Gardaland Birthday Layout

 I don't remember the last time I used a sketch to make a layout, but I was super inspired by the one I found over at Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine. They have tons of free sketches you can check out here.

Since I'm not really a 12x12 scrapper, I scaled it down a bit to fit 8.5x11 and since I didn't have quite this many photos of the event I wanted to scrap, I combined the three pictures on the right of the sketch into one giant picture and changed the photo from the upper left into a little map showing where we were in the world. We had only been living in Italy a couple months, so I felt like the map was an important element I wanted to capture. 

I designed my title in Silhouette Studio using the designer edition. I really wanted to mimic the "Gardaland" sign that you see in the background of the photo. I originally had a very similar font as well, but it just didn't work for me, so I switched it to something more modern and clean. I covered the "birthday" part in glossy accents and popped the whole title up with foam dots. Normally I don't do a whole lot of 3D stuff on layouts since pages go into flat scrapbooks, but this just felt like it was needed for balance with the other thick embellishments on the page. 

Here you can see how thick the flair badge and enamel stars are. The flair is from my March Studio Calico card kit and the stars are from the coordinating Project Life kit. Just about everything on this layout is from a Studio Calico kit in fact. (It's just so easy that way.)

In my usual style, I added some stitching along the border of the layout and also along the washi strip on my tag. I thought it gave a nod to the perforated ticket idea. The journaling on my tag (Heidi Swapp) was done using my printer. I just measured my tag, created a text box of the same size in Word and printed it out. I did a test print first to ensure it would fit, then I taped my tag on top of the printer paper and ran it back through again. Perfect journaling every time!

Well, I hope you like the layout. If you create a layout using the sketch, I'd love to see it. I just think sketches are so fun. Everyone sees them in a different light. It's almost like a game of telephone. You never know what will come out at the other end of the game. 

Thanks for visiting!

Supply List:

Cardstock - American Crafts

Patterned Paper - Studio Calico (kit subscription)

Thread - Coats

Sewing Machine - Singer

Electronic Cutting Machine - Silhouette of America

Printer & Photo Paper - HP

Date Stamp - American Crafts (Shimelle)

Twine - Lilly Belle's Paperie (Etsy)

Trimmer - Fiskar's

Kraft Tag & Enamel Outline Sticker - Heidi Swapp

Veneer Smile Face - Freckled Fawn 

"Awesome" Flair - My Mind's Eye

Resin Stars, Washi Tape, & Gold Die Cut Circle - Studio Calico (kit subscription)

Tab Die Cut Shape - October Afternoon

Adhesives - Glossy Accents, Glue Dots, & This to That foam dots & tape runner (American Crafts)