Good morning Canaries!

It's Sandra here today, with an attempt at the December sketch...that doesn't look at all like the December sketch! I will plead that I made every effort to stick to the sketch... at least with the first round of photos, which were actually from my recent beach holiday. And as bright as some of the papers from November's Memorandum scrapbooking kit were, I am a bit of a perfectionist and I just couldn't get to the point where I was perfectly happy with the result. So my first step was to change up my papers, but in the end I realised it was my photos, so by the time I'd finished "pushing paper", I was down to one photo and using a design that barely reflects the original sketch.... whoops! I promise I had full intention of using it, but sometimes the hands do what the hands gotta do! And when this colour scheme ended up on my workspace, I looked no further and went with the flow!


As you can see I chose a black & white photo of my son and I from our photo shoot TWO years ago - yikes! This photo already exists in his pocket style baby album (using Project Life Baby Boy Edition), but I often intersperse 12x12 layouts in there too.


The only thing I didn't use from the Canary November scrapbooking kit, Memorandum, was the Amy Tangerine '&' stamp, which I bought from the Canary shop a few months ago (they're all sold out now, sorry). I had previously been using mostly Stazon ink, but was recently recommended Archival, and have to say I have not been disappointed - I couldn't believe how crisp this stamp turned out!


If you look closely, you'll see some elements of the original December sketch. I have grossly enlarged the border by cutting down the blue and white stripe paper. I also kept two of the photo mats, although with just the one photo, they show more 'white' space than the sketch. Essentially I still have my 4 main squares (1 photo, 1 journaling card, and the two 6x6 papers), they're just not in the same format... (or is that just me trying to convince myself?!)



Either way, I absolutely adore the colour palette, and only wish I had more of these papers - I may have to pick myself up the extra November papers from the Scrappy Canary store.

As you can see, just because a sketch has certain elements to it, they are always just inspirational starting points. If you've always felt you can't work with them, perhaps it's time to try again, especially at this time of year. I find sketches and a kit, help me get so much further in a quicker amount of time. We'd love to see how you interpret the sketch also!

Till next time, and oozing with love and light,
Sandra xx

Hi Canaries!

I'm here with a layout I made using the November Scrapbook Kit: Memorandum.


I layered up several pieces of the beautiful patterned paper from the kit, before adding a few embellishments around the page. This layout came together nice and easily--which always happens when I'm using a Scrappy Canary Kit! The complimentary elements inside just work together so beautifully!

No big tricks on this layout, other than alternating the super cute skinny washi tape for the bottom and top layers, to ground the layout a bit--which I felt it needed given the dark title thickers and the darker sections of the photo. I used a bigger photo than normal for this layout--5" x 7" and I love how my daughters sweet face really takes up a big portion of the space.

I'll be back again soon--next time I'll be showing you some of the Document December kit and what my plans are for it!

See you then!

Linda x

On one of my crazy crafty weekends recently I made this with pieces from our current Memorandum Scrapbook Kit
 I've made a few slight changes to the sketch with placement of the top flags and title, and possibly an extra layer of pattern paper or 2 :)

Simple alphas from the kit mixed in with some old school favourites from my stash make up my title.
 A close up to show the distressed layers and my most favourite Doily!
Ive embellished lightly with stickers from the included sticker sheet and one of the awesome Amy Tangerine exclusive pieces..

Happy Monday canaries, it's Sandra with you today. I've been playing with my November Memorandum scrapbooking kit (of which there are still some available!). And as you will see, there's an abundance of journaling on this layout.

This is a photo of my Dad and myself at his 60th birthday. The tie dye shirt was a gift from a friend, and it was so perfect for for my effervescent dad. I had forgotten my DSLR camera that evening so I was stuck with my phone camera, which unfortunately doesn't produce great quality photos at night in dark restaurants. But I remind myself that any photo is better than no photo, and I really do treasure this photo, as I don't have too many of him.I brightened and cleaned it up a little bit in Lightroom, and cropped out some of the distracting background after I'd printed it.



I had written the journaling and chosen the title about a month ago, waiting, with the photo, for the right paper to come along. When I saw the reverse of the Elle's Studio Autumn paper (with the 6x6 patterns), it reminded me of a rainbow which was perfect. I didn't use the grey strip, and the only colour missing was orange, but thankfully the Creative Agenda paper was in the kit, and would show the journaling but not let it overpower the layout. Writing the journaling on the paper was the very first thing I did. There are mistakes, but I'm not one to worry about them (especially when it takes so long to re-do this amount of journaling!), so I just continued and cleaned it up as best I could as I went along.

I created a bit of a mini-layout within a layout, by backing the photo and rainbow paper strips with some of the other papers, and "filling the frame". The layout was already quite busy with colours and words, so I kept the embellishments simple. The Amy Tangerine acrylic speech bubble worked perfectly, as the journaling was my thoughts and words, which were very heartfelt. I also used some of the Thickers to create little accents to flow throughout the layout.


I finished it with the title and a couple of strips of the washi, to repeat the colour strips from the "rainbow". Simple black alphabet stickers are so versatile, making them some of my go-to products.


I am so happy I was finally able to scrap this photo and move it from the to-do pile into an album! If you're like me and often have journaling and a photo ready to go, why not make it your goal in the the next couple of weeks to do the same. Good luck!

Before I sign off, I want to remind everyone that the Scrappy Canary 2015 Design Team call is closing THIS Sunday. If it's something you're considering, please hurry to get your submissions through, as I know you will have so much fun on this team!

Love and light,
Sandra

Hello Canary fans!!