Last Sassy Lil' Sketch Reveal - Ever!

A Sassy Lil' Send Off

Sassy Lil' Sketches will be closing its virtual doors on October 27th, and this will be the last week of reveals. If you like their sketches, then download them in these last few weeks. If you like the inspiration from the DT, then browse through the gallery. If you want to participate in the sketch challenges, you have until October 23rd to upload your projects. There are 8 separate challenges happening right now, so you have 8 separate chances to win a  prize. 

Sketch Challenge

Today's reveal at Sassy Lil' sketches is based on the following sketch, Sassy Send Off Sketch #7 (which has been removed since the website is now closed). I stretched out the sketch and made it into a double pager. Instead of so many background squares of patterned papers, I filled the squares with smaller photos, journaling, captions and titles. I also combined some of the squares to get a larger rectangle for longer photos or more journaling space. Here is my interpretation of the sketch:

Siam Cooking School Layout

The Background

When we were in Thailand this summer, we took a local cooking class. The school was located at the teacher's house. We each had our own woks on the patio. We chose an individual menu and prepared a Thai dinner as guided by the instructor. Before we even started cooking, we went to an outdoor market to purchase the fresh ingredients. 

The Details

Here is a view of each page:

I popped up some of the flowers on the patterned papers for a 3D effect. I printed captions for some photos on transparencies and interspersed them throughout the layout. 

This paper collection had some matching silk flowers and glazed brads, so I utilized the embellishments. 

Next to the main title, I printed out the cooking school's name, and made that into a flower to blend the subtitle with the embellishments. 

I found a translation in Thai for one of my captions. 

This is the journaling block.

I used a bubble themed border punch along the two sides of my photos. Inside the holes I used a clear paint pen so it is actually a puffy bubble. In some of the smaller holes I added some metal Glam Rocks. I stapled on three ribbons for an accent on one side. 

Thanks for stopping by,

A Taste of Taiwan Layout

The Sketch:
It is time for my reveal with Sassy Lil' Sketches based on their September Week 4 sketch (which has since be removed as they have closed their site).

My Layout:

Chinese Zodiac

During the SoCal Shop Hop, where I went to visit several scrapbooking stores in the area, I came across a pack of Chinese zodiac stickers. I thought the arrangement of the stickers resembled the patterned paper squares in the sketch, so that was the inspiration for the entire layout. 

I then picked photos to match the stickers. I was in Taiwan this summer and my Dad took us to a hole in the wall noodle shop that was reminiscent of camp fire cooking that catered to soldiers in training. There was a flag on the wall behind where we were sitting. We happened to be wearing beanies of Taiwan's flag since we had just finished a tour of the Presidential Office Building.  

A Taste of Taiwan Layout

The Details:

Here is a look at the title. Instead of banners, I hung a string of lanterns above the title since it fit with my theme better. I moved the title to the top of the page and the journaling to the bottom since I couldn't cover up the stickers like I could background squares.

The Title

Instead of one large vertical photo, I opted to go with three smaller horizontal photos. I stitched around the photo block to mimic the stitching in the patterned paper.

Photo Block

The background paper had a wavy frame printed around the border. I used an exacto knife to cut along the frame so I could insert the other papers I used behind it and keep the design of the frame intact. 

Journaling

If you'd like to see the other interpretations by the Sassy Lil' design team or if you'd like to upload your own version of the sketch, please go here. 

The Prizes:
If you play along with any of the September sketches, just link your layout to the corresponding post by October 5th, to win a prize from either of this month's sponsors. I saw some of the new releases from Authentique over at Pages from the Heart, and they are gorgeous.

Thanks for reading along,

My Ol' Kentucky Home

The Challenge:
This is my first of six reveals with Sassy Lil' Sketches. I'll be posting a new layout on the 4th Tuesday of each month, so be on the lookout. Today's layout from the design team is based on a sketch by Cherie Averill.

The Prize:
There is a new layout sketch and two new card sketches released each week, along with DT samples, so be sure to check out Sassy Lil' Sketches if you want some design ideas. If you made your own project based on a sketch, just link it to the bottom of the post for a chance to win some great prizes. There will be two winners chosen each month. Here are the two sponsors for August:

Paper Sponsor

Digital Sponsor

Layouts must be uploaded below by September 5th, 11:59 P.M. EST to be eligible for the August random prize drawing.

My Layout:

August Week 4 Sketch - My Ol' Kentucky Home

Kevin and I visited his family in Kentucky during the week of July 4th this year. I wanted to capture the down home feel of life in the country so I went with a quilt theme. I made a patchwork quilt with diagonal pattern of red-yellow-green-green-yellow-red. For half of the quilt, I choose photos with the color I wanted and enhanced them, and for the other half I used patterned papers. I then machine stitched the squares, hand sewed tiny buttons on each corner and added a border to complete the quilt. 

Quilt squares

To tie in the quilt theme to the title, I added some buttons tied with twine for the Os. 

My Title

The Variation:

My main variation from the sketch was that I used the background squares for the photos, and I used the one photo space for my journaling. I turned the 4 x 6 photo space into a post card and wrote a note to Kevin's parents in Kentucky as the journaling spot. I made a little postage stamp and stamped a postmark stamp on top of that. I had to research postcard stamp prices since I don't usually send postcards, it is 29 cents. 

My Journaling

The Paper:

I have to say that this is the first time I used anything from Simple Stories, and this collection, "100 Days of Summer" was perfect for the antique look I wanted. One thing that is different about them is that the papers and page protectors come in varying sizes, so you can just slide a picture into a pocket and cut out a title to put in another pocket and not have to scrap anything if you just want a fast page. I just used it like a regular piece of paper because the colors and style matched, but it seems like an interesting idea. 

Pages

Page Protectors

Stop by Sassy Lil' Sketch if you get a chance. I hope you are inspired to make some layouts and interpret sketches in your own way. 

Take care and happy scrappin',

A Sassy New Design Team

Sassy Lil' Sketches

I've missed being on a sketch design team since I finished my term with Sketchabilities, so I applied and got on another design team called Sassy Lil' Sketches. It is worth is just to be on that team so I can say I'm a Sassy Lil' designer. They release a new sketch every week for cards and layouts, along with DT samples. Feel free to peruse the site for great ideas or you can participate by linking your own creations to the sketch post for a chance to win monthly prizes or load your projects into the gallery. I'll only be posting one layout a month, on the 4th Tuesday, starting at the end of August. I've been using their sketches of late for myself anyways so it won't be too taxing.

Cindy Layout
My recent Cindy layout was based on the June 14th Sassy sketch.

Cindy Layout

Christmas Layout

I also made a Christmas layout after I was inspired by the May 21st reveal. Here is the sketch:

I saw the stacked photos as a column of presents and interspersed the photos among them. I also moved the vertical strips from the right to the left side of the page so it balanced out the stack of presents.  

Christmas Layout

I changed the circle with the journaling on top into a house with journaling since it matched my Christmas theme better. The house was actually the packaging for some ribbon. I glued some small pictures onto the windows. I drew the wood trim with a black pen onto the photos. I cut the shutters so they open a bit. 

Journaling on House Background

Here is a close up of one window.

Window and shutters

On top of the presents, I drew a giant bow and had the ribbon cascade down the presents. I colored it in with some Stickles glitter glue. 

Stickles Bow

Feel free to interpret a sketch however you want. This wasn't specifically a Christmas sketch, nor were these Christmas papers or embellishments. I used the Neighborhood collection from Crate Paper.  

I'll be back with an official Sassy reveal on August 23rd. In the meantime, be sure to check out the site and be inspired by all the versatile sketches and gorgeous layouts. 

Take care,

A Tribute to Cindy

Undeniably Cindy

Last photo of Cindy (black dog)

I wanted to make a better tribute page to Cindy, my little loyal friend who passed away a few years back. I felt a bit undeserving of her fierce loyalty. She'd follow me from room to room and spring into action at any sign of a threat. One vivid memory I can recall was when she was sprawled out in front of my bedroom door, like she was asleep. As soon as my dad approached and knocked, she leapt into action, barked and attacked his socks. It make two holes in them too. I thought he would be mad, but he actually admired her alert guard dog behaviors. She did tear up a lot of sheets and socks with her unnecessary protectiveness towards friends and family, but it did come in handy when I was asleep by myself and burglars broke in. Overall, I appreciated her steadfast loyalty. She would be sitting underneath my desk right now as I type this if she was still here.


Top Ten Reasons to Love Cindy
I typed out a top ten list for Cindy. But mostly the reasons show her concern for me and wouldn't endear her to anyone else. Don't get a schipperke if you want a friendly, social dog that can be easily petted by visitors. People could pet Cindy if they followed a set protocol, but mostly people don't want to follow rules, so she just ignored them. But she was sweet to me, and here she is:

In Memoriam of Cindy

The top ten list:

Reasons to love Cindy

The Details
I layered another banner above the banner printed on the paper and overlapped it with the photo.

3-D banner

Here is the title which I hand cut another black layer underneath to create a shadow. I paper pieced a ball to look like the one she would play with when she was a puppy.

Title and embellishments

The Sketch

I found a new sketch site that has weekly layout and card sketches, along with monthly prizes if you link your projects. This is based on Sassy Lil' Sketches, June 14th reveal. 

Variations:

• I did a mirror image of the sketch because of direction Cindy and I were facing in the main photo. 
• Instead of journaling strips, I made a journaling block because I had more to say. I replaced two of the background blocks with one larger journaling block.
• I added three photos in place of the squares. To break up the look, I added some ribbon, twine and buttons to three of the patterned paper squares. 

Cindy was a good little dog. Thanks for looking.