Sketch Duet

Morning all, and welcome to the first post of our new monthly series - our Sketch Duets. Every month we plan to offer a sketch, hoping to inspire you to use up those scraps from your kits. My plan is to use the sketch to create a standard greeting card & also a Project Life card (hence the Duet of the title!) - either a 4x6 or 3x4. So below is our sketch for January.

When I first saw the sketch (created by fellow DT member Manda), I knew immediately I was going to use it for a weekly title card in my Project Life. So, I pulled out the scraps of my December "Rainbow Paddle Pop" kit and came up with this 4x6 card.


I did play around with the sketch a little, flipping the orientation & adding a couple of layers! One of my favourite things to do with scrap pieces of patterned paper is to use an outline stamp & then fussy cut them out. I think it makes a really simple, but effective embellishment. I love how these papers look with the arrow stamp - such a summery feel. For the banner, instead of 3 embellishments, I decided to use a stamp with three words. This was a special week for us because it includes the birthday of my eldest son & included LOTs of water!

For my second card, I had a few left over stamped arrows (and an upcoming kids birthday!), so I decided to make a card for my son. I also had Ruth in my head, saying simple, simple, simple! So, with that in mind, I created this with the scraps.


Very simple & very quick. Using the sketch made is very easy! I love to use sketches to make cards! This time, instead of using a layer, I created a square border using my paper piercing tool. Some arrows, a die cut seven & a happy birthday stamp and I was done. Not too fancy for my 7 year old boy! Perfect! The seven was die cut on my Big Shot - I mounted the patterned paper onto some die cut white card stock to give it a little dimension & make it a little sturdier. So, because I knew I would also need a card in our Project Life spread to celebrate this birthday, I used a 3x4 Becky Higgins card for the die cut, & now have this for our Project Life spread.

The die cut will remain see through in the album - the photo shows it on a green background. And that I promise, is the last of the arrows! I like to have a little continuity in my Project Life spreads! When die cutting,  where possible I like to use the positive & the negative cut. This is so easy to achieve, just by using a pre-cut 3x4 card when die cutting. LOVE the simplicity, and gets two jobs done at once!

So that's it for me this month. I hope by providing you with a sketch & some ideas it will encourage you to use up all those little bits & pieces from the kit. This time I focused on using up the patterned paper. Next month, I will focus on another element of the kit. I hope you join us each month for our Sketch Duet.

I'd love to see how you've used the Polly! sketches. Post a link to your work in the comments below!

Kate