Light Is Life - Layered Template Freebie

I was inspired by the blog post of Idea Books 4 U and made a sketch (actually, a layered template, albeit without drop shadows) as well as a layout using a kit that I'll be reviewing for the July SN&R: Modish Boy Collection by Shabby Princess Designs.

Here's the sketch (click on image to download):



And here's the layout:



Just a note: It's ok to be a bit crazy! For example, my photo wasn't big enough to fit some of the shapes in my template, and the width was too much. So I imported the photo for *each* shape, enlarged it where necessary, and only eyeballed approximate seams so that the left edge of the photo is on the left edge of the layout, and the right on the right, but the middle is stretched out a bit. Because of the nature of the photo (i.e., it doesn't matter to the eye here that the breaks are not quite lining up) it works out pretty well! You'll notice that I also moved things around (and even took some stuff out!), even from my own sketch! I never could leave well enough alone... *grins*

Thanks for looking!

When a picture is worth a thousand words...

...I still can't resist adding some on! Tonight's late and exhausted sketchbook entry:



I spent ALL day working on that Little Dreamer Designs Apprentice Challenge. Yes, I learned a lot. Yeesh.

A New Discovery: Sketches

So, somebody over on a site that shall remain nameless (by request, however!) let me work with a sketch of theirs today--something I'd never done before. I had two reactions about it: 1) It's fast! You can whip out a layout in no time by ctrl-alt-g'ing many of the layers, and substituting a few things here and there, etc. 2) It's more stultifying than I might have imagined (being from Switzerland and all, if there are lines on the paper, I stay inside them!), so that I find that some of my creativity just falls with a thunk and stays passed out for the rest of the exercise. I imagine these are much like what you might follow for a card (I think they're called card maps or something). I'd love to read some comments on how you use sketches or maps!

HOWEVER, I was working with another of those darn brown/red/pink combos. I am so heartily sick of those colors!! So I made a fresh and breezy ocean layout:



I think I'll just stick with this kind for a while. Plus, I got some fabulous shots of Allen!

Oh, and I wanted to share with you my latest discovery: taking pictures at the grocery store! It all started because there was a rare sun day yesterday, and there were these gorgeous tulips in front of the store, so I grabbed my camera and got a couple of shots of those. I was putting it away when we walked in, but they continued the Valentine's floral display, and I just kept on shooting and shooting, through the floral department, into the fruits and vegetables... hehehehe. It was great! I got some wonderful flower shots, and of stuff that would never grow in a million years in my back yard... Whee! So, take your camera and see what you can nab with it during your next shopping expedition!