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From a Plate of Carrots to a Page that Bubbles!
Hey hey hey! Can you believe that January is almost done and dusted already? I have been full on getting things accomplished and, weirdly, I am feeling a teensy bit sad that most of the month is already marked off. Nonetheless, today I have a new sketchPLATE for you and true to the name sketchPLATE the inspiration for this template comes from a haute cuisine plating photograph would you believe!?! I love the fine art of haute cuisine and have tried a few plating experiments of my own over the years … lots of practice still ahead.
…ooOoo…
Slight detour for a moment: for today’s sketchPLATE offering, I have temporarily done away with the store coupons and reverted to the download via email link; the store had a glitch and downloads are deactivated while I decide whether or not to renew the license (preferred option) or go with another e-commerce option (unknown app to me and I feel nervous about starting with another option right now) … stay tuned.
…ooOoo…
So back to the sketchPLATE … the plating photo that I chose to work with for this sketchPLATE is this one, originally found on Pinterest, by Signe Birck:
Now come on!
I reckon that that plate of carrots has gotta be the best darned plate of carrots ever seen!
Given that I am a total carrot lover (I eat at least two whole fresh carrots each day on most days!) I just couldn’t resist! Which of course resulted in this slightly quirky penciled draft … a bit messy but I really like it especially given it’s odd origin in terms of what most digiscrappers would expect to see for an inspiration piece.
Looking at the photo I kind of leaned into those gorgeous circles and the curved positioning around the arc of the plate as I was sketching, adding design elements on the fly … although the Chef would be horrified to hear that particular word I am sure!
Here’s what happened on paper:
The conversion process of turning it into a sketchPLATE was an interesting challenge as I focused on retaining circular shapes as the main design element. Usually I use square or rectangular shapes, so circles was a nice departure from the norm.
Still, I felt that I needed to clean it up a little from my initial smudged “brush” ideas and so I grabbed an element from my old Floriade Collection (originally a collaboration kit with a fellow designer, Amy Teets) and morphed it into a bold backdrop image statement. I also created the stitched circle especially for this template … I didn’t count how many stitches I painstakingly hand-placed as I was going along, but there’s a lot of ’em! If you want to count ’em up, please, be my guest!!! 
Adding some confetti as nodding recognition of the sauces that the Chef added to the plate, as well as to attain cohesion, was a nice way of drawing the composition together. 
Once I had the basic structure sorted and started scrapping, initially I wanted to and was actually working on retaining orange as the main pop of colour on the page. However, that just didn’t work for some reason. Sometimes I struggle with using orange effectively, so I messed around with different colours for a while before settling on the purple and pink paisley colours as I built the tiny flowers, little leaf sprays, and shiny heart elements.
Presenting the page that was born from a photo of an artsy plate of carrots:
Family Memories
During our Great Australian Road Trip in 2017-2018 we visited many National Parks; Minnamurra National Park was one of the more memorable ones. As we were walking the boardwalk trail I came across a bunch of berries strewn across the walkway grill; they reminded me very much of the berries that we had seen in Wolemi National Park although these were a little larger and slightly less purple. I have a passion for learning about Australian flora and bush foods and have sampled many as well as foraged when appropriate.
This photo holds a very special place in my heart as it was amongst some of the first photos that I took of my sons and I using the selfie stick that I had bought a few weeks beforehand but not really used much up to that point. Sometimes I am embarrassingly so slow to keep up with the new gizmos that hit the market!
And so, this photo, even though you can’t see the berries that I am talking about, remind me very much of being in that place with my sons and talking with the rangers who were there that day and in particular the one who also has a keen interest in Australian flora. Unfortunately he could not identify what the berry was although he said he was going to follow up on it.
The atmosphere there that day was muggy, which is perfect for the sub-tropical rainforest that it is, and very beautiful being a stunning example of the very few remaining pristine sub-tropical rainforests that still exist here in Australia as, sadly, nearly all of it has been lost to either farming, housing, mining, logging or other destructive actions. 
Because we were on a hike that day, the bold background statement image is a compass on this page, a pointer of true north for me to what is most important in my life, and the triangle tag is evocative of a basic location tag.
I decided to go with muted colour behind the photograph so that the main focus would remain on the photo and the “berries”, and the photo I cranked up the contrast and made the colours rich and deep, paying homage to the forest.
As an aside: Speaking of plates, when I became engaged, my fiancé and I held our Engagement Party at a fabulous Greek restaurant. We did this because my then future husband’s step-father is from that region of the world and his Mother and extended family is widely known in the Community here in Perth. And, as was custom … we broke plates! My fiancé smashed them all over the dance floor and then jumped up on a table and danced for me. Well, when we got married I had a beautiful Mikasa dinnerware set on my Bridal Register and the Community blessed us with the whole collection! The set is now long gone, as is my husband. Rest in Peace. 
However, my wish is to be able to get a new, even more beautiful Mikasa set. Sighing. Praying that my wish comes true.
Wedding Gift Ideas: Mikasa® Fine Dinnerware & Accessories
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Overall, the page kind of bubbles with so many circles! and I love the subtle sense of flow that engenders.
Presenting sketchPLATE 0009 for your scrapping pleasure:
For the downloads, I have simplified this sketchPLATE somewhat from previous offerings, combining all the files into the one convenient download for you, including:
- the .TIF file version of the layered template;
- the .PSD file version of the layered template;
- the separated .PNGs files on 12×12 transparent backgrounds.
So, without any further ado, here ’tis …
Free downloads for this products are now finished, however, you can now add it to your cart together with this week’s shopping. 
So whaddya reckon? Nice page coming up, wot? Please link us up to your Facebook or Instagram post with the credit tag @anitarichardsdesigns so that we can take a look!
Lastly, and certainly not leastly, thank you! Thank you for participating in today’s sketchPLATE Saturday, part of our ongoing Digital Scrapbooking Projects & Inspiration series. The complete index for previous sketchPLATE Saturday Projects can be found on the sketchPLATE Saturdays home page.
Enjoy!
