about a month ago, the talented jen gallacher asked me if i'd be interested in guest designing for her august stretch your sketch class over on two peas in a bucket. i love working off sketches, so i jumped at the chance.
here is the sketch that jen provided for us this month. the great thing about her class, is that she doesn't just show you how to use the sketch "as-is". she encouraged us to make it our own. i decided to flip the sketch upside down for my layout, flip flop the title and the journaling piece, and then swap out the journaling piece and the photo. and here's what i ended up with:
i actually had no clue what i was going to do my layout about, until last weekend. one of alyssa's friends came over, to work on a school project. and i happen to hear them talking about books. turns out, her friend saw a list of books that alyssa has hanging in her room, and asked about it.
when she was in the 7th grade, they had to keep track of all their reading for the school year. listing books, authors, and number of pages they read. in the 10 months they were in school, alyssa read 57 books. and not just little books. big ones, like the twilight series. i had always commented, on how that would make a great layout. to list them all, so that we could look back on it. she's had the list hanging in her room for 2 years, and i finally did what i said i wanted to do.
i used a mix of crate paper and my mind's eye pattern papers, for this page. i cut my main title words, "fifty seven", from pattern paper, using my silhouette. and then i used two different kinds of bella blvd letter stickers, to complete my title.
i also cut the circle grid piece with the silhouette, from pattern paper. i had a background shape, that was 5 circles high and 5 circles side to side. since the sketch was only 4 circles wide, i just deleted a row of circles before i cut the piece out.
instead of actually journaling about this story, i decided to simply type up all the books off her list. these are in the order she read them, right off her list. and i think there might be one or two duplicates in there, since she occasionally loves a book so much, that she'll read it a second time. the row of books stamp is from a studio calico kit, from the beginning of the year.
then it was time to embellish my circles. this was the fun part. i knew that i just wanted to add random, fun embellishments to each circle. although, it could have been fun to add in some little photos of some of alyssa's favorite books. didn't think of that until i was typing this. lol! i just dug around in my stash, looking for things i could add, in coordinating colors. reds, aquas, greens, browns, and a bit of yellow. i have a mix of buttons, brads, flowers, chipboard pieces, 3D flower stickers, and even a plastic clock piece.
you can check out jen's layout, download an instructional PDF, watch her video, and see the other two guest designers HERE. thanks jen, and 2peas, for letting me play along this month!
What a great idea! My now Sophomore loves to read too. I'm going to have to get his list and try something like this. Love it!
Posted by: Cindee | August 20, 2011 at 07:48 AM
This made me laugh this morning, for years my 16 year old has kept a list of the books she has read. Never thought of doing a layout on it. Thanks for the great idea.
Posted by: Eileen Van Dyke | August 20, 2011 at 09:04 AM
What an awesome layout and job of reading. The buttons are so cute and I want some of those for my Week in the Life album I still have to finish. This is a fun sketch and I will give it a try too. Thanks
Posted by: dawn | August 20, 2011 at 09:13 AM
This is such a great idea! I really like how you listed all of the books for the journaling. This will be a great page to look back on in the years to come. Great take on the sketch too!
Posted by: Lisa | August 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM
Whoa. Where am I? Someone changed their blog banner! I like it! And that is a pretty awesome layout, my friend. (And an impressive amount of books.)
Posted by: Shaunte | August 20, 2011 at 02:30 PM
Cool layout! I love seeing you use the Silhoutte more!
Posted by: Ashley M | August 20, 2011 at 03:13 PM
alright this is just SO clever! I'll have to admit this is one of my favorites of yours BECAUSE it's documenting something totally different that Alyssa might forget in a few years--LOVE it!
Posted by: Diana Waite | August 20, 2011 at 03:16 PM
What a great sketch and ur take on it is perfect!! I love scrapping about things like this! Will mean a lot when she looks back at this layout someday :)
Love those circles! U will have to tell me which cut that is.
Posted by: Carlajeant | August 20, 2011 at 03:59 PM
Thanks so much for the idea to do a layout on books read during the school year. My son has to keep up with the books he reads each year (he's actually gotten awards for the most books a few times) but I've never thought to a l/o of it. Now I will!
Thanks again for the great idea!
Posted by: {vicki} | August 22, 2011 at 06:45 AM
I think this is my fave layout of yours! Love all the buttons on the circles, so cute! My daughter loves to read too, she's starting the Harry Potter series over again, my son on the other hand, hates to read, he's started high school today, so I am sure there will be some reading in the near future...lol
Posted by: Laurie | August 22, 2011 at 08:41 AM
LOVE the layout as usual!
What font is the fifty seven that you used to cut out with your Silhouette?
Posted by: Melisa | August 22, 2011 at 03:52 PM
Love this layout and good for Alyssa for being such a bookworm. I keep track of the books I read too and do a yearly layout.
Posted by: Michelle P | August 22, 2011 at 08:02 PM
Great Layout! love it! Especially love the circle cut outs and the embellishments. Great job Alyssa for being such a faithful reader!
Posted by: Victoria S. in OHio | August 23, 2011 at 05:33 AM
Love this layout! And the sketch too :) Congrats on being a guest designer!
Posted by: Jennifer Chapin | August 26, 2011 at 01:02 PM
Can I have one of those embellished circles from patterned papers? They are gorgeous and the colors are great!
Posted by: Annabella Merlin | September 01, 2011 at 09:31 PM
I love those circles! Great idea for a layout too!
Posted by: angie gutshall | September 02, 2011 at 10:03 AM
I love everything about this layout! I couldn't resist pinning it to my 'scrappy goodness' board on Pinterest. Gooooood One!! :)
Posted by: Lisa Westphal | September 02, 2011 at 07:27 PM
I can not tell you how much I just love this LO! I need to do something like this for all the books I've read....just not in such a short time! ;)
Posted by: Sara Rossi | September 03, 2011 at 07:51 PM