Today I’m sharing another quick decor project that can be used for Valentine’s Day or any other day of the year that you’d like to tell someone how you feel about them. This chalkboard-inspired sketched art can be left plain, colored with a variety of media, or even shrunken down to be used as a card. And since the sketch pens do most of the work for you, you can just design your page quickly in the Studio software and let your Silhouette draw everything out perfectly for you.
This page was particularly easy to design after I found this gorgeous mushroom sketch design in the store. After drawing a black rectangle the perfect size for my frame, I simply resized the mushroom design to fit in the lower left corner. Then I added a custom sentiment by opening the Text Style Menu (arrow 1), choosing a cute font (arrow 2), and adjusting the justification to Right(arrow 3).
I sent the complete design to my CAMEO to sketch on black cardstock using the silver sketch pen because I was looking for a slightly more subtle look than I could achieve using the white pen. When it was finished, the page looked like this…I liked the look, but thought a little chalky color could really make it special.
Using pastels and a light touch, I added just a hint of color to my mushroom scene and left my sentiment plain. If you don’t have pastels, colored chalk or waxy colored pencils would work well on the black background also.
I decided to make a second sketched piece that was a little more kid-friendly for my niece. This time I converted a regular cut design into my own sketch design. After placing this sweet tree trunk design on my page (arrow 1), I opened the Sketch Menu (arrow 2), and clicked on Pencil under the Basic Options (arrow 3) to add just a tiny bit of sketchiness. I quickly drew my own squiggly grass line using the Smooth Freehand Tool and added a little Pencil sketching to that as well.
Next, I added another custom sentiment by opening the Text Style Menu (arrow 1), choosing a cute font to match my image (arrow 2), and adjusting the text justification to center (arrow 3).
To make the sentiment a bit more playful, I clicked on my text (arrow 1), opened the Sketch Menu (arrow 2), and selected Continuous sketching (arrow 3). This made the sentiment a bit too blurry to read, so I went into the Advanced Options and decreased the width of sketched edge (arrow 4) for a good balance of sketchy and readability.
This time I used the metallic charcoal sketch pen because I knew I had increased the sketchiness substantially this time and would need an even more subtle color. My final design still turned out very bold and shiny…perfect for a 4 year old I think!
I did try coloring this piece as well…this time using metallic colored pencils. After I was finished, though, I made a second one, because I kinda preferred the monochromatic look. Of course, now I get to keep one and send the other as a gift. Have you played with the sketch pens yet?
Designs Used: