Mid Week Sketch 05-13

Well, it's been quite a week since I was last here. Wild weather in Queensland, flooding and wild winds, damage all over the place, services affected, people killed, our wonderful rescue teams out and about in it all doing their stuff and keeping us safe. And to top it off, my husband was taken ill and had to be whisked off to hospital by ambulance from the side of the road... all very dramatic and worrisome, but he is well again now and safe. He can't get into work yet because there is still no power there, but at least school has gone back so that is one bored person out of the house and doing something constructive.

No scrapping here unfortunately, but look out this weekend! I have booked myself some ME time, come hell or high water, and I plan on sticking to it. I haven't scrapped all year, and I'm getting twitchy, lol! I have, however, still managed to do this week's sketch for you. Maybe I will even get to it myself soon ;-) It's a great one for boys, but with a different set of embellishments you could make it anything you want. Hope you like the little bit of stitching.

And here is the 6 inch kids version - I hope the little people out there are enjoying their own sketches and that they are just right for you. Please feel free to leave me some feedback on them and let me know if they are working for you.

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 04-13

Can you believe we are up to week four already this year? Well, four Wednesdays anyway. Don't anyone blink! I have only managed two scrappy things this year, and it wasn't pages, but a bunting flag decoration for my scrap room and an off the page project using a Kaiser recipe book that I was given for Christmas by a scrappy friend. I decorated it up to keep my sketches in - still recipes really, just different ones :-)

Speaking of sketches, this week's one is a cheery one, full of fun and movement. Hope you like it.

And the kids 6 inch version is just as much fun:

I am loving seeing everyone's January work so far, thanks for having a go girls, I love seeing what you do with my sketches, it never fails to thrill me :-) Thanks also for the comments, it means a lot to me when people take the time to leave me some feedback, it's much appreciated. 

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 03-13

And now for our second catch up sketch. This one is for just one landscape orientation photo - a nice page for a photo of two people, maybe... I like the possibilities for using some nice printed papers with this one with the squares and layers. Hope you like it too - and of course, the 6 inch kids page is below too.

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 02-13

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry, and crafty girls are no exception to the rule... I have had a couple of weeks unexpectedly away from internet access, being there for family. My mother had a cataract operation and my son was not well, and eeek! No internet where I was! But I survived, lol, and so did they both, with my amateur nursing. For my son, it's not over yet, but I think he's taken the first few tentative steps towards good health again. Fingers crossed.

I was even ahead of the game before I went away, with a couple of week's sketches ready to go. So much for feeling smug, LOL! Funny. Anyway, I am going to post the two sketches we have missed out on today, and then this week's one when it's due, on Wednesday. I hope they all appeal to you and fit with your photos.

Sketch 2 for this year is a great one for boys, or holiday pics, or you can go wild and adapt it for any purpose - it's your page, let your imagination have some fun. As promised, there's also a 6 inch version of the sketch for our young people to have a go at.

Add your pages to the Link gallery on the side and go in the draw to win a little prize - details coming soon.

Raid that stash and see what you can use up this year.  :-)

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Kids Sketches

It has been suggested to me that I make a kids version of my sketches, for all our young scrappers. I like that idea, so I decided to do it :-) I will make the kids sketches 6 x 6 inches, and they will be a simplified version of the original. I hope the little people you know enjoy them. Here is the first one:

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 01-13

Happy New Year to you, I hope that this year brings you many good things, such as good health, happy times, good friendships and loves, peace, pleasure and plenty. And I wish you lots of creative time, energy and passion, so that you can spend happy hours doing what you love most.

My year has started well, if a little too warm for my liking, but then it is summer I suppose, lol. There are compensations... Scrapping in front of the fan, radio on in the background, a nice glass of berry cordial beside me, looking out the window at the endless blue sky. It's often the smallest things that make a happy life.

I have been spending some time tidying up my sketch program and making some new bits to include. Still can't get a good ricrac, but I am working on it. I had fun making some new flowers to use, and a few other cute bits too... you will see them appear in the next few weeks. It's ridiculous how satisfying it is, lol. Or is that just my inner geek rising?

Anyway, here is the first sketch for the year. I hope you like it and it suits some photos you have waiting to be used. There is a nice big background for you to have fun with glimmer mists, stamping or maybe to use one of those lovely background pps with a corner design. I look forward to seeing what you've done with it.

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 52-12

Oh my, a whole year has gone by. We have had one sketch per week this year and almost all of them actually on time... ish... ;-)

I would like to thank everyone who has come on this journey with me, especially the people who have managed to get a sketch converted to an actual page - well done you! Thanks for sharing your work this year, it's been good to see what you've done and how you've interpreted my sketches. Love it!

Thanks also to the people who have left me comments here and there. I can't tell you how much I love to get your feedback and to know that I'm not just talking to myself here. I really appreciate the little extra time it takes to do that. Thanks x

And now, here is the final sketch for 2012. I have made this a Christmassy page, but you don't need to of course - replace the tree and decorations with anything else that is suitable and that works, and away you go.  I took some photos today that will work with this sketch, just have to edit them and go get them printed.

I hope you will join me again next year for another year long journey of sketches and inspiration. :-)

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 51-12

The second last sketch of the year isn't for a layout... I thought it would be nice to share some card sketches with you for a change. You can adapt them for last minute Christmas cards, or use them for next year's birthday and other cards that you need. Use up some scraps and stash and have some creative fun. Cards are great for orphan flowers, scraps and strange bits and pieces that didn't get used elsewhere. No need to buy anything, it's all waiting for you in your stash. Use up odd strips of cardstock for the bases, too, or cut a pile of bases ready to go.

Do you know how to cut three 4x6 inch cards out of one sheet of 12x12 cardstock? 4x6 is useful because it's a perfect fit for a C6 envelope. My other favourite (especially if I don't have quite enough cardstock and want to get rid of it... um, I mean, use it ;-) ... is a 3 x 5 1/4 inch, which fits perfectly in an 11B envelope. Both these envelopes are standard sizes, making them Post Office Preferred and easy to find in the shops. Bonus.

OK, to cut a sheet of 12x12 into three cards: first cut a 4 inch strip off down one side, making one strip 4 x 12 inches. Then turn the remaining piece around and cut it in half, 6 inches wide, making two pieces 6 x 8 inches. Fold each of these pieces in half and you will have three 4 x 6 cards, each of which you can use upright or across.

To cut four 3 x 5 1/4 inch cards out of a piece of 12 x 12 inch cardstock, first cut the piece in half, making two 6 x 12 inch strips. Then cut each strip twice, 5 1/4 inches long, leaving you with four 6 x 5 1/4 pieces and two scraps 6 x 1 1/2 inches. Fold your pieces in half to make four cards 3 x 5 1/4 inches. (By the way, the two scraps can be added to the larger cards for accent pieces... )

And now the sketches :-) I hope you find them useful. Most of these are for 4x6 cards, but you can easily adapt them for the smaller version too.

You can change them to suit a girl or boy just by using different embellishments and papers - for instance the square card with cogs - replace the cogs with hearts or flowers and you have a girly card. Or the card with flags and flowers - replace the flowers with a chipboard car or something and you have a great boy card. Let your imagination sparkle :-)

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 50-12

Here's a nice easy sketch for you this week, one that uses up some lonely bits and pieces perhaps. If you're anything like me (and please tell me I'm not alone...) then you have half a shape here, some scraps and strips there, doilies and tags poking into every corner... oh, I'm sure you know the drill! Bring a few out and let them settle into place with a single photo, then adorn the whole lot with some of those flowers lurking in your stash. Whether your colour scheme is bright and cheery or dark and moody, I think this sketch will suit.

If you get a page done, please do add it to the gallery so that I can go and leave you a comment. I love seeing what people do with my sketches.

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 49-12

Is it just me or is the end of the year coming too fast? I think my brain is stuck in September...

However, a new sketch every week is certainly a poke in the ribs to remind me how fast it's all going and I thought I would do a few to end the year that would be great for the multi shots we are all going to be taking this month. This one is good for those click, click, click moments, when you get several good shots in a row. It would work for two portrait orientation photos, with a layer either side to make up the difference in width, or tip it to the side with the journaling and title underneath if you have three portrait photos.

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 48-12

This week's sketch is a bit of a cheat... I did it in the wee small hours last week, in a desperate rush to finish the last page for my wedding album in time for my Silver Wedding Anniversary. So I went with the flow of a very nice piece of paper and made it my own. Then I thought, that would make a great sketch, so here you are, hope you enjoy it.

And here's my page: 

I hope you can forgive this one cheat sketch. Usually everything comes straight from my head.

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 47-12

Oh yes, another late one... I have an excuse, really I do... It was my silver wedding anniversary on the weekend and the run up to it was rather hectic, since I was catering and doing the decorations and looking for a dress, etc. All over now though, and the stuff on the desk has suddenly cleared enough for me to see what else needs to be done.

The reason for all the wedding photos I've been doing lately becomes clear to you now, I guess? I have been doing my wedding album in time for my anniversary. I think it's safe to say that I am happy now to start working on ordinary photos, and not vintage ones for a while! Ah to be that young again though, sigh....

Anyway, here is last week's sketch, and it's matching page:

The rub-on title decided to misbehave and not come off smoothly, but in the end I decided I liked the vaguely vintage look of it.

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..

Mid Week Sketch 46-12

No page done for this one yet, but I am itching to get to it so I think it's high on the list of jobs before the week is over. Here is the sketch, hope you like it. (And yes, I know it's another circle. I am in a circley kind of mood apparently.)

And by the way... did you notice how close 46 is to 52? Not many more sketches to do this year.... Can it really only be 6 more and the whole year is done?

And I have finished the page that goes with this sketch, although I flipped mine to suit the flourish better. Flipping, turning and changing things to suit yourself is a good thing. My sketches are all for inspiration, so don't be afraid to fiddle about with them and make them your own.

I haven't done a title on this page. I made it as a double for another page I did for my album, and that one has a large title, so I decided against one for this page.... also, I was doing it at 3am to finish it, and my brain wasn't happy being made to think of one, lol! Next to the other page, it doesn't look like it needs one. Honest. ;-)

love Heather x ..always be a little kinder than necessary..