My hubby and I both love going to live sporting events, especially rugby games. The excitement of the crowd, being with our friends, and a good excuse for a night out makes it all very exciting. For this scrapbooking wife, another bonus is the chance to snap a pic with my hubby. He is not a big fan of being in photos so the fact that we have a tradition of always taking a selfie with the field, pitch, court, whatever in the background at sporting events is such a treat!

Despite its blurriness, the massive smiles in this photo tell you a lot about the event we were attending. Last November the Maori All Blacks played Canada in Vancouver (our town) and we were excited to see an All Blacks rugby team and most especially the Haka. The Haka is a traditional war dance or challenge in the Maori culture that the All Blacks teams perform before each rugby match. My hubby and I both wanted to see the Haka in person (we have seen it a lot on TV) and it was as goose bump raising as we thought it would be!

Continuing on the theme of excitement … to make this layout even more special is that it is my take on a Creative Scrappers sketch. Yes I said Creative Scrappers! Once in a while the CS team comes out of “sketch challenge retirement” and throws one up for us scrappers to play – stay tuned to Instagram so you dont miss these rare opps.

Here is a peek at the Creative Scrappers February Sketch Challenge sketch:

I closely followed to the sketch on this one; it was inspiration and a recipe for me.

I was looking for bright and fun and exciting pattern paper for this one. Pulling out my current favourite collection American Crafts, Crate Paper – Cool Kid I found it. I know this collection is technically for scrapping the wee boys in our lives but the colours are just so fun that I find myself reaching for it even for adult memories. Well played Crate Paper!

Without further ramble, here is my take on the sketch:

I was adamant that I wanted the Bella Blvd – Acrylic Words, Smile on the layout but didn’t have any white embellishments to balance it out in the a design triangle concept. I had some great wood veneers that were the right shape or symbol but I really wanted them to be white acrylic. Well a  short forehead slap text with another Scrapstorian design team member and I clued in that I can paint wood veneers. Duh! Thank you Cheryl.

Here is how I reverted the wood veneers to “white acrylic-like embellishments” (they are a little more yellow than the Bella Blvd Smile but overall I was super pleased)

1. picked the wood veneers I wanted to use (potty people, geo-tag, hearts, stars largely from my Studio Calico stash of wooden embellishments);
2. applied a layer of white Gesso to each (to make sure the paint really sticks)
3. applied a couple of layers of 13arts – Ayeeda Paint, Matte White
4. applied a coating of Stampin’ Up Crystal Effects

Overall I really enjoy how the layout reflected the fun we are having in the photo – it was so great to play again with Creative Scrappers again, wow they know how to do a sketch!

Brande

Supplies involved in this documented memory: Bella Blvd – Acrylic Words, Smile; Stampin’ Up Crystal Effects; 13arts – Ayeeda Paint, Matte White; American Crafts, Crate Paper – Cool Kid Collection; Bazzill Cardstock (Mysterious Teal); Bazzill Cardstock (Avalanche); Studio Calico Wood Veneers (Potty People, Punctuation, Geo-tags, Hearts); Bo Bunny, Double Dot (Poppy); Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tiny Attacher Stapler; and Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue