Yearbook - November 2014

I am still quietly plugging away at the yearbooks. It is such a treat to have one printed. I don't know that I will ever get used to the thrill of paging through these and enjoying the memories all over again. I have also found them to be very useful for questions such as : " when did we...?" I've solved many a mystery along those lines by pulling a photo yearbook off the shelf!

2014 is close to finish now, just a few more pages to go. Here is one of the three pages for November -

The alpha for this is by SeatroutScraps over at GingerScraps. It is a free gift as part of her monthly challenge  'A Year of Blessings'  There is still time for you to get the alpha and use it on a page to earn a point towards the monthly kit. (complete 10 challenges = earn a free kit. I really like that the points can be accumulated over months, so that if you cannot complete all 10 in one month, you do not loose your progress. For me that is a big plus in taking part in challenges)

The kit is 'Turning Leaf'  an older kit, but I'm such a 'sucker' for those colours and it suited my page so well.

Spring Time Birthday

There is something very charming about a birthday in spring. Maybe because mine is when everything is very grey and very foggy, still...there is something about new flowers and birds singing that seems to make it a suitable time for a birthday.

I decided to use a Lili Of The Valley digital stamp for my 'spring feel' card. The one used for this card is called 'Spring'

I separated the frame from the image and also erased the leaves that come down from the top of the frame in the original image (see HERE) because I wanted to add a little dimension by including die cut and punched flowers. I copied the butterflies from the 'Summer' digi image (HERE) and added those around the figure.

The frame is popped up on foam tape for dimension and it also gave me a place to attach the banner greeting (best wishes)

A tiny bit of glitter on the butterfly wings and the headband finishes off the image coloured with Derwent water colour pencils and colour pencils. I also added tiny floral sequince and half pearls to the punched flowers at the top.

The easel card format allowed for the rest of the greeting to be displayed as well.

That pretty cool font used for the greetings is a free personal use font, called 'Pea Anna Banana'

I hope the card travels safely across the oceans...

Colouring - Secret Garden

Of course I had to try Johanna Basford's colouring books, so when I saw 'Secret Garden' at my local store last year, I picked up a copy to give it a try.

I must say that her art work is of the highest quality and I am really enjoying this book.

This double page spread was the first pages I completed - within days of buying the book, I must add...

I used this colour swatch - just love these colours! You can find this one and lots of palettes over at Design Seeds

I basically looked at the pencils I had available and found colours to match as closely as possible. I ended up starting with Derwent Watercolour Pencils, and layering dry pencils over top. Except for the Derwents, most of the pencils are so old, they are no longer available. 

I had a hard time taking a clear enough picture of this page, but you get the idea - I hope.

I added a light line of silver Sharpie marker on the bee's wings. The Sharpies bleed through so one needs to move fast and draw lightly.

I also added a bit of glitter paint to the wings. It is an iridescent paint made by FolkArt. It is hard to capture on camera because it is so subtle.

Finally I added some colour with the water colour pencils to areas in the background. The paper takes water colours remarkably well. I did use a water brush which is not very wet and I also find that over time the slight buckling of the paper flattens back out again. I was very glad for that as I really like working with water colour.

I have quite a few more pages done in this book and I'll be posting more in the future.

Visiting With Family

Oh my...those were the days and the memories! 1978 almost wants to seem like a life time ago.

I used an Easter themed bundle 'Egg-Citing Easter' by Cathy Krenek for this page. The picture has such an odd selection of colours that I was glad to find a kit that would co-ordinate with it all!

Birthday Girl

Something about this little girl reminds me of myself when I was little. Only of course that little dress would have been the worse for wear were it on me...sitting still and staying out of trees was not my strong point.

I got the image at Lili of The Valley. At the time it was a give-away on their Facebook page. I cannot locate it on the website though, so maybe it is no longer available, but there is still loads of others to choose from (and at this posting all are on sale)

I coloured the image using coloured pencils, using colours to match the designer paper (from an old Provocraft pad)

I die cut a little doily for the sentiment and popped it up with a bit of foam tape to give the easel something to kick against.The die is from an Art-C set Doilies and Lace, that I picked up from my local Michaels

And finally a bit of glitter in a few places to make this festive for my little friend on her birthday.

Looking at the close-up I see that it would be good to just retrace those lines on the facial features a bit, so they will be solid black once more, and the card is ready to go in the mail!

100th Birthday

That sure is a milestone!

I'm still working away at scrapbooking the family story. It is so wonderful to have so many pictures. This one was taken on my Great-grandma's 100th Birthday.

I used a favourite kit of mine for this one..do you also find yourself going back to the same kits over and over? I sure do!

Cathy Krenek's 'Love Always' kit

Valentine Kitty

Happy Valentine's for those of you who make this a special day...I thought I would pop this little kitty on hubby's desk this morning...
I'm pretty sure it'll give him a smile to start the day with.

I'm also entering it into the TiddlyInks Love Challenge #198 for February

(edited to add - this one 'won' the challenge...which means several more fun images in my 'collection' YAY!)

I mean who can resist a face like this?

I used an image from 'Set of Kittys' by TiddlyInks - aren't they just adorable?

I opted for a basic stand-up card for easy display on a desk. The colouring was done with colour pencils and the sentiment is from the Penny Black 'Every Which Way' transparent stamp set.

Come on over and join the February Challenge!
Have a nice day!