January SKETCH challenge (2025)

[Cassel]

 

Learning scrapbooking is often done with practice, looking around for inspiration, and trying to recreate projects we admire. Sometimes, we can be inspired by finished projects, but sometimes, we also have to use our imagination to interpret something.

This challenge will allow you to envision something from a “boring” base, and you will have to imagine the end result differently. The sketch is only a written idea, and you can fly with it, modify it, and customize it to fit your vision, your photos, and your supplies.

And if you want more information on using sketches, check out this article.

Post your project in the gallery.

[Sue Thomas]

Here is my take on the sketch challenge. I decided to  combine the four photo slots to make 2, and  the main photo slot I changed to an ellipse, to accommodate the photos I wanted to use.  From there I went with the flow, as one would say. Once again all my own work, with the exception of the bow, and Carole's   punches.  

I like to use the word no one, rather than nobody, beside it being more English,  it is a  more formal word  for a layout.  In my opinion anyway.  

Edited January 26 by Sue Thomas

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/26/2025 at 9:41 AM, Sue Thomas said:

Here is my take on the sketch challenge. I decided to  combine the four photo slots to make 2, and  the main photo slot I changed to an ellipse, to accommodate the photos I wanted to use.  From there I went with the flow, as one would say. Once again all my own work, with the exception of the bow, and Carole's   punches.  

I like to use the word no one, rather than nobody, beside it being more English,  it is a  more formal word  for a layout.  In my opinion anyway.  

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Simple and very lovely with those colors that instantly give a winter vibe. I mix English and US English as you once pointed out, but here I would have gone for no one too. I feels better and don't ask me why. How to express something is often more a feeling then an exact knowledge, at least in my opinion. Have a good flight back to your snow, cold and sunny Canadian home.

[Sue Thomas]

  On 1/26/2025 at 4:20 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

Simple and very lovely with those colors that instantly give a winter vibe. I mix English and US English as you once pointed out, but here I would have gone for no one too. I feels better and don't ask me why. How to express something is often more a feeling then an exact knowledge, at least in my opinion. Have a good flight back to your snow, cold and sunny Canadian home.

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I actually remember pointing that out to you. I'm  pleasantly  surprised  you remembered it too. I agree, going with one's  feelings are usually the right ones. 

This past week, we have had torrential rain with high winds. Wales like Ireland  was badly hit by the Eowyn storm.   I'm much obliged, and hopefully I'll have a good, uneventful  trip back. Quite looking forward to the cold, crisp weather with clear skies.  I've  missed not being able to get out to look up to star and planet gaze. 

[Susan Ewart]

  On 1/26/2025 at 9:41 AM, Sue Thomas said:

Here is my take on the sketch challenge. I decided to  combine the four photo slots to make 2, and  the main photo slot I changed to an ellipse, to accommodate the photos I wanted to use.  From there I went with the flow, as one would say. Once again all my own work, with the exception of the bow, and Carole's   punches.  

I like to use the word no one, rather than nobody, beside it being more English,  it is a  more formal word  for a layout.  In my opinion anyway.  

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I agree with "no one" sounds better.  Beautiful churches.  I could live in that house, it's sweet.  My co-worker and I always stop on our way into work (from the parking lot) to look at the tracks left by the critters (winged or 4-footed).  After the pigeons have left my yard the tracks in the snow are so chaotic looking that I wonder if their minds are as chaotic as their footprints seem to be.  Love the tag shape and the bar code on the bottom.  Always nice nice little touches to discover in your layouts.  Safe travels.  

[Sue Thomas]

  On 1/26/2025 at 5:20 PM, Susan Ewart said:

I agree with "no one" sounds better.  Beautiful churches.  I could live in that house, it's sweet.  My co-worker and I always stop on our way into work (from the parking lot) to look at the tracks left by the critters (winged or 4-footed).  After the pigeons have left my yard the tracks in the snow are so chaotic looking that I wonder if their minds are as chaotic as their footprints seem to be.  Love the tag shape and the bar code on the bottom.  Always nice nice little touches to discover in your layouts.  Safe travels.  

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Haha, did  you notice the white tailed  hare's prints at the bottom of the top right photo?   The snow reveals a great deal about the activities of wildlife, long after they have left. Especially night activities.  The tag was one of the many I created a while back after watching one of the vector  masterclasses, the same goes for the bar code.

I leave tomorrow at 3pm, arriving in Saskatoon at 9pm on the same day.

[Michele]

  On 1/26/2025 at 9:41 AM, Sue Thomas said:

Here is my take on the sketch challenge. I decided to  combine the four photo slots to make 2, and  the main photo slot I changed to an ellipse, to accommodate the photos I wanted to use.  From there I went with the flow, as one would say. Once again all my own work, with the exception of the bow, and Carole's   punches.  

I like to use the word no one, rather than nobody, beside it being more English,  it is a  more formal word  for a layout.  In my opinion anyway.  

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I love the quote on your tag. It brings to mind a trip my family made when I was a child living in Brooklyn, NY. We went to a dude ranch in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania even though it was snowing heavily. I think my father gave in and didn't cancel because we were all whining and crying. Anyway, we were the first group out on the trail in the morning. All we could hear was the crunching of the snow under the horses' hooves. It was probably the most ethereal feeling I've ever had.

[Sue Thomas]

  On 1/27/2025 at 11:35 AM, Michele said:

I love the quote on your tag. It brings to mind a trip my family made when I was a child living in Brooklyn, NY. We went to a dude ranch in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania even though it was snowing heavily. I think my father gave in and didn't cancel because we were all whining and crying. Anyway, we were the first group out on the trail in the morning. All we could hear was the crunching of the snow under the horses' hooves. It was probably the most ethereal feeling I've ever had.

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Experiencing feelings like that are priceless. They will stay with you for the rest of your life. It doesn't take much to trigger such memories either. I'm  thrilled to hear you've  had such an experience. 

The words aren't a quote, but my own. Expressing how I felt during the moments leading up to  and after taking those images. My memories are my treasure.

Edited January 27 by Sue Thomas

[Susan Ewart]

  On 1/27/2025 at 6:18 AM, Sue Thomas said:

Haha, did  you notice the white tailed  hare's prints at the bottom of the top right photo?   The snow reveals a great deal about the activities of wildlife, long after they have left. Especially night activities.  The tag was one of the many I created a while back after watching one of the vector  masterclasses, the same goes for the bar code.

I leave tomorrow at 3pm, arriving in Saskatoon at 9pm on the same day.

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Once I read the tag I looked for prints and found them.  Welcome home...later today.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/27/2025 at 6:18 AM, Sue Thomas said:

Haha, did  you notice the white tailed  hare's prints at the bottom of the top right photo?   The snow reveals a great deal about the activities of wildlife, long after they have left. Especially night activities.  The tag was one of the many I created a while back after watching one of the vector  masterclasses, the same goes for the bar code.

I leave tomorrow at 3pm, arriving in Saskatoon at 9pm on the same day.

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It still is a strange feeling when I fly to San Francisco to visit my family and leave Schiphol, our national airport, at around 3 pm and arrive at SFO at 5 pm the same day after a flight of almost 11 hours.

[Rene Marker]

I actually did a layout for this challenge for once! I used Affinity to do it. I did change the 4 photos to 5 on the right side since I couldn't decide which one to leave out. The kit is a long retired kit I got in 2011.

I wanted to try a few more features in the program. For the 5 photos, I put them all on the canvas and grouped them. I could then resize them all at the same time since they were all the same size in the beginning. I was able to then move them into their spots while still in the group and tweaked the resizing. I also used the Align Left feature to make sure they were aligned.

I also tried making a selection around the large photo and was able to expand the selection using "Grow/Shrink" in the Selection menu to make a mat for the photo. Did the same around the 5 photos on the right for that mat.

The title is an alpha from the kit so after dropping them on to the canvas, I grouped them then resized, moved them to their right placement and aligned them using the Align Bottom feature.

I left the title and the photos in their groups and added the drop shadows to them as a group.

I also played around with the drop shadows since I'm trying to find the settings I need to match what I do within PSP. I do love how easy it is to adjust them in Affinity.

[Sue Thomas]

  On 1/27/2025 at 4:45 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

It still is a strange feeling when I fly to San Francisco to visit my family and leave Schiphol, our national airport, at around 3 pm and arrive at SFO at 5 pm the same day after a flight of almost 11 hours.

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I can totally relate  to that. 

[Cassel]

  On 1/27/2025 at 4:45 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

It still is a strange feeling when I fly to San Francisco to visit my family and leave Schiphol, our national airport, at around 3 pm and arrive at SFO at 5 pm the same day after a flight of almost 11 hours.

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A long long time ago, my boyfriend was going for an archery competition. He had to fly from Montreal to Edmonton (I think) and due to the time zones, he was to arrive at the same "time" he was leaving Montreal. So yes, when flying west, it feels like a time warp!

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/28/2025 at 3:24 PM, Cassel said:

A long long time ago, my boyfriend was going for an archery competition. He had to fly from Montreal to Edmonton (I think) and due to the time zones, he was to arrive at the same "time" he was leaving Montreal. So yes, when flying west, it feels like a time warp!

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I know! When we fly from Amsterdam to London we have the same experience, but the returnflight takes 2 hours!

[Corrie Kinkel]

Like Rene I made my layout in Affinity. In PSP most of the more simple functions are almost automatic actions now and of course that isn't the case for Affinity yet. Doing things over and over again will make me more comfortable with this new program. I used 5 photos which I took last Sunday on one of my usual walks and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there already were signs of spring. I even heard some birdsong as well. I used my artsy paper for a background and arranged my photos slightly overlapping each other on a strip of colored paper for which I managed to get a reverse shadow + a normal one. For the fifth and bigger photo I used a jpg mask. The mask was placed above the photo and then I chose "Mask Below", how to do that was in one of the LilyPad tutorials. Made a frame with a small bevel and some noise. I used 2 different brushes, one with the house by aA and one with the small birds, hopefully it is visible in this resized version. Title font is Golden Radiant with a bevel and drop shadow. The font for the quote is Avelyn and for the embellishment on top and below I used cass-Decorative Stitches with a very small bevel and drop shadow. In making this there was a lot of trial and error involved to get what I had in mind, but Affinity makes a lot of actions very easy, for instance I wanted to change the color of the title, but I had already beveled and shadowed it. No problem I changed the color and it kept the bevel and shadow, with resizing it is the same and I like the many options for the blend modes too. I'm going to make the most of this 90 days trial that's for sure!

[Julie Magerka]

  On 1/28/2025 at 9:57 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

Like Rene I made my layout in Affinity. In PSP most of the more simple functions are almost automatic actions now and of course that isn't the case for Affinity yet. Doing things over and over again will make me more comfortable with this new program. I used 5 photos which I took last Sunday on one of my usual walks and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there already were signs of spring. I even heard some birdsong as well. I used my artsy paper for a background and arranged my photos slightly overlapping each other on a strip of colored paper for which I managed to get a reverse shadow + a normal one. For the fifth and bigger photo I used a jpg mask. The mask was placed above the photo and then I chose "Mask Below", how to do that was in one of the LilyPad tutorials. Made a frame with a small bevel and some noise. I used 2 different brushes, one with the house by aA and one with the small birds, hopefully it is visible in this resized version. Title font is Golden Radiant with a bevel and drop shadow. The font for the quote is Avelyn and for the embellishment on top and below I used cass-Decorative Stitches with a very small bevel and drop shadow. In making this there was a lot of trial and error involved to get what I had in mind, but Affinity makes a lot of actions very easy, for instance I wanted to change the color of the title, but I had already beveled and shadowed it. No problem I changed the color and it kept the bevel and shadow, with resizing it is the same and I like the many options for the blend modes too. I'm going to make the most of this 90 days trial that's for sure!

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You have no idea how envious I am that you are seeing signs of spring! It'll be many long weeks before that happens here! This is a fabulous layout with some very interesting techniques and elements. It has a hopeful, positive feeling to it.

I also saw the "Mask to Below" command with the right-click in AFF. I was greatly relieved to find it.

Edited January 28 by Julie Magerka

[Sue Thomas]

  On 1/28/2025 at 9:57 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

Like Rene I made my layout in Affinity. In PSP most of the more simple functions are almost automatic actions now and of course that isn't the case for Affinity yet. Doing things over and over again will make me more comfortable with this new program. I used 5 photos which I took last Sunday on one of my usual walks and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there already were signs of spring. I even heard some birdsong as well. I used my artsy paper for a background and arranged my photos slightly overlapping each other on a strip of colored paper for which I managed to get a reverse shadow + a normal one. For the fifth and bigger photo I used a jpg mask. The mask was placed above the photo and then I chose "Mask Below", how to do that was in one of the LilyPad tutorials. Made a frame with a small bevel and some noise. I used 2 different brushes, one with the house by aA and one with the small birds, hopefully it is visible in this resized version. Title font is Golden Radiant with a bevel and drop shadow. The font for the quote is Avelyn and for the embellishment on top and below I used cass-Decorative Stitches with a very small bevel and drop shadow. In making this there was a lot of trial and error involved to get what I had in mind, but Affinity makes a lot of actions very easy, for instance I wanted to change the color of the title, but I had already beveled and shadowed it. No problem I changed the color and it kept the bevel and shadow, with resizing it is the same and I like the many options for the blend modes too. I'm going to make the most of this 90 days trial that's for sure!

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Beautifully done Corrie. I do like the positioning of the 4 photos, also the background paper. There isn't  anything not to like about it. 

Same in Cornwall  and West Wales, the crocus and snowdrops are about to bloom into an explosion  of colour.  The daffs are about a week away from flowering. Varfell Farms Ltd, Penzance  Cornwall are the largest producers of Daffs in the world.  They have been picking for a few weeks  for export.

Edited January 28 by Sue Thomas

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/28/2025 at 10:29 PM, Sue Thomas said:

Beautifully done Corrie. I do like the positioning of the 4 photos, also the background paper. There isn't  anything not to like about it. 

Same in Cornwall  and West Wales, the crocus and snowdrops are about to bloom into an explosion  of colour.  The daffs are about a week away from flowering. A short distance down the road from St Ives, Cornwall  are the largest  producers  of Daffs in the world. FLaval Farms.  They are already picking for export.

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Sue thank you so much, this means a lot to me now I'm trying to learn/explore this new program that I never had heard off before Carole mentioned it. Having said that, I of course can apply all the things I have learned being in this forum/campus and seeing the work of others like yourself that gives a lot of inspiration. After the bootcamp that introduced us to the basics it is good fun to try to figure out things that I want to use.

But aren't you on the plane already?

[Sue Thomas]

  On 1/28/2025 at 10:38 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

Sue thank you so much, this means a lot to me now I'm trying to learn/explore this new program that I never had heard off before Carole mentioned it. Having said that, I of course can apply all the things I have learned being in this forum/campus and seeing the work of others like yourself that gives a lot of inspiration. After the bootcamp that introduced us to the basics it is good fun to try to figure out things that I want to use.

But aren't you on the plane already?

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No. I  fly out of Heathrow  at 3pm on the 29th, which is tomorrow. Landing in Saskatoon at 9pm on the 29th.

I will participate  in the next Affinity bootcamp. I hadn't  heard of the software  either.  

[Susan Ewart]

  On 1/28/2025 at 9:57 PM, Corrie Kinkel said:

Like Rene I made my layout in Affinity. In PSP most of the more simple functions are almost automatic actions now and of course that isn't the case for Affinity yet. Doing things over and over again will make me more comfortable with this new program. I used 5 photos which I took last Sunday on one of my usual walks and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that there already were signs of spring. I even heard some birdsong as well. I used my artsy paper for a background and arranged my photos slightly overlapping each other on a strip of colored paper for which I managed to get a reverse shadow + a normal one. For the fifth and bigger photo I used a jpg mask. The mask was placed above the photo and then I chose "Mask Below", how to do that was in one of the LilyPad tutorials. Made a frame with a small bevel and some noise. I used 2 different brushes, one with the house by aA and one with the small birds, hopefully it is visible in this resized version. Title font is Golden Radiant with a bevel and drop shadow. The font for the quote is Avelyn and for the embellishment on top and below I used cass-Decorative Stitches with a very small bevel and drop shadow. In making this there was a lot of trial and error involved to get what I had in mind, but Affinity makes a lot of actions very easy, for instance I wanted to change the color of the title, but I had already beveled and shadowed it. No problem I changed the color and it kept the bevel and shadow, with resizing it is the same and I like the many options for the blend modes too. I'm going to make the most of this 90 days trial that's for sure!

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Wow Corrie, that's beautiful.  I enjoyed reading about your Affinity experiences and how you are learning it.  That's a nice feature to be able to change color on an already beveled Text.  

[Mary Solaas]

The sketch is so like one I did for a lab module recently, so I am going to post it here also. Lab 13 Mod 6.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/29/2025 at 12:21 AM, Sue Thomas said:

No. I  fly out of Heathrow  at 3pm on the 29th, which is tomorrow. Landing in Saskatoon at 9pm on the 29th.

I will participate  in the next Affinity bootcamp. I hadn't  heard of the software  either.  

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It was a fun experience and I really enjoyed it. I think I was/am up for a new challenge and hope you will give it a try too. Welcome back in Canada and see you soon after you have overcome the jetlag.

[Corrie Kinkel]

  On 1/29/2025 at 4:55 PM, Mary Solaas said:

The sketch is so like one I did for a lab module recently, so I am going to post it here also. Lab 13 Mod 6.

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I remember seeing it, but recycle is a good thing isn't it. Especially when it is such a lovely layout! 

[Donna Sillia]

Photos are from my daughter when she and her were husband were hiking in the mountains surrounding Las Vegas. The background is one of my desert photos; the border is a photo of some stones that I took and recolored to match the background. The film strips are from Adobe Express, and the font is Asteru from CF. I used the cass script dimension 2 on the font. The stone in back of the saying is also a photo of a stone when I was walking in the desert.

[Bonnie Ballentine]

Went to a Renaissance Festival and look who got all the attention!