July Challenge for LGS and SATW

After last week's super content heavy blog post, this week I'm up with a simple yet aesthetically pleasing (at least I feel it that way!) layout. 

My layout was inspired by Let's Get Sketchy's Week 2 sketch, as well as the moodboard from Scrap Around the World.

Click here for more info on LGS challenge!

Click here for more info on SATW challenge!

My little thought on sketch challenge is that I only remember the main components of the sketch so I can produce something that is similar to the sketch and yet it's unique instead of copying wholesale and fail to stand out from the rest.

So in the back of my mind, I remembered that on the sketch, there're details on the top and bottom left of the layout. Hence, I torn some Prima Marketing papers from Finnabair Collection and adhered it to my 12x12 inches Basic Grey Lexicon patterned paper.

To be honest, I had actually told my friend that I thought this month's Scrap Around the World moodboard was tedious. The colours are very vibrant and attractive, but I just cannot find inspiration. After looking at it a couple more times, I decided that I really like the left side of the moodboard which was the burning dandelion and the sunset. So I actually chose yellow as my main colour as well as hints of pink and purple as my secondary colour. I am somehow captivated by the flames of the burning dandelion that produces those pretty hues of pink and purple.

I sprayed on Dylusion Spray in Pure Sunshine as well as Tim Holtz's Distress Stain Spray in Tattered Rose. I then randomly draw some circles with my ball point pen lying on the side of my desk. Like I mentioned, remember the main component of the sketch. In this case, I remembered there're some circles around the centre piece, which was why I drew those circles even though they are a lot more than the sketch.

I applied some modelling paste over the Dina Wakley stencil as well as Prima Damask stencil. After everything dried, I used a piece of transparency (you can replace this with a piece of plastic packaging etc), watered down my paints, then smush it on the layout. The key to this technique is that your paint much be liquidy enough to move around, otherwise the blops of colours will not be pretty and natural. I actually used Colourarte Silks in Snap Dragon and Rustic Rose.

After all the modelling paste and vibrant colours, I decided that my circles are not outstanding, hence I used black gesso to redraw them with a thin brush.

I also used Colourarte Silks Guatemalan Green to outline the layout. As inspired by the moodboard from SATW, I think it's necessary to incorporate some green in my layout, besides it's a nice contrasting colour as compared to the purple and yellow. 

This is the final look of the layout after embellishment!

I diecut some leaves from Prima Marketing's Leaves Dies as well as fussy cut some flowers from Maggie Holmes patterned papers. I also used some mulberry flowers I got from Thailand but you can order them from Wild Orchid Crafts. The stickers sentiments are from Tim Holtz and my layering papers are from Crate Papers.

That's all for this week!

Thanks for reading! :)