Try It Tuesday

It's election day and I'm over it.  I've been over it for almost a year (I had no idea how bad it was going to get.)  I'm ready to answer my phone.  I'm ready to answer the doorbell, instead of pretending I'm not home.  I'm ready to not throw half my mail in the trash before ever entering my house.  I'm ready to watch live TV, versus the DVR.  I'm just done.  I cherish my right to vote, but, wow.  My just turned (like yesterday) 18 y.o. voted in his first election, as did my 20 y.o. daughter.  I feel like it was baptism by fire for them.

To combat all the election vitriol - I plan to not watch TV tonight (or tomorrow for that matter), I'd rather escape it all with my photos of happy family moments.

Naturally, that starts with a sketch.  A Page Maps sketch.  Well, for me it starts with photos that I pair to an Apron Strings kit, and then a sketch, but you get my drift.

I liked this sketch for the number of photos - five - without making a change.  There's room for seven if you take up journaling and "open element" spots.  There's even more if you shift elements.   You can go bigger with photos, like 3 x 3", or even take up two spots with one photo, so like 2 x 4" or 4 x 2".  It's also an easy enough sketch to stretch to two pages, especially if you go the bigger-photo-route.  I'd drag that photo mat across the two pages, and have only one vertical block.  I like the simplicity of it, just grid style, but the double matting of papers gives it a more complex look.  Little touches like the paper corners on the second paper mat, the scalloped edges along the veritcal paper block, and the small mat under all the photos are great details.  The dotted line around the photo mat could be stitching, buttons, rhinestones, eyelets, brads or some combination.  

You can catch some examples using the sketch here.

And because colors affect mood, a color palette.  I'm sure I have an Apron Strings kit that has some, if not all, of these colors.

The colors say Fall to me, but I could see them working for Spring, too.  They'd make up a great feminine, or heritage page.  I could even see the pallet for the holidays.

If you're over all the politics. . .

Go.  Create.