Thursday Sketch: Magazine Inspiration

Welcome to this edition of Sketch Thursday! Lexi here and today I not only have a sketch for you, but the inspiration behind it.

I like magazines. Who doesn't? But after I am finished looking at all the pretty pictures, reading the content and before tossing them I do another flip through for inspiration. Magazines are a great source for color combinations and layout ideas. Recently I came across this in Family Circle:
 
Totally workable as a layout sketch, right?
 
I know. It looks a bit too simple, but just start with the general idea and go for it! That's the great thing about sketches...there are no rules.
 
I have a few baskets full of vintage children's books. I just love the colors and unique illustrations they had back in the day...so I thought it was time to document that. My three elements at the bottom were created by masking off circles and then spraying with SprINKler in Paper Doily.

Can you tell how many times I messed up this layout? Four times in fact :) Here I misspelled a few words, but hey I am typing with a retro typewriter with no way to correct it. It's okay. I just let it go!
 
I used my Slice machine to cute the letters and the spacing was off so I had no room for my other “o” in “book”. I often think out of mistakes we learn ways to be more creative (at least that is what I tell myself!) so I stitched a circle and then added a cute button form 5 & Dime to make an “o”. I think it works. I used old dictionary paper to back the letters.
 
Here I stamped. I love to stamp, but most often it doesn’t come out “perfect”. You gotta just be okay with that. Maybe it lends itself to a more vintage-y look not stamped perfect..? Maybe? ;)
 
And my last mistake was cutting the blue-ish cardstock 8.5x11, doing my layout and then deciding it needed something more so I added a base of patterned paper. At this point I am not sure what size the actual layout even is, but like Tim Gunn says—make it work!

Here is Wilna's take on the sketch..and notice..no mistakes!
 
Wilna says "When i saw the sketch the first time i fell in love with the minimalistic design and the spaces for interesting elements. So, when i visited Starbucks again i saw these adorable cards and Lexi's sketch popped into my head and i just knew i want to use it." 
So there you have it—inspiration for a sketch gleaned from a almost-ready-to-toss magazine. We would LOVE to see your take on the sketch, or maybe you have found an ad and used it as a sketch jumpstart. Either way, join us in the Flickr gallery and share your creative talent!

Comments

[kinsey]

love this layout lexi! i'm totally gonna snatch it :)

[heather i]

Very cool Lexi!! Its fabulous! You know, almost every LO I seem to do has some sort of 'glitch' ;). its funny though bec noone notices it but me. I just posted a mini book on my blog today using 5 & Dime (http://heathersscrappiness.blogspot.com/)!! I was way too excited to find the collection in my LSS 2wks ago!!

I also love Wilna's take on the sketch! So fun!!

[Linda L]

I do thimk that more often than not we are more creative because of our "mistakes". Great sketch!