Sketchy Thursdays ...on a Sunday?

Boy oh boy am I a sucker for sketches.  I don't always end up a carbon copy of the template, but they help keep me on track!!  The August GDT sketch at Sketchy Thursdays was posted and it inspired me to pull out a layout I'd been avoiding.  I bought some Dora supplies at Michael's a few months ago because I thought they'd work well with a photo of my daughter riding her new Dora bike.  Only problem...they are all bright colors and busy prints and that is NOT something I usually feel comfortable with.  Not to mention struggling to fit all of that into an 8½x11 layout because that happened to be the size I was working on for this album.  This was more than a stretch from my comfort zone...I jumped right out of it and took off running the other way!

I had to stretch the sketch slightly because I am using a smaller page size than intended.  So I used a single photo and used the other photo spots for embellishment elements.  I also had to move my title to the top because it wasn't fitting anywhere else.  The circle is slightly higher too because I was trying to give the look of the sun in the scene (with ribbon rays).

Beyond following a sketch the other requirements were that you needed to use a summer theme; Riding a bike is very summery right?  Incorporate the colors red, orange or yellow; I used all three.  Lastly you needed to include a journaling spot; I used journaling strips to document who gave her the bike and just how much she loved it!