Wake up child...







Very red...



Playing with paint and markers

Just for fun...

I found this lovely Idea Book by Anna Sui online. It contains designs by the super talented fashion designer, printed paper that can be used for your own designs, quotes by Anna Sui and blank pages to draw or write on. It's a journal keeper's dream.



This made me look further to see if I could find some more Anna Sui gems. I stumbled upon this lovely set of note cards in the shape of paper dolls. They are all Anna Sui designs and come with envelopes and some stickers.





The paper dolls are the perfect size for a journal page or small She Art canvas. I played a bit last week and this was the end result.







I also had some play time with my new Clearsnap Crafters Mini's. I love the vibrant colours and amazing texture it adds to a page.



I will try some lighter, brighter colours next time.

I absolutely loved this lesson by Dina Wakley. I think the super short video and simple technique drew in a lot of Life Bookers who were looking for some inspiration to get going again. It definitely worked for me!

The lesson was simple. Write down the things that are weighing you down and “put it in the dress”. The stress is now in the dress.

I know I am sharing my Life Book lessons in an odd order. The reason is that I am behind on sharing and... well, it makes sense in my head anyway. Another reason is that I am also behind (so, so far behind) on the lessons and have given up on completing them in order. So it doesn't really matter in what order I share them.

This lesson by Tamara Laporte was probably the most fun I have ever had doing some “actual” painting (as opposed to applying random products on top of each other until it looks good). It was a bit scary at first with all the shading and fine detail but Tam's explanations are so super detailed that a 5-year old (and even I) can follow it.

We started off cutting our paper to form a fold-out booklet that will later be added to our Life Book. A mixed media background was created using mostly stencils and sprays and the quirky birds drawn and painted on each of the “pages” of the booklet.



The last bird was the most difficult for me. Tam wanted a birdie that was more pretty than quirky. I'm afraid mine looks just as whimsical as the rest. But that's okay too.



The end result is a booklet that folds open to reveal a series of quirky birds.



The idea behind the lesson was to use words from a song or poem that grounds us. I chose the lyrics from “How He Loves” by John Mark McMillan, placing random words and phrases on the birdies and on the front page.

I found this gorgeous heart shaped frame in the gift section of our local supermarket. It is so divine and has so many possibilities. I bought 2 but hope to find more when I go there again. With its open back it can be used as a photo frame or a printers tray.



I decided to use my first one to display my daughter's fairy collection.



The bottom “shelves” cannot be used to display anything in due to the pointed shape so I chose to cover it up with the gorgeous birdies. It is a wooden die cut that I purchased at the Factory Shop Expo 2 weeks ago. I covered it with gesso and painted with gelatos.

The fairies are from my daughter's collection. The middle section looks a bit unbalanced and I need to find something with a little more height on the right hand side. Other than that, I am extremely happy with the result and so is my daughter. She keeps commenting on it every time she walks past it in her bedroom.

Yes, I've made some more progress on the Progress Album

This is Grandpa's (Oupa's) page. I used mostly paper from Bo Bunny's Serenity collection, a lovely Japanese-style collection in the most beautiful blues and reds.



I think I have about 5 or 6 pages left to complete. 1 or 2 of them might be double page spreads. Wow, I can't remember when last I did one of those! More updates soon.

More progress on the Progress Album. I have come to the conclusion that deadlines don't work for me; ultimatums do! Since I've told myself that I am not allowed to scrap any other photos until this Progress Album is complete I have been at it like a mad woman.
No, seriously. I am enjoying the feeling of accomplishment, seeing things get out of the planning stage and into... well, the album.

These photos were taken on DD's second birthday. (So what if it's 6 years late, right?) I still remember how excited she was when she walked in through the front door and saw the huge wrapped present in the middle of the living room. The smaller presents ended up being more interesting but the large one, a cute little bookshelf, is still in her bedroom to this day. And it is full to its capacity. I had to rearrange her bedroom last weekend to make space for more books. She is such a little bookworm.



It is a very simple layout. I figured with all the bright colours I will stay away from my usual layers and keep the design fairly simple.

I used the sketch and word from Bird is the Word. It's been a while since I've played along at BITW. The sketch immediately caught my eye when I paged through my sketch diary (a post for next week, maybe?) looking for a sketch for these photos.

During Week 18 Dawn DeVries Sokol presented a lesson on creating a Page of Affirmations.

We started off by creating a mixed media background, then added a picture of ourselves and filled the page with graffiti style writing. The words Dawn used were uplifting and encouraging words and phrases to remind ourselves that we are awesome, creative, strong and can do anything we want.

I decided that I don't have to think of things to tell myself. The Bible tells me all those things, so why not use Scripture to confirm the things I need to be reminded of every now and again?

I used verses from Psalm and Song of Solomon and added some lyrics by Misty Edwards.



The page received quite a few likes and comments on Life Book's private facebook page and even a private message from someone who wished to thank me for giving her the courage to be more open with her faith. All I could think was, “wow! Make a stand for God and look at what He will do for you”.

I started a “Progress album” for my daughter before she turned 4. (She is 8 now.) The album covers milestones and family photos from birth up to her 4th birthday. I have now set a deadline for myself. The album HAS to be completed by the end of the year. I actually want to go as far as to say that I will not scrap any other photos before this album is complete.

All the photos are printed and placed in the sleeves where the pages will be. It is simply a matter of scrapping the pages. Easy, right? HA! I am one one those scrapbookers who want to scrap what I want to scrap when I want to scrap it.

Well, progress has been made. These photos are from Christmas 2006. Karla was a year and 9 months old.
(Just look at the short hair. Her hair only started growing when she was 6. Now she is EXTREMELY proud of her long hair and refuses to have it cut.)



The layout was based on the sketch by Sketchabilities.