Welcome back to another fun day of
Man, I really need to clean up that logo. I digress...
Welcome to Skeleton Scrapping. Skeleton Scrapping is not for the faint of heart. You must be able to look past the accessories (think patterned paper and embellishments) to see what lies beneath (think design). If you love sketches, then Skeleton Scrapping is for you!
Equipment: standard equipment plus x-ray vision for seeing past the colors, the layers, and the other distracting items.
Rules:
1. Find a layout that speaks to you.
2. Take it down to its bones, its skeleton. If need be, draw it out with your mouse, or your paper and pencils (those are those skinny wooden things with pretend lead inside!)
3. Build your layout on top of the skeletal remains, creating something that looks a little or a lotta like the original.
4. Sit back and smile realizing how much time you just saved. (And money as you don't cut and toss three or four patterns of paper before getting it right...)
Our Gold Winning Skeleton team for today hails from our own Collective. Using layouts from our February Gallery, they stripped them down, then rebuilt them into these beauties.
May I present, for your viewing pleasure...
We have two layouts based upon the original layout by the lovely and talented Stacy Julian:
I remained pretty true to the original bones, omitting embellishments but not trading out any of the basic design. I even borrowed the black, white, and green, loving the mood they created, and opting to find a photo that would coordinate with the colors, rather than the other way around.
Kim also began with Stacy's layout, though changed up the one photo for three, and placed her journaling in list format. The light color scheme, grouped embellishments, and soft nature of the layout transform a Stacy layout into a Kim layout, where you might be hardpressed to recognize the skeleton.
Next up, two paper layouts based upon Candice Palmer's digital layout:
The skeleton of Candice's layout is evident in Beth's design, with the only change up being the double matting. Keeping the list format for journaling, selecting a striped patterned paper, and creating a white font title, Beth got additional accessorizing mileage out of Candice's inspiring layout.
Aly on the other hand, left behind many of the original accessories, though the title, photo and journaing are similarly located to those in Candice's layout. However, by moving the title up significantly, and placing the photo on an asymmetrical shaped matte, Aly creates a much different look and feel for a layout that is built on the same bones as those of Beth and Candice.
Next up, Moon Ko's Boy layout:
Always one to take the easy way, I stayed a close to the original design as I could: from photo orientation, to placement, to the cutout half circle. By opting for a color scheme that is as different as can be from that which Moon used, the two layouts become unique, even though nearly identical in basic design.
And Moon's The Boys layout inspired another:
Jody stayed very true to the basic design of Moon's layout, though cropped the paper and photo to a size that would permit her to include more lengthy journaling. Interestingly, while Moon's layout focuses on her new son, and Jody's her teenage daughter, Jody's layout discusses all the firsts Jody's firstborn provided to her. Including thoughts of her as a new baby. Sometimes as we look to the design of a layout, journaling ideas sink in, too.
Jody Dent-Pruks inspired two diverse layouts with her February layout:
Even though Ann's layout mimics Jody's in many ways (photo, title, & journaling placement, wide side margin, and small upper embellishment), by using a mirror image of the original, the skeleton is tricky to see, even when hunting for it.
layout by Autumn Loves Both Paper and Pixels
Going digital on this one, Autumn has reworked the original enough that you may want to click back and forth a few times to see the similarities. Again, a bottom title, horizontal main photo, blocked journaling, and a small supporting photo are all in place. However, using an enlarged photo in place of the background cardstock, Autumn effectively uses a cosmetic change to camouflage the similarity of the skeleton. Tricky!
Our next prizewinning layout is based upon the original layout of Jamie Waters: layout by Mysterioso Marnie
Again, why stray from perfection? I tried to leave as much as I could in place with Jamie's layout, not only the skeleton, but also the journaling, the background color, and the heart embellishment. I left off the minititle as I do not have Jamie's beautiful handwriting, and I liked the cleanliness of having a title-less layout.
Lastly, but not leastly, is another incredible layout designed according to Autumn Baldwin's original:
Once the photos and patterned paper were place, the title begged to be moved. Or really, the dolly begged me to move the title off her face. Once the title was relocated to the upper left, the journaling block began whining that it wasn't very legible on the pink circles. What? Really? Fine. So I moved it up to the green patterned paper in the upper right corner. But, wait, you say! There is no green patterned paper in that corner. Aha, Watson! You are so smart! The green was also not an appropriate background, so it became grey. At which point we are all agreeing that it is a good thing this was a digital layout, or I would have wasted many papers and much ink (colored blocks of journaling are not usually in my budget...). So though I tried to stick closely to Autumn's original, the layout dictated some changes and when photos and paper speak, I listen.
The long and the short of Skeleton Scrapping is it saves time, is fun, and can help you get your pages done. And crossing the finish line is sometimes what it is all about.
Help yourself to some sketches out of our February gallery. Don't forget to post your work in the Flickr gallery! It might be fun and prizeworthy!
