Sketch Challenge: Eco-friendly Wedding Album Page

I have been working on my DIY wedding scrapbook album for a while now, and the pages are slowly beginning to look nice. A few days ago i stumbled upon Scrap 365 and decided to participate in their monthly sketch challenge. I have never created a page based on a sketch, but it was fun and i think it is fascinating how everyone ends up with a completely different result based on the same layout. It's like Ikea furniture: everyone buys the same items, but no two rooms look the same.

This is the sketch:


And this is my result:



It is one of my "Getting Ready" pages. The zipper of my dress did not close in the first place, and in my best hysterical voice i yelled something like "Oh my God, it DOES.NOT.FIT!!!!" But of course it did, and these photos show my relief-after-panic laughter.

The layout looks a bit cramped because i'm trying to craft as eco-friendly as possible and prefer to cut my pages from used food packaging ( cereal boxes and such). Moreover, i really like that imperfect look.
So the size is only A5 instead of 12x12 ( 30x30).

I did not take photos while creating the page, as it was already late in the evening and dark outside, and nobody wants to see crappy pictures taken under artificial light ( nobody wants to see photos of my messy craft table aka our dinner table either). But this is what i did:

Although i have a huge stash of pretty, gorgeous, to-die-for scrapbook paper i rarely use it because it is too pretty and precious and i rather keep it for that one perfect occasion one day ( sounds familiar?). So for this layout i used pieces from my "junk paper" stash. Yes, i am of of those people who keep the wrapping paper from gifts they receive, because you know, it can be ironed and reused.

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while already know that turquoise is my favorite color and that we had a destination beach wedding in Florida; choosing our wedding color was an easy and given task. Therefore the album pages will mainly be in shades of turquoise and white.

So, at first i covered the piece of cardboard with Sparkle Mod Podge and a white paper napkin. Once it was dry i covered the napkin with turquoise crepe paper. Crepe paper is awesome because it is not color-fast, and applying a mixture of Mod-Podge and water creates a wonderful crinkled water-color effect.
The brown paper is baking paper and the turquoise paper is said used gift wrapping paper, both ripped into pieces. The white paper is actually paper twine that i untwisted.
The dots are punched from those papers too, and i included a few dots punched from an old craft catalog. I wanted to punch the baking paper as well, but it did not work and almost destroyed the punch. So, don't try that! Also, baking paper does not stick well because of its non-adhesive surface, so you have to sand it first with a rough sandpaper.
The "i do" sticker is one of the first things i cut with my new Cameo from a recycled piece of vinyl ( a leftover from a wall decal sheet). The dimensional effect is created with a  transparent pearl pen.
I also included bits of burlap. Those are from a cake topper i tried to make for my Etsy shop, but it was a fail.

By the way, Sparkle Mod Podge is awesome! At first i had no idea what to do with it, but now i LOVE it, especially in combination with turquoise!



So, that is my first sketch layout ever. What do you think?
I know it's not perfect and i could have done much better, but sticking to a determined layout is completely different from scrapping freestyle and it is actually much more difficult than i thought. But i like it anyway, and after all, scrapping is not about perfection but about the process and having a great time while crafting.

I will be sharing more pages once the album is finished. Next year or so.