This month’s sketch offers endless possibilities for creating a beautiful scrapbook layout, whether you’re capturing a seasonal moment or branching out into other themes. While the festive ornaments lend themselves to a holiday memory, you can easily adapt the design for non-seasonal purposes, as you will see from our design team. Let’s take a look at our inspiration sketch for January. As always, it has been designed by our very talented team member, Misty Murphy.
Alternate Ways To Use A Sketch
Let’s delve into some other ways to use this versatile sketch:
- Celebrations: Replace the ornaments with balloons, stars, or confetti to create a birthday or graduation layout.
- Travel: Use the decorative areas to incorporate travel icons, such as globes, suitcases, or maps.
- Everyday Moments: Highlight a cozy weekend at home, hobbies, or family moments by swapping the ornaments for elements like coffee mugs, books, or plants.
- Kids and Milestones: Transform the design into a playful layout with toys, building blocks, or whimsical shapes.
A sketch is a blank canvas for your creativity, allowing you to tell any story you wish
Let’s take a look at how I and other team members used this sketch to tell our stories.
Let’s talk about how I used the sketch. I kept the basic structure with a central focus on the photo and decorative elements surrounding it. Although, the sketch called for 2 photos, I used one 5×7 photo, which creates a bold focal point.
I replaced the ornaments with layered floral clusters, These flowers, along with the leaves and branches are positioned similarly to the ornaments, framing the layout.
I moved the title from the top to below the photo, placing it on a tag, which adds emphasis while staying connected to the original design.
Since I didn’t have a lot of journaling I used a small tag below the title which reflects the circular journaling spot in the sketch, but in a way that fits my design.
I added layers because, well. I love layering, and it’s also similar to the border frames in the sketch.
I hope this has encouraged you to think outside the box when utilizing a sketch. Here are a few closeups, then we’ll take a look at a couple more layouts using the sketch as inspiration.
First up is Misty. Here’s what she had to say about her interpretation of the sketch.
“To change up the sketch, I rotated it 180 degrees. Now I have objects that are moving upward. That reminded me of fireworks and thus the layout was born. A few other changes such as making my photos and central block smaller, and moving my title so I could fit something longer all stemmed from the initial rotation and theme change.”
Next up is Lyndsy.
Although inspired by the original design, I wanted to add my own touch of creativity! I started by rotating the sketch 90 degrees counterclockwise, giving the layout a fresh perspective. I swapped out the ornaments for bold florals and shimmering disco balls to add a dash of glam, setting the perfect tone for a celebratory vibe.
While the sketch hinted at a clean and straightforward design, I opted for layered embellishments and textures to make it pop. The gold accents and champagne glasses bring a festive, “cheers-worthy” sparkle to the page.
A closer look reveals other fun departures from the original. Although the sketch features two landscape photographs, I opted to include three pictures. Additionally, instead of the scalloped edge, I framed the photos with layered mats (and popped up the landscape 4×6) to create depth.
Final Thought
These layouts are perfect examples of how a sketch can serve as a creative blueprint, inspiring a personalized design while maintaining its foundational elements. By adapting thoughtful modifications, like replacing the ornaments with floral clusters, fireworks, or shimmering disco balls, using a single large photo or several smaller photos, and repositioning the title and journaling-the layout captures the essence of the sketch and the unique story that is to be told.
Now, it’s your turn. We would love to see your interpretation of this months’ sketch. If you do, please share it with us here.
Until next time, go make something pretty!