Music is Life - Scrapbook Layout

Hello.

I switched up the order of my posts just a little bit today, as I promised a new card, but haven't yet finished editing videos. If you visited hoping to see that, please be flexible and join me again in a few days for that post.

Meanwhile, just recently I started trying out some new techniques for scrapbooking - at least new to me! I've used these before for card making, but not for my scrapbooks. I've been a more traditional scrapbooker for years, but now I'm attempting to enter the 21st Century!  :-)

I've used a sketch for this page from my newly-purchased book, A Year of Sketches: 52 Scrapbook Sketches - 2013, by Lisa Echerd of Lisa E Design. I can highly recommend this sketchbook to give you some fabulous layout ideas for any number of photos. On top of that, there are links to Lisa's highly popular YouTube process videos. Check it out!

Sample page from Lisa Echerd's newly-published Sketchbook

Here's the page I made from Lisa's wonderful sketch. As you can see, I switched it up just a little bit here and there.  I started with a plain white 12" x 12" piece of cardstock. I used a painting stencil, 30599 Debbie's Floral, from Plaid Folk Art, and applied Ranger Distress Ink in Broken China and Peeled Paint colors to make the flower "frames" for my photos. Then I used some teal Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist to add extra color and interest to the page.

I affixed the two photos of my husband and sister-in-law on a navy blue piece of cardstock, and cut out two "tickets" and two deckle-edge circles for embellishment.

And did I mention I'm so very proud of them both for pursuing their love of music? They're both very talented musicians, and I love it when I get to hear them play. As a side note for any of you who may have played an instrument years ago, but gave it up as an adult, I hope you'll check out the New Horizons International Music Association. This group has spread across the world, offering new opportunities to older musicians, or even those who have never played before. I'm happy to say I helped start the Catawba Valley New Horizons Band in Hickory, NC, and it's still going strong.

But back to my page. I located some complementary designer paper for the horizontal strips and printed out some journaling on vellum. I decided to go for a transparent paper for journaling so that I didn't cover up my great stencil pattern on the bottom right corner. Finally, I added the title, Music is LIFE, along the bottom of the photos.

I must say, starting from a sketch made this page go very quickly. I'm absolutely delighted with the results! I enjoyed using some of my card techniques on this scrapbook page as well. I could get used to this!

Well, that's it for another day. Thanks for joining me, and I hope you'll come again soon. Happy crafting!

Get "Well"

My mother sent me an obituary from my hometown a few days ago. A "girl" I went to high school with passed away this week. It isn't the first time someone my age has died, and I suppose it's to be expected as I advance in years.

I hadn't seen my high school classmate in years - and didn't know she'd been sick. How sorry I am that life was so short for her - although who's to say?  Perhaps we assume that more years is better. Yet, sometimes we see (or hear of) people who do more living in 10 or 20 years than some of us will ever do in 90.  I hope she packed a lot of living into her 55 years.

As I read her final tribute, I began to ponder the "Get Well" cards I put in the mailbox just Monday morning. There were three of them. One was for cancer, one for a stroke, and the third was for a cousin hospitalized for days with severe bronchitis.  

It occurred to me today, though, that we probably should send out more of these than we do.  There are many more sicknesses than just those of the body, although there are plenty of those to go around. There are sicknesses of the mind, the spirit, the heart, the world, etc.  Do we send out enough cards to those who suffer from one of these? Why not?

It seems to me that the world has a serious lack of encouragement. Physical illnesses can generally be seen, but what about the others? That may be more difficult to detect.  What does it mean to us to "get well"?  Is the sentiment only for the body?  Would someone not physically ill understand if they received a get well card?

Today I'm featuring a get well card - in the traditional sense. This digital image is called "Drenched" and is sold by From the Heart Stamps. I truly enjoyed coloring this darling image with my Copic Sketch markers in primarily purple and gold colors. It isn't visible in this picture, but I used Glossy Accents to make the raindrops and water puddle shine.

 

The image is die cut using Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eight - and offset, with the left border trimmed. The purple Bazzill textured cardstock is punched with Fiskars' Sunburst border punch, which appears to be discontinued. The punch is used on the front of the card - and is repeated on the inside, using a staggered orientation to simulate the appearance of streaming water. I really enjoyed this effect!

As I look forward to the arrival of 2014, I making a resolution to "get well." While I have several chronic ailments, and it would be nice to be rid of them, my meaning will extend far beyond the physical. I'd like to attend to my spiritual health, the love(s) in my life, my attitude, and more. I'd like to focus on what's really important to me so that the world, whatever that may be next year, won't beat me to a pulp!

How about you?  What do you resolve to do, be, or have in 2014? What are your dearest desires?

Hope to see you back here soon. Thanks for stopping by!

A Rose Blooms in Summer

One of my favorite stamp sets is Fifth Avenue Floral from Stampin' Up. My favorite stamp from the set is a beautiful rose. It's taken me quite some time to figure out how to color it with Copic markers, but I'm getting better now, I think.

I thought it might be interesting to see the progression of how I colored the rose to make this colorful birthday card. I hope you enjoy seeing it come together.

 

 

Here is the uncolored stamped image:

 

 

The uncolored image provides very little dimension. If we've seen a rose, we know of course that it has a number of layers and delicate textures. In order to start providing some of that dimension, I began the coloring process by underpainting the image with a neutral gray color (Copic N2).

 

 

 

 

Already, it seems the rose has become multi-layered. The underpainting provides just enough contrast to start showing layers - and also serves to provide some guidance about where shadows will fall in the finished image. In this case, the light source is assumed to be coming from the front right of the image. All shadowing should be consistent with that light source.

 

 

 

Now the rose is a beautiful pink (R81 and R85). Areas that were previously underpainted in gray have now been accented in a dark pink color. Some blending of color has been done, but dark areas continue to be dark. The rose continues to have dimension, but it is once again unclear where the light source is. Additional work is needed to restore a sense of light.

 

 

The final bit of "coloring" is shown in the image above. Actually, this effect was achieved by using the colorless blender marker (0) to move color around on the rose petals. Some people erroneously believe that the colorless blender marker removes color from an image; this is not true. The colorless blender simply moves color away from the marker tip to surrounding bits of the image. It is then important to do further blending to avoid dark lines where the ink has moved.

 

Finally, one last technique was used to bring dimension to the rose. The final image is actually two roses that were colored identically and then cut apart. The center and outer edges of the rose were cut from image 1, and then the middle section of the rose is from image 2. The pieces were then re-assembled using foam dimensionals to pop each piece up from the surface of the card.

 

The card uses Bazzill cardstock, Spellbinders ticket die-cut in two sizes, Mister Huey honeydew misting spray, and Heidi Swapp's 6x6 lattice spray stencil. Finally, the birthday greeting is from SU!'s Itty Bitty Banners. 

 

I hope you enjoyed this brief explanation of how this lovely rose bloomed this summer. Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for some scrapbooking fun!