Hi Everyone!  I’m so excited about the upcoming release of my eBook Stretch your Sketches. I had so much fun working on this book with Angie and the Ella team!

I’m here to host the first sketch challenge here on the Ella blog. Come back every Friday for the next six weeks to enjoy a new sketch and to see our winners from the previous week. Here is this week's sketch:


This sketch features two 4x6 photos in the center of the page with the journaling and title lined up along the right-hand side of the page. Some of the journaling is featured above the photo and some just below the title.

A little bit about the inspiration behind this sketch: I have an obsession with two- and three-photo layouts. In particular, if you could peek into my sketch notebook you would see that I am constantly playing with different ways to place two 4x6 photos on a scrapbook canvas. This just happens to be one of the variations.

And now, I know what you’re thinking: this sketch is really simple. In the weeks ahead, you’ll see that all of my sketches are very basic - I prefer this. It allows me a lot of freedom to be creative later on. For me, sketches simply set the foundation for my page; they give me an idea of where I will place my photos, title and journaling. From there I let the photos and the story be my guide when choosing papers, embellishments and their placement.



Which brings me to the next step, creating! One of the reasons I love sketches so much is because I tend to take a long time selecting products. For me that is the real fun of scrapbooking. I save time by having a design in mind beforehand, which allows me a little more time to play with different papers and embellishments during the creative process.

In the layout above, I decided to use a die-cut circle in the background. I already knew that I wanted the photos to be in the center of the page. I also knew that I wanted the journaling to be both on top and below the photos. But after choosing this background I decided to shift the journaling on the bottom of the layout to fit within the circle. So instead of placing it underneath the title I shifted it to the side of the title. I layered some strips of patterned paper horizontally across the page and I backed the titled with a die-cut sticker so that it would really stand-off from the page. The finishing touches include poinsettia flowers, buttons and twine.
 
I hope you all will participate with me and make a layout based on this sketch. I know the Ella readers are a talented bunch. I can’t wait to see your interpretations!

Just leave me a comment with a link to your layout, and we'll pick three winners by Thursday, January 21 who will each receive a coupon code for a free eBook. (AND, they'll be entered into our Grand Prize drawing six weeks from now. And this is no ordinary prize. It's a GOOD one!)

Winners will be posted on Friday, January 22. If you don't have a blog, just post your layout to this Flickr gallery.