Becky Fleck Sketch Challenge #5

We're having a ton of fun with the weekly sketch challenges!  The layouts have been great and we LOVE giving away A Cherry On Top Bonus Points!  


Here is this week's inspirational sketch from Becky Fleck of Pagemaps:

You have until Tuesday, April 24th to submit your layout to the Becky Fleck Sketch Challenge #5 Gallery.  A random winner will receive 500 Bonus Points and instant notoriety! Woohoo!

See ACherryOnTop.com for complete details!  We can't wait to see what you do with this sketch!

Weekly Sketch Challenge With Becky Fleck

We all need a little inspiration here and there!  Join us each Monday as we announce a new Sketch of the Week from Becky Fleck of PageMaps.  Enter for your chance to win ACOT Bonus Points!

Week 1 - Sketch Challenge:

We'd love to see what you can do with this sketch!  Post your finished layout on our Becky Fleck Sketch Challenge #1 Topic on our Message Board or in the Becky Fleck Sketch Challenge #1 Gallery.  Random winner to be selected and awarded 500 ACOT Bonus Points!  Act fast!  You have until Tuesday, March 20, 2012 to post your project. 
 

Becky Fleck, founder of PageMaps.com, created a free resource seven years ago, providing distinct, original sketches that help papercrafters spend less time planning their pages and cards and more time scrapping them.


Becky is the editor of Scrapbook & Cards Today, Canada’s premiere papercrafting magazine. Another free resource (downloadable via pdf), you can find many more of Becky’s sketches in this quarterly publication. Visit PageMaps and Scrapbook & Cards Today for loads of inspiration!

   

Don't forget to visit our Contests & Challenges forum on our Message Board for even more inspiration!

See Sketch Challenge Terms & Conditions or View and Submit Challenge Entries

Free Weekly Sketch Challenges With Becky Fleck!

Come Join The Fun - Beginning March 12th

A Cherry On Top is excited to be working in conjunction with Becky Fleck and PageMaps to bring you exclusive sketch challenges beginning March 12th on our crafty Message Board!  Stay tuned for more details!

Pagemaps is a free resource providing inspiration to scrapbookers and card makers all over the world.

Becky Fleck founded this free resource seven years ago, creating distinct, original sketches that help papercrafters spend less time planning their pages and cards and more time scrapping them.


With the recent addition of Spellbinders-PageMaps dies, scrapbookers and cardmakers can recreate many of the design elements found on the monthly sketches, including journaling spots, embellishments and trims.


Becky is the editor of Scrapbook & Cards Today, Canada’s premiere papercrafting magazine. Another free resource (downloadable via pdf), you can find many more of Becky’s sketches in this quarterly publication. Visit PageMaps and Scrapbook & Cards Today for loads of inspiration!

Don't forget to visit our Contests & Challenges forum on our Message Board for even more inspiration!

February 2012 Paper Crafting & Scrapbooking Challenges

Posted by megamay

So how are those new year's resolutions coming? Are you scrapping up a storm to meet your goals? If not, here is some incentive: all the new products from CHA will be arriving in the store soon. So, get scrapping and use up some of your stash to make room for all the fun new products! Here are some inspiring challenges to help you do just that!

Remember:

- only one LO per challenge will enter you into the points drawing

- LOs cannot be entered into more than one challenge category

- *please* only enter LOs that meet the specific challenge instructions  

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Ad Inspiration Challenge by MamaK321 (Kristianne)
(paper, digital, or hybrid challenge)

All About Me Challenge by milmomma (Brittney)

(paper, digital, or hybrid challenge)

This months AAM Challenge is all about a typical day. Tell us your favorite part, or tell me what your usually day is, or whatever you want to tell me about your day. I chose to give a photo story of my typical Tuesday with a touch of journaling telling about my favorite part.

Trends and Techniques Challenge by Megamay (Meg)
(paper, digital, or hybrid challenge)
Chevron (or zig zag) is everywhere these days. So this month I challenge you to use some chevron on your layout. You can use paper that has chevron on it, or create your own. Ive seen a couple different tutorials on how to create chevrons. Here is one from Jess Mutty showing you how to make your own chevron pattern using triangles. http://scrapgoo.blogspot.com/2011/12/fresh-air.html
and here is my example. I used some amy tangerine paper that was preprinted with chevrons.


You can view all of the fantastic challenges by checking out the February Challenges post in our Idea Center!

How To Create Four Layouts From One Sketch

Posted by SarahA

Sketches can be a scrapbooker's best tool when it comes to getting layouts done when you're short on time. They can give your creativity a jump start and encourage you to try design ideas you may not have thought of before. 


Sometimes though, searching for just the right sketch that speaks to you can be difficult. Sometimes you may find a sketch you love, but you don't want to use it more than once so you don't have layouts that all look the same in your albums. 


I'd like to show you how you can stretch just one sketch into four very different layouts.


I started with this sketch from PageMaps that I really liked for several reasons. I really liked the 3 patterned paper pieces, the stitching and the little cluster in the bottom corner.

Holiday Greetings
The first layout I did was a pretty close to exact interpretation of the sketch. I kept all the design elements in place. The main difference is changing the presents out for snowflakes on my layout. I even used the same photo dimensions given on the sketch. I really liked the October Afternoon Holiday Style line- it went perfectly with my photos and were bright, happy Christmas colors.

Before & After
 A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend and she mentioned looking for a sketch, but not having the right size photos listed. When using a sketch, there are no rules! On this layout, I followed the sketch pretty closely for the design, but used 2  4x6 photos instead of the 3 smaller photos on the sketch. 


I also placed the title differently and added some journaling around the edges. You can see the basic sketch in my layout, but I've made a few changes to suit the photos I had. The My Mind's Eye Kraft Fun Day line has a lot of great, trendy designs. I especially liked the number paper for this layout about the first day of school. I used my white pen to give the kraft pieces a little dimension.

Family of Four
I've really been into doing 8.5x11" pages lately. I am able to easily include them in my D-ring albums amongst my 12x12 layouts. Actually, the first 8.5x11 I tried was earlier this year using a sketch! I would say the majority of sketches are 12x12, but that doesn't mean you can't use them to create a different sized page. 


You can always scale it down if you're doing an 8x8, a mini album, or an 8.5x11 like I did here. I shrunk the size of the paper pieces and used one large photo. I kept the title placement, cluster at the bottom of the page and at the bottom  of the right-hand strip of paper.  


The Sidewalks line from October Afternoon was just perfect for this photo of a newborn baby and happy family! You can't beat October Afternoon's vintage whimisical style when scrapping a baby!

 
Two Months
This layout deviates the most from the sketch, but you can still see how they are related. The 3 patterned paper pieces were my favorite part of the sketch- I really love the uneven number design principle! I had an 8x12 photo I had been wanting to scrap, and decided now was the time! 


 I cut three 4x4 squares and used zig-zag stitching to adhere them to the bottom of the layout. I placed the photo at the top. The sketch had stitching around the title, so I stitched my title alphas to the layout. A few stickers under the title reflect the "date" clusters from the sketch. 


So, you can see that there were elements of the sketch that I used in this layout, yet the layout doesn't resemble the sketch much at all.

You can see how if you have one sketch you really love, you can make several layouts from it without feeling like you'll have four of the same layout in your album. Just by using different size or number of photos, rotating the sketch, or by just pulling several elements from the sketch that you really like will let you stretch your favorite sketches further!  Even when they're all lined up together, you still see 4 distinct layouts.




Products used in this reveal:

January 2012 Paper Crafting & Scrapbooking Challenges

Can you believe we're already almost a week into the New Year!  We hope Be sure to check out this month's Creative Challenges featuring traditional paper crafting, digi and hybrid projects!
  
Remember:

- only one LO per challenge will enter you into the points drawing

- LOs cannot be entered into more than one challenge category

- *please* only enter LOs that meet the specific challenge instructions

December 2011 Paper Crafting & Scrapbooking Challenges

Be sure to check out this month's Creative Challenges featuring traditional paper crafting, digi and hybrid projects!
  
Remember:

- only one LO per challenge will enter you into the points drawing

- LOs cannot be entered into more than one challenge category

- *please* only enter LOs that meet the specific challenge instructions