You Don't Have to Reinvent the Wheel

Every once in a while I find a sketch or a design that I fall in love with. One that makes me happy every time I look at it and one that sticks in my memory. When I have one of those designs I use it again and again. For a Bella Blvd design team assignment (a long time ago) I was given this sketch.

Because using multiple photos on my layouts isn't what I usually do I often come back to this sketch. I love it. It works. Why not use it again?
This is the project I originally created with this sketch. (I created this layout with the Bella Blvd Thankful Collection Kit)

Recently I used this sketch again. Once to record my son's 5th birthday. It worked perfectly because I have one photo that I really wanted to showcase (the birthday cake photo) but then the other 3 photos supported the story I had to tell. (I created this layout with the Bella Blvd MAX Collection Kit)

This layout has hidden journaling (the tabs to the right are attached to a journaling card that pulls out from behind the photo.

The most recent layout I completed with this sketch is one that I did simply showcasing my favorite photos from our family photo shoot. (I created this layout with the Bella Blvd Collection Kit Family Forever)

 

 The point I want to make today for "Lets Talk Tuesday" is that you don't always have to "reinvent the wheel" every time you sit down to create. If you have something (a sketch, a design, a color, a certain font, a certain paper) that you love, DO IT, use it! And if you want to...do it again, and again, and again. Repeating something you love can also make the creative process easier. It takes part of the thinking out of the creative process and gets your right to the point where you can dig into that stash and simply start creating.
Is there something that you find yourself repeating? I'd love to hear about it! (click the contact me button on the right, I'd love to hear from you!)

Elle's Studio Sketch x3

A few days ago I was asked to create a project for Elle's Studio using this sketch:
 
I immediately fell in love with this sketch. I has so many possibilities. I may have gotten a little carried a way and used this sketch more than once...three times to be exact.
Here's what I came up with using the Elle's Studio Shine collection. 

 The title "fun in the sun" is actually lots of different layers. There's a 3x4 transparency over the teal 3x4 card. I love the fun detail it adds to my title block.

  The other two layouts I created have been featured here too. HERE & HERE.

 Each time I used this sketch I used it a little bit differently. I moved the title around and added journaling differently each time.

Do you have a sketch that you've used over and over? I've already used this sketch 3 times and I plan on using it even more. 

Sketching for Elle's Studio {Sketch Included}

Good morning and Happy First Monday of Summer! We had such a great relaxing weekend. I hope that you were able to enjoy your weekend as well. Last week on the Elle's Studio blog I played along with Sketch Thursday. I got to play along with this sketch:

This sketch is based on a layout by Patricia Roebuck using Elle's Studio's new Shine collection. I LOVE how she used the circles and the die cuts.

I created 2 layouts based on this sketch, it was so much fun and so easy to create with.

 Who doesn't smile at a sleepy kiddo who has a case of "bed head"? I love this little lady!

 I die cut this background with my silhouette.

 And here's the second one I created with the Shine collection too.

 Do you like creating with sketches? Even if you don't you should give this one a try, it's so simple. Maybe you'll discover that you love changing things up and creating in a different way.
Make sure you stop by tomorrow for Let's Talk Tuesday!

Thru My Lens

Good morning everyone! Do you ever look through your camera lens while taking photos and think "wait a minute, when did this happen?" I had that moment the other day when we were doing our annual back to school photo shoot. I know that every mom has those moments when you wonder where time has gone and how your babies are growing up so fast. This is how I chose to document this moment. But before I show you the project I created I want to tell you about this...

There's a new issue over at Paper issues and you know what that means...there's a fabulous prize up for grabs. I got a sneak peek at the sketch the blog hop girls are using, I had a few extra minutes last night so I decided to play along. I had so much fun with this sketch. Here's the sketch provided by Simplescrapper.com





Here's what I came up with:

Make sure to stop by the Paper Issues store and grab some of the new CHA goodies that Cassie has in the store and use the code Becki20 to receive 20% off of your order.

Also make sure you hop on over to the Paper Issues blog and enter to win :)