of alpha's to make stamps.

It turned out quite different to my original plan.  That's what happens when you let it evolve as it goes.

Colours:  night of navy, more mustard, very vanilla, old olive
Stamps:  background stripes (handmade), in the stars (SU)
Finishing touches:  vellum, victoria crochet trim, running stitch border punch (x-cut), buttons, lots of tags die (SU)

28 Days of Sketches - Sketch One and Three

28 Days of Sketches

So it begins.  This is the first sketch with 27 more to come.

Using a sketch really pushes you outside your comfort zone.  From experience that is something that you want to do.  It allows you to discover things you might never have had thought of and those things that you may not like.

Because there was more to this story I decided to use another of the sketches for the second page.  Loving that I had recorded the memory in my diary/log book so I could include the photo I didn't take so the whole story was there.  You can see another of my non-photo records at this post {second layout}  a challenge from a crop day that came from the blog Unphotographable dedicated to all the times when you don't have your camera or it just isn't possible or appropriate to take a photo but you want to remember the moment.