Tutorial - using catalogs or ads for inspiration

Here's a little tutorial for using a magazine page or catalog for inspiration - be sure to click on the photos to see them in more detail.

Scrapbookers find inspiration in magazines and ads all the time -it’s the very essence of scrap lifting, but you can also use the same media as inspiration for creating your own patterned paper.
My first example comes from the cover of a Crate & Barrel catalog (I always look at Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, West Elm, and Anthropologie for inspiration).
The summer tablecloth on the cover has some great elements and colors that can be isolated and used to create a patterned sheet that even non-artists can emulate. In the creative process first identify simple elements that you would like to copy. Second, decide where on the page the elements would be most effective; you could draw and paint the entire sheet and then cut it apart but I choose to draw near the edges of the sheet and leave room for photos and journaling. In this case, I selected two large flowers (large being easier) and drew light pencil circles(using a compass or jar lid as a pattern) in the size I wanted the flowers to be. I then hand drew the individual petals in pencil - you can be fairly free and easy with this - and added leaves and stems that pull the disparate flowers together. When I was satisfied with the result (be sure to draw lightly and use a good eraser to remove any unwanted lines), I colored in the flowers and leaves with sharpie pens and highlighters. Of course, you can use paints or colored pencils if you have them. Finally after the colors are dry, go back and erase any unwanted pencil lines. I left in the lines around the leaves as I think they add to the definition and charm of the paper.

For the layout I used a photo that I took this summer while I was enrolled in a BPS photography class. the photo is of a new leaf growing in the vee of the live oak tree in our front yard. I thought the colors really popped in the photo and wanted to use it in a unique layout. I copied the tree bark texture by layering the photo onto some black lace over the papers.

A second idea to create your own patterned paper is to isolate a motif in a pattern as the flowers in this pillow from Anthropologie and draw it on white paper. I drew the individual flowers in pencil and went back over the lines with a Pigma pen. You could actually draw just one flower and then copy it on the copier and go over the copy with a pen. Finally cut out the flowers or motifs, darken the edges with ink if desired, and glue them to a piece of colored cardstock. Then create your layout in and around the flowers. I did the layout about my grandmother and used some vintage photos of her and her friends.