HELLO.....

Hiya!! Just stopping by today to share with you quickly a layout I made for ScrapFriends Sketch Challenge 21. I must admit that I am becoming completely addicted to these sketch challenges. They are always so amazing, unique, and different from the last. I love them! This months sketch in particular is one of my faves!! It is so different from anything I have seen before or attempted, and I knew at once that I couldn't resist the opportunity to give this a try. Pop over to their blog to check out their challenges, Design Team work, and other inspiration. You won't be disappointed!!
Some of you may notice that this layout is quite different from what I normally do, though still definitely 'me', and I'll be honest and tell you that the reason for this is  I felt that my crafting was getting a little boring, a little too predictable, I was no longer taking risks or trying new things (or even old things), but instead had fallen into a pattern of following the same guideline in everything I created, and that is not something that I like. My favorite thing about creating is the freedom to create such a wide variety of things, using the widest variety of products and techniques that are at your disposal. This I was no longer doing, and I felt it was time to change things up a bit. I began with the Art Journal I shared with you on the weekend, moving to this layout, and a few others too, some I am not able to share with you just yet. Most of what I am doing is still the same, I just might add a new technique here and there, try a different way of embellishing a layout, ect. I absolutely love the things I have been creating lately, and I'm so glad I took the opportunity to allow myself to grow creatively, as it is very rewarding. I hope I can continue to inspire you with my work. For those who would like to become followers of my blog I would like to quickly remind you that the google friend connect 'join this site' button is broken. Right next to it you will see a little tiny double box/square. Please click this instead as it works. It's just a different button for the same thing. Alternatively you can add me to your circles. Now.....

This months amazing sketch from Scrapfriends:

 

And here is what I came up with:

'Hello...'

I had so much fun creating this.... I actually found the composition of this sketch very difficult to work with.... Which of course makes me even prouder of the final result. 

I have used a lot of different brands on here... Prima, Glitz, MME, Studio Calico, Echo Park, Dusty Attic chipboard, Kaisercraft, Basic Grey and a lot more.... I wouldn't be surprised if this page has something from all the major brands on it!!

I chose to use this photo of my Son because even though he is not smiling, I love how he is is staring at the camera, with the bottom lip dropped down enough to see he doesn't yet have all of his teeth. It's one of my favorite bubba photo's. He was only 8 months old when this was taken.  

Some close-ups:

There is lots and lots of dimension on this layout, which I found plesantly surprising. Normally all my paper layers end up looking really flat and I spend hours embellishing trying to get some height back! As you can see my title, Hello... was cut from a piece of patterned paper by Glitz. The hanging light was added to balance the black doodling that was on both sides of the layout, but unfortunately no in the middle. This was the final piece added to the layout as it took me a little bit to really figure out what was missing.

I made the little orange chevrons myself by drawing them on a piece of cardboard before cutting out, painting white with some gesso, and then orange with my watercolor paints.

In keeping with the sketch I have placed the Kaisercraft 'All Boy' rub-on in the same place the 'Hi World' would go, and instead of tucking a cog behind the bottom of the photo, I have instead placed a flair badge on top. The sideways banners on both sides of the layout are meant to represent the torn strips of paper on the sketch.

I just wanted to quickly share with you this close-up shot of my background. As you can see I have added texture paste to the background using my Prima mask, before painting with watercolors. This was when I decided that I needed to add something else to the background so that it's not the same as what I always do. With this in mind I took a black pen and began outlining areas of the texture paste, which then evolved into outlining areas of differing color, particularly where there was black watercolor, drips and flicks. I finished off by adding some stamping and then gently scraping some gesso over the raised areas to highlight some of the details.

Here I have added the circle Dusty Attic chipboard arrow in the same place as the circle on the sketch. I have painted in black with Kindy Glitz, while the bird was given the same treatment as my chevrons. As always my photo is placed on some calico, this time with twine both underneath and on top of the picture. The hot air balloon is meant to represent the upside down tear drop shape shown in the same position on the sketch.

I have added the green clip (which I stole off my Dad's desk), along with a peg to the top of the photo, helping to secure the twine circle. I have added the yellow flower, butterfly and wood veneer car for extra detail.

Finally, the 'Wow, Your Amazing'  speech bubble was added to represent the writing on the strip at the side of the sketch, while the nut represents the circle sitting on the frame in the sketch. I added the butterfly to the title to help balance the few darker elements of the layout. Finishing touches were completed with the addition of some mini roses that I had painted and a few little Prima paper flowers.

So that's it from me today. I really hope you have enjoyed stopping by today and that you have found something here to inspire you. It was an absolute pleasure playing along with this challenge.... Thankyou ScrapFriends for once again exceeding any expectations and providing such a unique and fun sketch!! I will be back on Saturday with more shares, so I hope to see you then. Thanks for stopping by.... xoxox!