My Creative Scrapbook Sketch Challenge

Do you love sketches? I do - they are a perfect jumping off point for creativity. My Creative Scrapbook has a new sketch challenge up over at My Creative Sketches, and I played along using the January Limited Edition kit.

Here is the sketch:

I had a lot of fun on the background for this layout, so much so that I used a lot of the same techniques when putting together my tutorial layout this month.

I started by doodling through the Crafter's Workshop stencil with watercolour pencils, then used some gold mist as the liquid to blend them in (you can see the sparkle on the rings in the photo above). To give my stencilling crisper edges, I traced loosely around it with a black journaling pencil. This helps the stencilling to not look like an amorphous blob in the background and helps to tie it in with the stamped stitched circles I added next.

I outlined my banner pieces with a gold leafing pen, which helped give them definition but also integrated them with the background paper because of the shimmer. I trimmed some of the chipboard pieces from the kit, and layered those under the banners and also at the sides of the layout to ground the clusters I wanted to build there.

I then splattered the background with first orange mist and then the blue mist included in the kit, coating the still-wet droplets with clear embossing enamel and heat setting it before adding the next colour. I love the dimension the embossing enamel adds; instead of the drops looking two dimensional and getting lost in the background, they look like wet droplets.

Be sure to check out the My Creative Sketches blog for more inspiration. The challenge runs through February 14th, and there is a gorgeous prize up for grabs for one lucky participant. And if you haven't already, be sure to check out the My Creative Scrapbook store to see all four beautiful January kits.