My first ever Scrapbook Layout Sketch Challenge

While surfing across paper crafting blogs I found Once Upon a Sketch.  So I am playing along with my first sketch challenge for a scrapbook layout.  I am already blown away by the other entries, you can check them out here. 
This layout is a hybrid.  A hybrid in the traditional sense- combining elements from digital scrapbooking and paper scrapbooking.  It also is a hybrid of  3 of the main direct sales scrapbooking companies.  I used Stampin' Up! and Creative Memories paper, and CTMH stamps and cricuit cartridge.  AND this is what I came up with:

You can click on any of the pictures for a closer look.  I usually have a lot of layers on top of each other but not stacked up next to each other.  This was a bit of a stretch for me and I love how it turned out.  Below is the original sketch. 

The journal assignment was to include two lines from your favorite song.  I have so many favorite songs that it was hard to choose.  In the end I went with my all-time favorite artist John Mellencamp.  I chose his song, "Your Life is Now."  I placed the journaling in the tiny circle and followed the circle even upside down.  Yikes!  That too is a first. 
The star and key are from the new cricuit cartridge from CTMH.  The key is in Marina Mist and Soft Suede.  The star is cut from retired Blueberry Crisp Designer Series Paper.  The larger circle is also from the cricuit.  I tied some linen thread around part of the circle (not shown in this image.)  The smaller circles are the 1 3/8" circle punch.  I punched them from the CM paper and sponged them in Soft Suede. 

The images here are also from the cricuit; I added half pearls and linen thread for interest.  To make the fleur, cut it in white and add Soft Suede to it by wiping the pad over the paper.  Yup, just direct to paper.  Then matte it in Soft Suede and add mocha pearls. 
You can also see the faint swirl on the paper behind the paper elements.  That was the stamped using pink pirouette.  It is faint but shows up better in person.  Sometimes even this professional photographer has problems with this sort of technical photography.  In my defense, close-up and product photography is a completely different world from weddings and portraits.

In this next picture, you can see the swirl that I stamped in Soft Suede.  I had fun adding both pearls and rhinestones.  I hope that Gavin isn't embarrassed by the rhinestones when he gets older.  LOL!  This picture also shows the stitching and sponging that is done all the way around the 12x12 layout.  I found a fantastic stitching on paper tutorial that you can see here.  The black smudgy paint is printed on the paper.  Isn't it divine?

The title was designed in Photoshop and then printed on vellum.  I adhered it to the back of the matte and then used a piece of artist tape that I sponged in soft suede to keep it down.  I had tried a brad at first but it just didn't look right. 
I like how you can see the many layers in this one.  Behind the photo matte and to the left of it is an alphabet strip that came from the cricuit.  I used the direct to paper method and wiped my soft suede pad across the letter strip.  Love it!  As a side note, I used my 2 way glue pen to adhere all of the cricuit elements (some to each other and others to the layer below.  I couldn't have survived with out it! 

Here is the photo after I edited it.  I basically applied a grayscale filter and then reduced the opacity so that there is still some color in the photo.  I desaturated unwanted distracting colors like the green stripe in Gavin's shirt.  You can accomplish this by isolating the green (and cyan) channel under the hue/saturation filter and then slide the saturation slider all the way to the left.  Then I added a grungy painted frame in white and grungy swirls in black. 

Well I hope you loved this project as much as I loved creating it. 

Here is a list of Stampin' Up! products used:
Paper:  Well Worn DSP,  Blueberry Crisp DSP, Soft Suede and Marina Mist Cardstock, vellum
Ink:  Soft Suede and Pink Pirouette
Tools: 1 3/8" circle punch
Accessories: pearls, rhinestones, and linen thread.
Other:  stampin' dimensionals, 2-way glue pen, sponges

Here is the list of other products that I used:
CTMH stamp sets, CM paper, CM cutting system, CTMH cricuit cartridge, cricuit, sewing machine and thread, inkjet printer, artist tape.

Have a creative day!
-Staci