Before I knew about sketches, I used to sit there for a couple hours at a time trying to figure out photo/paper placement on my layouts. Then one day I found out about using sketches and decided to give them a try. I instantly became hooked and now I can't seem to scrap unless I have a sketch in front of me. About 1/3 the time I still come up with my own layout, but the ones made with sketches just seem so much more balanced and better looking. And I seem to enjoy the process more if I have a sketch in front of me - it's like I can go straight to having fun picking out my papers and embellishments. Anyone else in the same boat? Please don't tell me I'm the only one..

You're not the only one, it happened the same to me...
I used to spend hour and even days trying to figure out how to arrange pics and stuff on a layout, luckily I discovered sketches and everything ran moother
Anyway, in some days of awesome inspiration I maganed to make a layout without the help of any sketch, but those days are not really often, LOL!

Nope, you're not the only one. I need ALOT of help since I have no imagination or creativity of my own, yet I love to scrapbook, imagine that lol ... while the gallery is my go-to for inspiration, I also have several artists faved that post lots of sketches so there's not much of a search if I already have their work on my stream.

I use sketches and do scraplifts all the time, only once in a blue moon am I inspired enough to do my own

I love sketches ... I don't use them exclusively, but I find them very helpful when I'm feeling blocked.

Pagemaps is my fave

I was just thinking about posting a thread in the opposite direction.

I was so thrilled when I first discovered sketches, and I've been collecting them on my pinterest. But there are so many of them out there I feel like anything I come up with, somebody would've sketched it somewhere, meaning any layout I do is a sketch. So why do I need a sketch?

And I never seem to be able to adhere to a sketch or someone else's layout no matter how hard I try. They end up looking completely different. One of my problems is I can never find the right combination of photo orientations to fit the sketch. For example, last Halloween I have 3 portrait and 2 landscape photos, and for the life of me I can't find a good sketch that does that. I understand you don't have to follow the layout exactly, but when you change photo orientation it makes a HUGE difference, especially if the photo sizes are large.

Another example- last night I had 2 square photos to work with, and I remember there are TONS of 2-photo sketches. The beauty of square photos is you can work them into portrait or landscape photo layouts. But my chosen background paper are already in sections, so I can't work with any sketches that I bookmarked. Then I have this giant rub-on I HAVE to use, because it goes perfectly with the paper. Just little things like these that always prevent me from following.

I was going to post something and ask if anyone else feel sketches are useless haha! I still like to bookmark them on pinterest though. They inspire me although I can't follow them most of the time.

Me, Me, Me! I rarely create a layout without a sketch first. Whether it is someone else's sketch or a layout that I found that I liked and turned into a sketch, I can't live without sketches! They tell me what size to cut my papers and what sizes I need to make my photos. And my best friend for sketches is graph paper...1 square equals 1 inch so I can make everything proportional! And I love reusing sketches...the layouts never look the same! Like these three layouts, all inspired by the same sketch but each has its own look and feel.

My Zoo By Godschild94

Adventure No. 87: Kernel Cooper's Corn Maze By Godschild94

Giving Thanks By Godschild94

• godschild94 Said:

I love sketches, most of the time I use them and somedays when I'm feeling creative I manage a LO of my own

My favourite sketches to use are by Liz Qualman and Beggahuna!!!

Sometimes I scraplift just for placement of paper.

I love sketches!! I find that I can scrap faster and use more of my stash and scraps when I scrap with sketches.

• yelppuppy Said:

There is no need to "follow" a sketch to the letter if you don't want to. Make the photos you have work. Take out what doesn't fit from the sketch. There are no rules... If it inspires you do branch out why not? I wouldn't call that useless by any means.

I almost always use a sketch. I have 3 index boxes of sketches I have printed and mounted on individual cards. I have them sorted by the number of pictures on the sketch so when I pick my pictures I go to that section, pull out all of the sketches, and choose one that I like. It saves me a lot of time, My final product may not look anything like the sketch but I get my inspiration there.

I do not like sketches. When I first heard about them I thought this is great, but I never could get any use out of them. I don't need help with placement of pictures or paper. I need help with placement of embellies. Sketches don't work for this. I find it more useful to look in the gallery and find ideas and inspiration from finished layouts.