gettin' sketchy CT call

I don't know how many of you girls are trying for this, but as soon as I read Jenn's email I knew I had to give it the ol' college try. Gettin' Sketchy, a scrapbook challenge blog, is putting the call out for new Creative Team members. Yay! I've been popping in to see what's going on there every month, but only participated in one challenge so far. I love the concept of the challenges - a new original sketch every month is posted, and readers are prompted to give their best interpretation of it. Someone usually wins a prize, which is a sweet bonus. I love that, just like our blog here, Gettin' Sketchy is providing us with a jumping point, something to reference before diving in to our hoards of supplies.



Here is my take on their current sketch. Sharon might recognize these goodies, which I bought while with her at The Dream. Only just now getting around to using these papers and rub-ons by Imaginisce.



I rubbed the rub-ons onto a piece of brown paper then cut out the various flowers using my swivel knife, then adhered them to the page. All the talk about a doodling class made me want to doodle, so I used my white pen to add some flourishes around the rub-on accents.



I also used my white pen to add some dots around the main photo to make it pop better (brown on brown = blah), and also scribbled around my title.

Eleana is constantly climbing up on top of Daddy while he sleeps on the couch. He probably takes a nap once a day - his schedule is so wacky. I know why she loves cuddling him - for the same reason I do - he's a heat rock. Cuddling up to Joe is better than an electric blanket.

sketch sketch

Wow, kudos to scrappy Nicole for coming up with an awesome challenge! I loved the sketch options she gave us, but particularly loved sketch option 2 by Nicole's friend.
(See the sketch I chose here.)

So, I still have tons of product left over from my days as a Scrapologie kit subscriber. Particularly, the Nov. 07 kit. (Unfortunately, Scrapologie doesn't create monthly kits anymore, but they're still around and create special edition kits for holidays.) I made one LO using those colors and that was it. December came and I moved on to Christmas layouts. The colors in the November kit were so pretty and sweet, I knew I had to use them, but didn't have the right photo.


Then, a couple days ago, Eleana dressed up as a fairy princess and spent her afternoon dancing, singing, and "flying" around the living room. I took several photos, but I particularly enjoyed this one of her mid-jump.

I placed the papers on a slant, leaving only the title and photo properly aligned with the 12x12 background. I wanted to emphasize Eleana's energy as much as possible. I chose these colors mostly because of the tutu. Tutus evoke memories of my days as a dancer, and black and pink are popular apparel colors for ballerinas.

Nearly everything I used in this page was from the November kit, except for a small piece of ric-rac ribbon (and the rub-ons I used for "tiny" and the crown on the "e"). Even the damask acrylic stamp was included in the kit. The small card below that reads "Paris" was in the kit as well, and is from Tres Jolie. LOVE Tres Jolie, by the way. I stamped the princess definition myself however, using a Rusty Pickle set of acrylic stamps.



The photo itself was heavily edited using Photoshop Elements. I rendered the background in black and white (so the toys and items strewn around the background wouldn't distract the eye) and also blurred it a bit. Then, using some "Ali-isms" from the Fresh Fonts CD, I created brushes and used them like stamps all along the side of the photo. I used the color burn effect, which I love. It sort of mimics an acid burn on the color, revealing the brightest possible tone of the image. That's why the words gradually fade from pink to white (top to bottom)...because the pink words are on top of my red couch, and the white word ("darling") is on top of my tan carpet. Did I explain that well at all?



I've been informed by the husband that my journaling is corny. It reads: Tutus, wands, wings and crowns are at the top of Eleana's list of dress-up necessities. She twirls while giggling and making a "woo woo" sound, and jumps up and down. On the day this photo was taken she even tapped Daddy and I on the head with her wand, granting us our secret wishes. I wished for an abundance of moments like these.

I had so much fun working on this page today, and I'm sorry it took me so long to finish it! I was at the local scrap store for 2 hours yesterday talking business (my card class got the green light!) and then we had friends over for dinner. Crazy day yesterday.