Weekend Recap and a Sketch Challenge

I'd like to tell you we had a relaxing weekend.  Or that the yard work is finished and just waiting for harvest time.  Or that I've caught up on my Project Life® 2013.  Or that I dug into both the May kits and my stash and created like a scrapper possessed.  I'd like to say any number of things other than what was a free weekend, quickly filled up.  When we weren't eating with family or at church or pulling things out for the garage sale or at graduation parties or attending birthday parties, we were in the basement because of a tornado warning, or watching the streets fill with hail or marveling at the amount of rainfall.

Don't get me wrong, the time spent with family and friends was wonderful - and I think I gained five pounds this weekend alone from all the food. . .well, mostly desserts, but still.  Alas, the only yard work, beside the weekly mowing done by the boys, was sweeping the back porch of all the leaves the hail shredded out of our trees.  The only scrapbooking I did was to ship an order and print another, yet undone, sketch for the Sketch Solutions class.  Between the end of school this week and hubby being gone, I'm hoping I can spend some time in my studio - the pit around it I'll just have to ignore the best I can (the basement is the "staging area" for all the crap for the garage sale.)

Speaking of sketches, I was going to post this on Monday, but being a holiday, I figured I'd just hold off.  I'd like to issue a challenge at least once a month using the exclusive Becky Fleck PageMaps sketch found in the Apron Strings scrapbook kits, and today is the day for this month's challenge.

It is certainly no secret here that I love sketches.  I refer to and use them regularly.  Some may say sketches are cheating, that each page needs to be unique.  I say, "Bull!"  Using a sketch in no way locks you into that exact design.  It merely provides a jumping off place.  It takes away one, or more, decisions, like photo placement or sizes.  They help me incorporate more of my products by giving me ideas and examples on paper and embellishment usage.

Brace yourself, I even think it's okay to reuse a sketch over and over.  "Your pages will all look the same."  Ah, no they won't.  Different photos.  Different papers.  I sometimes use the sketch exactly as it is, but more often than not, I'm changing it up for my given photos -leaving off a photo or adding two more in.  Shoot, the pages are highly unlikely to even be anywhere near each other in an album.  And really, is your family going to think, "Dang, mom was such a slacker...all these pages use the same layout!"  Mmmm...I'm thinking they're just gonna be happy to have the albums and the memories.

So, today I issue you the challenge to use this sketch - as is, one side or the other, flipped upside-down, or in any other way that suits your current project.  Share a layout using the May sketch (above) in the comments by next Monday.  I may be so inclined to offer up a prize.

Happy Tuesday,