by Claire_Wolfe

Created on: August 12, 2011   Last Updated: August 17, 2011

When people talk about sketches in association to card making and scrapbooking, they are talking about a simple line drawing that is designed to give you inspiration for your designs.

The sketches give details about where the main image should be positioned on the card or scrapbook page and then where the title should go, the embellishments to decorate and any other borders or ribbons. That is the only detail given and the rest is left up to your imagination.

Sketches are widely found on specialised card making and scrapbooking websites and blogs. Many sites offer competitions to card makers where a sketch is provided and the crafter has to design a card based around this sketch, probably using some of the products that the specific website sells. However, the sketches can be used by card makers who don’t have the specific products in order to gain some inspiration.

Many magazines also have features involving sketches. One recent craft magazine had a whole pull out section for scrapbookers with several sketches provided. There were also pictures of finished pages that were made using the sketches. Some of them were quite detailed and it was sometimes hard to see the original sketch in the page design.

The brilliant thing about the sketches is that they don’t have to be used exactly as they come. They leave the designer lots of scope to be able to change and adapt the design to fit the images and embellishments that they have in their craft store. If you are new to sketches then you can of course follow them rigidly but as you get more experienced and your imagination gets more creative, then you can start adapting the sketches.

The shape of the image often determines the focal point of the design. There are normally ovals or squares drawn into the sketch to show where the image should go. Then there maybe some strips down one or two sides of the sketch. For this you could use different coloured pieces of card, or ribbon, or some twine. Don’t always stick to the rules and use straight edges – why not cut the strips of card with some pinking shears or some scalloped scissors. Many different border punches are available so you could try and cut one, or even both edges of the strip with the punch to create a more decorative look.

If there are simple circles on the sketch then these often indicate where the embellishments should be placed. The main round embellishment that springs to mind are flowers, and these are the most common. However,

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