Hello, friends Noreen Smith here today on the Creative Scrapbooker Magazine blog! It seems that fall has arrived, and so has a beautiful autumnal collection from Creative Memories – “Gather Together”. This elegant collection with its rich colors and gorgeous floral and geometric patterns will work so well with fall-themed photos from Thanksgiving, family gatherings, fall road trips, autumn foliage and good times with friends.  I knew this collection would be perfect to showcase family photos we had taken a couple of years ago on a beautiful fall day, but before I jump right to the layouts I want to share some tips with you. I just got back from a Creative Memories mini-conference for advisors where I spoke about some creative approaches to using sketches. Sketches are a great starting point and are so versatile. I create lots of sketches, but I also rely on them to jumpstart my creative process. Sometimes I use them as-is, and sometimes I change them up to suit my needs. Here is a basic sketch that I am going to use to create three different layouts with three different creative approaches. For the first layout, I used what I call the “Effortless” approach. With this approach you follow the sketch very closely and the creative aspect comes from your choices of colors, papers and embellishments. This is great for those who are new to scrapbooking, or those who have lots of photos they want to get into albums quickly.  It is definitely one of the fastest ways to complete pages! I used a piece of white cardstock as my base, and added the photos, paper strips cut from paper in the Gather Together Paper Pack, and stickers from the Gather Together Sticker pack as shown in the sketch. I journaled right onto the cardstock and was done in about 15 minutes. An easy and fast layout! Next, I use a more “Enhanced” approach. With this approach you adapt the sketch to fit your needs or add that little something extra to personalize it and make the elements “pop”. Here I changed to a gray cardstock base and slightly altered the position of my matted photos. I added a word-art border sticker strip where the two different patterned papers meet, and mounted the embellishment clusters and journaling on white cardstock to help them stand out, raising them up off the surface of the layout with some foam squares for dimension. The choices in this layout helped create a cohesive, decorative look that really put the focus on the photos!  Finally, I used a very “Elaborate” approach, where you add even more decorative details for a truly creative page! This type of layout definitely takes more time, and your finished page might look totally different than the original sketch. I created a two-page spread by duplicating the first page and turning it 90° clockwise, which allowed me to use some vertical photos as well. I added a third patterned paper from the collection in the form of a strip that covers the seams, and a double-layered border punched from goldenrod cardstock and a fourth patterned paper using the intricate On the Vine Border Punch. I cut a mat from the Variety Mat Pack down to 4” x 4” to replace one of the photos on the second page and made it into my title spot. The embellishment clusters had a few extra details added to them, and I used the scraps trimmed from the mat for my journaling. The final product is much more decorative and interesting, but it did take about 40 minutes to complete – totally worth it for a beautiful keepsake layout!  Whether you use an Effortless, Enhanced or Elaborate approach, starting with a sketch is a smart way to scrapbook! I hope you get a chance to try this sketch or the many other fantastic sketches in the Creative Scrapbooker Magazine Sketch Gallery! And make sure to check out the entire Gather Together collection to complement your fall photos beautifully!

All Creative Memories products featured in these projects are available in Canada on my CM website, and you can find advisors in the US and other countries by using the Advisor Lookup feature. Please drop by my blog,  Facebook group, YouTube Channel or my Instagram feed for more ideas and inspiration – I create layout sketches, cards and other projects which showcase Creative Memories products & tools on a regular basis.

Happy scrapping!

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