Calamari

Oh Boy!  It has been a week since I last posted.  Sorry about the silence here.

I do have another one-page layout using the cute Zoe paper to share today.

This picture shows the four of us sharing a small order of Calamari at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco earlier this year.  I couldn't take a better picture after my hands became greasy (and slippery too!)  The four of us meant to have lunch at Fisherman's Wharf but guess what?  We each had a different meaning of "having lunch at Fisherman's Wharf" in mind.  Eventually we had soup and sandwiches for lunch but we grabbed some snacks while strolling down Fisherman's Wharf.

I've mentioned countless times that I love Workshops on the Go offered by Close to My Heart, whether it is the scrapbooking kits or the cardmaking kits. I am the type of person who likes to spread out my supplies then choose from the pile when I create, so even though I enjoy the camaraderie at a crop, I often wonder how I can carry my whole craft area with me to a crop.  I used to spend a lot of time packing, then unpacking, and re-packing because I worried that I had forgotten something.  The time I spent on packing was no less than the time I spent at my friend's place.

Workshops on the Go kits make it much easier.  I just have to grab the kit, a few ink pads, the Zoe Complements and I'm all set to create layouts and cards while I am at a crop or my friend's place.  If you tend to go to crops a lot, I'd suggest that you try this out!  It will lighten your load by a lot and the time that would be otherwise spent on packing can be spent on creating!

Earlier this year, I took an online class taught by Kelly Purkey at Studio Calico.  In the class, Kelly shared her awesome sketches and the contributors shared their take of those sketches.  It was a wide opening experience to see how expert crafters interpret the sketch and use it on traditional scrapbooking, cards and pocket scrapbooking.  Don't get me wrong.  I love the patterns in our How-To programs, and I continue to consult with them whenever I have a creative rut.  For me, I really enjoyed to see how others understand and interpret a sketch and make it their own.

Back to my layout here.  I've used one of the sketches learned from the online class.  Unfortunately, I pretty much followed the sketch closely without much personal interpretation.  :P  I first used Slate Ink and the smaller stamps in the Zoe Workshop on the Go to create a tone-on-tone effect on the background.  Then I put on a large piece of the Sweet Leaf patterned paper in the middle as the focus.  I added a Sorbet pattern strip and photo mat behind the picture, and some Zoe complements around it.  Below the picture are a few Cricut cut outs from Artbooking cartridge.  I cut out the title using the Artiste cartridge and finished it with my journaling.  I noticed that the vellum complements might not stand out enough so I added some white cardstock to make it pop more.  I like this sketch and I'm hoping to add more personal touch to it and make it my own!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!