Scrapbooking sketches: to follow or to reinterpret?
supplies: everything except the pearls and the tags is from Sassfras – a mix of Sweetly Smitten, Paper Crush and Mix & Mend, plus those grey letter stickers which I love so much it’s crazy.
If I remember correctly, the first time I started drawing sketches for scrapbook pages was about a million eight or nine years ago when I worked on this ‘Use your Stash’ challenge for store customers. They were printed on index cards, so you could keep them in a recipe file, which was novel. And ‘Use your Stash’ seemed like a revolutionary phrase back then and now it’s more a mantra of the whole hobby. Funny how little things change!
But what hasn’t changed is how I work with a sketch. Way back then, I was a really linear scrapbooker. Straight lines. Barely any embellishment. I remember asking myself ‘would stitching on this layout be too much?’ when that was the only embellishment I planned on adding. Today, stitching would never be too much, even if I’d already added stickers and patterned paper and gems and so forth. So when I followed a sketch then, my page looked just like the sketch. Completely and totally – never, ever making a change.
I have a little secret to tell you about Kelly Purkey’s Sketchbook 3 class. I contributed a layout and when she gave me the sketch, I started making some changes. I was a little worried… her photos were angled, mine were straight. Her sketch had a grouping of papers in one spot; I had spread my grouping across the full page. I moved one of the page elements 90 degrees and added an extra area of embellishment. And although I liked the layout, I was really worried that when I sent the page to Kelly, she would think I had ignored too much of the sketch. But she said she liked the page and then I just waited to see how it would look with the other interpretations of that page. My face must have been a picture when I read her commentary: Shimelle stuck closely to the sketch… and to think I had been worried I had taken too much liberty!
So while some things change, others stay the same. If I follow a sketch, I just don’t go too far away from it. And this page follows that rule too: it started from this sketch challenge over at the Sassafras blog. That sketch caught my eye and made me wonder if a sketch that is quite square and streamlined could still work with lots of flowers and layers… and it gave me another chance to put the Foldies to use! (If you missed that last weekend, see this post for more info and a video.) The collection of blossoms below the title – with the big yellow flower – is a foldie accent; the floral pieces in the corners are cut from Sweetly Smitten patterned papers and layered with the matching stickers.
I think it’s just time I embrace that if I do follow a sketch, I’m really into the following part. And that’s okay, because the layout still looks like I made it… at least I think so! Curious though: do you really follow a sketch, just use it as a starting point then never look at it again or frankly can’t fathom starting a layout with a sketch at all? (If you do like a sketch, you can find all the weekly sketches from my blog here, in one place.)
I hope this week is treating you well. How did we get to Thursday already?
xlovesx
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12 May 2011, 07:53
Great post. I’ve been wondering about this as I’ve just started using sketches even though I’ve scrapbooked for many years. I follow the sketch closely at this point.
12 May 2011, 08:02
Reading your story I saw how I had developed – straight sketch and nothing extra added (not even patterned paper) With the help of one of your classes I learned to use my stash and pages became more adventureous. Then to top it off I now scrap mainly 12*6 and as sketches are generally 12*12 I have had to learn to adapt it to what can fit on my page. But my scrapping still starts from a sketch
12 May 2011, 08:14
I like sketches and do tend to follow them more closely. I took Kelly’s class and was surprised at how differently the results were and how far the contributors including Kelly wandered away from it. I think that is not my tendency, at least not yet, but I am MUCH more flexible with them than I was even a year ago so who knows what might happen next!
12 May 2011, 08:15
I use sketches quite often, but my pages don’t necessarily look anything like the sketch when I’ve finished. I do look at the sketch a few times when I’m creating, and I think you can still see the bones of it in the finished page, but I like interpreting it my own way because then I know it’s an original! x
12 May 2011, 08:29
Love your ‘sketchy’ post and adorable LO Shimelle ;)
I love playing with sketches for my card making – and stick to them fairly closely. Haven’t got so far as using one for my pages (yet!) but I’m sure it will be fun. TFS, hugs, Ruth S
12 May 2011, 09:56
Love the soft colors and your take on the sketch. I think I like it better than the sketch =)
12 May 2011, 10:28
I’ve really enjoyed your sketches {here and your 4×6} class. I stick super close to a sketch — I don’t know, I think it’s because I feel like if I’m using a sketch, I need to USE the sketch! :) But I have tried to play abit more lately.
12 May 2011, 10:46
I love sketches – but often don’t stick too closely to the sketch (even if I’ve drawn it myself!). Thanks for the weekly sketches – I love all the ideas:)
12 May 2011, 11:07
I go both ways with sketches. Sometimes I follow them faithfully and other times I just use it as a jumping off point for product/picture placement.
12 May 2011, 14:05
I LOVE sketches…. I always feel “save” when I can use them. But I don’t stick to them every time. Sometimes they are just a bit of inspiration to start my own thing off, and sometimes I go completely with the sketch. They are always good when your mojo isn’t that kind to you ;-) I mostly do 12×12 so I’m looking just for those.
12 May 2011, 14:08
I love sketches…use your 4 × 6 ones a lot. I like to use the same sketch for multiple layouts. Usually the first one I follow fairly closely, then the following ones I reinterpret. I tend to fall in love with the way a sketch is laid out. I tend to keep choosing the same small set of them.
12 May 2011, 14:49
I follow the sketch
12 May 2011, 15:54
I’m just starting to use sketches, I follow it to apoint and then add my ‘extras’ Lol :)
12 May 2011, 15:54
I usually stick REALLY close to the sketches I use. To the point of measuring the picture of the sketch and trying to figure out the proportions! I’m a linear scrapper, too, so I LOVE your sketches, Shimelle! In fact, I have a LO posted on my blog that I just finished using one of yours…look and see how close it is!! LOL!
http://atticscrapper.blogspot.com
12 May 2011, 17:50
I think I’m getting sketch overload. I’m sure I’ve seen that sketch somewhere else recently and it wasn’t at Sassafrass.
I love sketches – I can finish a LO more quickly if I don’t have to work out where to put everything. I generally stick to a sketch pretty rigidly the first time I use it and then, if I like it, it somehow slips into my repertoire and I repeat it without thinking. I’ve done a couple of LOs recently and when they were finished I’ve thought ‘I’m sure that was a Shimelle sketch’.
12 May 2011, 18:45
I interpret sketches when I use them – I’ll rotate them, flip them, replace papers for pictures and vice versa but keep the general feel of the original. They are a great way to power scrap and invaluable when on crops or retreats. Love your page Shimelle – it’s so soft and pretty.
12 May 2011, 18:57
I used to find sketches really intimidationg because I would try and replicate them exactly, even when they were not really ‘my thing’, I gave up for a while and then picked them up in the form of digital templates – can’t misinterpret those! As I became a bit braver I started to change things around a lot more and now when I see a sketch I also see the possibilities to make it work for me – I know – I’m a bit slow to the party! ;-) Anyway, you can see what I mean by my page for last weeks take on your sketch, not really like yours at all but it certainly was inspired by your elements!
12 May 2011, 20:29
I have a hard time straying from a sketch I am using! I typically use it for a jumping off point these days though…so I guess just like creating it’s always evolving!
13 May 2011, 03:34
I always use a sketch when I scrap. I do tend to keep pretty much to the sketch, but I have been known to flip or rotate a sketch to make it fit the photos I have, and I always find space for journalling whether it is on the sketch or not.
13 May 2011, 07:24
I’m a sketch lover and love the idea of having them on index cards. Sometimes I follow them quite closely, sometimes I use them as a starting point and quite depend on them when my mojo is waning. Thanks for the link to all of your sketches btw.
13 May 2011, 08:06
I only recently ‘found’ sketches at all, but I love them already! I think I follow them pretty closely – not rigidly, but I think you could put my page next to the original sketch and see a strong resemblance! I’m getting more experimental as I go along though, so who knows how that might develop? :)
13 May 2011, 18:00
I love sketches (and it’s a pain not being able to use them for certain pages at the moment) but for me they are a starting point only and I always look at them to see if a flip or a rotate would work better before I start. Then once I’ve got going I change a little bit here and a little bit there … until you can’t always see a resemblance at all!
13 May 2011, 19:00
This is totally gorgeous, Shimelle! I’ve only done one page from a sketch so far (I’m fairly new to traditional scrapping), but I’ll be honest, though it started out as pretty much a following of the sketch, it progressed into something fairly different. And I loved it. :)
14 May 2011, 04:20
I find sketches very difficult.I belong to a crop all of whom folow a sketch right own to to he last ebellishment – that’s way too restrictive. I like to use them as initial inspiration and then put them away.
14 May 2011, 20:34
I love sketches!….I reckon I still follow them pretty closely though will rotate or move things about a little bit- it’s not often that you can’t ‘see’ the sketch though!