Spring Time

Hi everyone!  Around this time of year, I find myself yearning for spring.  The winters here are long and quiet, with most of the birds having left to go south, to warmer climates.  So I thought I'd make myself happy scrapping some memories of spring weather, and at the same time, show you that the Life Isn't Perfect collection can also be used for happy layouts!  

I chose the background paper because it had a happy feel to me, it tied in with all the water in my photos, and the colours remind me of spring here in Alberta.

To start, I knew I was going to be doing a mixed media layout, so I painted clear gesso over the whole sheet, in case I should want to add any pastes or paints.  (In the end I chose not to.)  Then I took out some new Distress Oxide sprays that I've been dying to use and sprayed them on a piece of water colour paper.  The colours I used were Wilted Violet, Cracked Pistachio, and Fossilized Amber.

This took several layers of spraying and drying, but once I was happy with it I tore it into strips about 1 inch wide and glued it on the patterned paper.  (I did this while the back of the paper was still slightly damp, to make the tearing easier.)

As I work on a project I quite often take a picture of it during the process to see if it is looking the way I'd hoped it would.  In the collage below, I was second guessing myself about whether I should add the daffodil image, but after comparing the two photos side by side, I decided it was a yes!

Another thing I do when I first start working with a paper collection, is to make myself a chart of Copic colours that I feel coordinate with the collection.  Then if I choose to colour an image, as I did with the daffodils, I will have colours that go well with the paper collection.  It's nothing fancy, but it sure helps!

The image that I coloured is a digital stamp by Power Poppy called "Dancing with Daffodils" and let me tell you... I am dancing when spring finally arrives here!!

I love birds, and the wonderful thing about spring here, is the sound of the massive flocks singing their way back to Alberta, where they will nest and raise their babies.  It felt appropriate for me to embellish my layout with some beautiful birds that I created from a kit by gluing layers together and popping them up between each layer with foam tape.  Wild Whisper's wood veneer pieces made a perfect accent for them.  The Spring Time title was created using the Back to Basics Capital Letters  stamp set and stamping with Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink.

This glimpse of my other bird embellishment, shows you all the layers that are used to create it.

I think I have pretty "hardy" grandchildren, don't you agree!!  They are playing at one of the playgrounds in town and that big yellow thing in the photos is a slide.  I'm pretty sure that after sitting in an ice cold puddle, a big cup of hot chocolate was next on the agenda!!

Here's looking forward to a happy spring for us all... with lots of puddles to jump in, water to splash, and birds singing in the trees!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linda

Oh... and a reminder... you have until 11:59 MST time tomorrow night (Feb 28th) to enter Wild Whisper's February challenge.  Go here and join the Wild Whisper Community for lots of inspiration and encouragement.  THEN, go here to enter the challenge.  You don't need to use Wild Whisper products, but if you DO, you receive two entries into the draw.  The prize is a stamp set and package of ephemera... a GREAT way to start your collection of Wild Whisper goodies, if you haven't already!!