Fancy Schmancy August Sketch is Coming Your Way

Soo, I must admit, I'd much rather spend what little spare time I have scrapping than learning Photoshop. Soo, since it's my turn to provide the Sketch this month. You get my pretty hand-drawn one. I have oodles of journals filled with sketches I've drawn from inspiring things I see in magazines, online galleries, and in everyday life. Here's one of them for you to ponder. The key to my abbreviations is below the sketch. Hope you can use it. If you do, please link it here. I'm sure I can put together a rak for one lucky participant. (wink)

100th Post!! RAK in Progress*closed**edited with winner*

Do you ever get in one of those moods? You know the kind. Where you feel your creative mojo has left the building? Permanently. Well, that how I was feeling as I was playing with this month's amazing July kit, which is still available here. Hint hint. Don't get me wrong. I adore this kit. It has such a summer feel to it. The colors are so perfect for scrapping my young brood. Plus, it features October Afternoon's Cherry Hill which I was dieing to get my hands on since Winter CHA when it was released. I finished up 4 layouts with the kit. I still had more to do. The design team's theme this month was "My Story". I just wasn't in the mood to delve deep into my soul right now. It MAY have something to do with dealing with my DH being away for 8 months and caring for our 5 younguns.

I just wanted to scrap AND get back in my scrappy groove. So, I threw conventions out the window and decided to go a different route with this My Story theme. I decided to alter this acrylic page. It was left over from my December Daily album and I thought it would make a perfect wall hanging hung on it's side. I used pieces from both June and July's mosh posh kits. Also, some add-ons and a bit of my own stash. I wanted to document what makes me happy, in the scrapbooking world these days... Sassafras, chipboard, brads, popdots, stickpins, felt/textures, letter stickers, ribbon, the number 5, buttons, fussy cutting, more Sass, and Sass borders.

You know what? By not following the rules. My mojo is back. I'm back to scrapping into the wee hours of the morning. And I'm happy as a clam. What do YOU do to break out of your creative rut? Leave me a comment and I'll pick a name to receive a rak from me in appreciation of our blog's 100th post! You have until Saturday morning at 9 am et.

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Back:

***** julie.schellin email me your addy at scrappinjenatverizondotnet. I'll get your marvelous rak sent right off to you. congrats and thanks everyone for playing along.

July Ad Inspiration : Be Inspired!!!

So, you wanna know the truth? I can't stand Ad Inspirations.

They are not easy for me! I like to avoid them. I don't know what it is but I have a hard time taking an advertisement intended for print in a newspaper, magazine, or website, and translating it into a scrapbook page. Ads are often very graphic and make use of lots of text or lots and lots of blank space. Eeek! Sometimes the photo in an Ad takes up the entire page! Yikes! Or maybe the ad isn't shaped like a square! Oh no! :)

So, I decided to challenge myself this month and, instead of doing a sketch, find an Ad that I could use as inspiration. Crazy me. I didn't find anything! LOL. But! I did find a website that could pass as an Ad. Then I stared at it for a few days until something came to me.

I took it pretty literally (which I am realizing might be part of my problem) but I just LOVE how our Guest Designers this month took elements of the Ad and created stunning pages that are not at all ad-like. ;)

Here's the Ad (er... website):


Here's my page:
I focused on the bones of the inspiration and went with a very similar layout. I also thought it would be fun to mimic the fine lines, brackets, and the style of text inside of the brackets.

Here's Amy Coose's:
Amy took the brackets in the inspiration piece to a whole new level. She made it a bold statement where her title takes the center stage. Her photo placement is within a square with rounded corners... very similar to the ad.

And here's Sarah Nolan's:
Sarah also took the inspiration to help plot her layout and photo placement. She also used monochromatic colors and simple square shapes which are found in the ad.

So, I am learning how to be inspired by outside sources. It seems the key to working with an Advertisement (or website) as inspiration is to take parts of it and make them work for your page. Don't get overwhelmed or feel like you have to mimic the entire thing! Even if it's one small idea, like the placement of your title or photo, using an ad can really spark ideas for a page that's 100% you!