Down Sunflower Lane: Thinking of you layout & Sketch - Hearts Ease by Couture Creations

#couturecreationsaus

Welcome back crafters!

Nice to see you again for some more Couture Creations inspiration.

I love layout sketches! Especially when I'm unsure where to start my layout.

It reminds me of following a recipe.

I have a great starting point and can see where roughly where I want to end up,

but I can change it up along the way. There is no right or wrong!

In saying that, I have never drawn my own - until now!

So I give you my very first, hot off the press layout sketch! Ta-da!

So let's get crafting!

I created this layout (and sketch) around this darling photo of my grandma that I've been wanting to scrap for sometime. This photo is particularly special to me as it was the last birthday we celebrated with her, as she left us 6 weeks before she would have turned 100. Her birthday is in June, so she has been very much in our thoughts. She was a true English lady - lover of all things floral (especially roses), cups of tea and loved a good morning tea! She was particularly handy when it came to cooking, sewing and crafts - something I'm very thankful to have shared with her.

Her favourite colour was purple so I can imagine she would have loved all the

gorgeous purple tones in this Hearts Ease Collection.

Firstly I chose two 12x12 papers from the Hearts Ease collection for the background. Cutting one piece smaller than the other, I distressed the edges with my non-stick scissors and then inked all four sides. I then stuck down this inked paper using 12mm doubled sided tape.

To give some dimension and shimmer to the page I've heat embossed

two of the stamps from the Borders and Butterflies stamp set.

It's such a quick and easy technique but the results are stunning.

I've then added the book paper banner, cutting in half to maximise it's use -

why waste paper when it won't be seen?

This layering technique is fabulous for using up scraps and offcuts, which is exactly what I've done here. And since most of it will be covered by the photo it doesn't matter if you have small bits or how much they overlap.

Using my sketch as a guide, I've layered 4 bits of Hearts Ease Patterned paper, and several pieces

from the Hearts Ease Ephemera pack to create the background.

And this is where you can move pieces around, add bits or even take them away.

Remember the sketch is just a guiding, a starting point.

Once I was happy with the placement I have stuck everything down with 12mm double sided tape.

I've doubled matted my photo on Hearts Ease Patterned paper and then on purple Core'dinations cardstock, and distressed around the edges, I've added 2 corners from the Ephemera pack to the photo and then mounted the photo with foam mounting tape to give the photo some height.

The white of the Bulk Flowers was a bit stark for this layout so I have spritzed them with a matching purple spray. I wanted to have some white still visible so it was only a light coat and after they had dried I also ruffled the petals up. But you can make them as light or as dark as you want.

I've adhered the 3 flowers with Craft Glue Spots and slipped a vintagey card and a small butterfly (both from the Ephemera pack) under the flowers.

For the title I've used one of the new Hearts Ease Chipboard Stickers "Thinking of You' and attached to the layout with foam mounting tape. I've added my favourite 2mm Gemstones in crystal to highlight other embellishments and draw the eye to them. You can see them on the embossed butterfly and the chipboard title, on the tiny butterfly near the flowers and around the patterned paper and embossed borders.

To finish off the layout, below the title I've ave added an embellishment cluster with several pieces from the Ephemera pack (pocket watch, arrow and tag) and a few items from my own stash.