Sunday Sketch with Shu-Wen

Hi everyone!

It's Shu-Wen here, sharing a spread that I created in my Life Crafted Album with the new December 2021 "Fernwood" Add-On Kit available in the Citrus Twist Kits shop!

Here's the sketch that I used to create my spread:

Since this sketch was made in a portrait-style orientation, I decided to use this sketch for the design of the left side of my layout and pair it up with a full-page photo on the right side of my layout.

First, I created the base of my layout by cutting strips of patterned paper to mimic the stripes across the page in the sketch. I decided to use all blue patterned papers for the colored stripes, going from darkest at the top to the lightest at the bottom (papers used: "Into the Woods", "Fable", "Fernwood", and "Focused", all from the Vicki Boutin "Fernwood" collection). I chose the "Keepsake" patterned paper from the Maggie Holmes "Chasing Dreams" collection for the bottom-most wider piece of patterned paper; I purposely chose a neutral, lighter colored patterned paper in case I wanted to add my journaling later on. I held the pieces in place with some light adhesive, then stitched them together with my sewing machine to add some texture, similar to the stitch marks in the sketch. 

Next, the film strip die cut from the Vicki Boutin "Fernwood" Journaling Ephemera pack was perfect to use in place of the panel with the 3 squares in the center of the sketch. I chose to back the top and bottom ones with small photos. For the middle frame, I created a small shaker pouch to hold some of the floral shaker sequins that I received in my Citrus Twist Kits package (I always save all these little gems from my packages!) and embellished it with a heart die cut from the "Take It Inside" Die Cut Ephemera Pack available in the Citrus Twist Kits shop. Then, I backed the film strip onto a leftover piece of the "Keepsake" patterned paper to give it enough contrast to stand out from my background. 

For the embellishment clusters, I decided to use some more die cuts from the "Take It Inside" Die Cut Ephemera Pack; I love how the florals in this ephemera pack go with the colors from the Fernwood Add-On Pack! I also added a bit of thread behind my floral clusters to add a bit more interest, similar to the floral clusters in the original sketch. 

For the bottom of my spread, I decided not to type up any journaling. Instead, I filled up the bottom of my spread with one of the ephemera pieces from the "Fernwood" Journaling Ephemera Pack that says "Happiness is..." and finished the title with the "Right Here" Thickers from the "Stories of Us" Thicker sheets in the Add-On Kit. The letter "G" did overhang the edge of the page a bit, so I trimmed the bottom part off. 

For the right side of my spread, I printed out a large 5" x 8.25" photo from our fall photoshoot; I love how the warm, deep colors in the "Fernwood" collection go with the autumnal colors in our photos. I kept the embellishments simple with another ephemera pieces from the "Fernwood" Journaling Ephemera Pack that says "Smile", some more stitching detail for added texture, and a few butterflies from the "Stories of Us" Thicker sheets.

I love how this spread came together so easily using a sketch for one side of my layout and a full page photo for the other side. Also LOVING the colors in the "Fernwood" Add-On Kit and looking forward to making another project with this kit later on this month! If you decide to make a layout using this sketch, feel free to tag me on Instagram or on the Citrus Twist Kits Facebook Fan page so that I can check it out! Make sure to check out the Citrus Twist Kits Shop for all the new goodies this month! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!