Playing with Digital

I started with a photo hubby took years ago in Dunsmuir. The flowers against the brick wall.

I added the woman from one of my photo cds.

The text and swirls are both brushes I downloaded online. No longer sure where they came from but my favorite places are

deviantart.com
getbrushes.com
damnedinblack.net

search for photoshop brushes and you will find dozens of sites!

And finally, I used a "scratches" overlay to give an even roughness to the finished project. Again, a free download. I am horrible. I download free sets of overlays and such, keep the one or two that I want and discard the rest. I lose track of where they came from. Here are a couple places I have frequented in the past.

digitalscrapbookplace.com
digiscrapdepot.com

I had fun playing around with layers, opacity and brushes. It was a fun way to relax and lose an hour or two. :-)

A is for Angels

I was reading the latest Somerset Holidays and Celebrations and saw this wonderful idea - the ABC's of Christmas. The example in the magazine was done 3x5 and stored in a box almost like a recipe box. I decided I liked the concept of a book instead with the tabs at the bottom like little footnotes.

I am using 4x6 manilla index dividers and like I said, putting the tabs on the bottom. I will eventually bind all the pages (plus covers) using my Bind-It-All.

So, I have 2 done. Not too bad since I just started yesterday.

A is for Angels

The angel girl came from the Vintage Postcards CD from American Image Gallery. The pair of angels are from the Victorian Images Volume Two, SummertownSun. And the "A" came from Memories of a Lifetime - Alphabets and Ornaments book and CD. Whew! that is a lot of image CDs!

I created the Peace on Earth banner using Photoshop Elements 5 and shaded by hand with pencils.

The swirly stamp in the upper left corner is from BoBunny.

I played with the girl a bit in Photoshop Elements and cut out her background. I hand tinted her wings with Twinkling H2os.

Everything is glued down on the divider that I had 'antiqued' with Distress Inks.


B is for Bells:

Not as much 'stuff' here. The B is again from the Alphabets and Ornaments CD. The bells from the Victorian Images. The bells are actually 3D. I printed the middle and right bells again on cardstock and cut them out, rounded them slightly and adhered them with 2 layers of foam tape. They are higher than the gold button clappers.

I used my crop-a-dile to add the eyelet and real bell to the bottom corner.

I am planning on adding lines from corresponding Christmas carols to the back of each page.

I'm all over the place!

I started painting Pam's apron. I have the top done. Next will come the pockets and finally the bottom. I am using a bookmaking theme since I know she makes tons of them and enjoys the processes.

Meanwhile, in my spare time, I am working on a bowl made from an old vinyl record. I melted it a couple months ago (when it was 110 outside!) I first put it in my husband's car sitting out in the driveway...just to see how bad it would melt....yeah, I was bored. I sat it on a large bowl and it sunk right down in! It wasn't even enough though so I fired up the grill and melted it some more. You have never had fun until you are standing in 100+ temps cooking a record on a grill! LOL

I am now in the decorating process. I am covering it with torn book pages.

Below is the bowl completely covered before I trimmed the edges. Next, I will be antiquing it....haven't done that yet. :-)

Today, the bad baby group decided to create a fatbook for one of our members that is battling a serious illness. She likes French images and postage (as well as lots of other things). I dug out my Oxford Impression Paris set for the woman and Eiffel Tower. The postmarks are from Hero Arts 'Tour De Luxe" set. I thought....what is more "French" then the Moulin Rouge? I hope it lifts her spirits and brings her healing along faster!

Done Wrecking!

I recently finished my wrecked journal swap. I mailed Jo Anne's journal back to her last week.

This one was rougher than the first. I found myself in a serious funk. Tucker's 17th birthday was August 10 and no matter what I did, I just couldn't stop missing him.

But, I am slowly pulling myself up and out of it. I still miss him and probably always will. He was "my baby".

So, one of the final pages I completed in Jo Anne's journal is below. He always was and always will be one of my favorite subjects. :-)

I know I took pictures of other pages I did in her book but heaven only knows what folder I downloaded them into! LOL I will probably stumble across them in a year or 2!

I am now into a new project...an apron swap. I am painting it up specifically for the owner and her likes. I will post pics soon.

I promise to not stay gone so long! :-)