Pages from my sketchbook

Practice, practice, practice. I am trying to draw and sketch as much as possible at the moment. The beauty of working in a sketchbook means that I don't have to worry about pages being finished or perfect - I can just play with whatever takes my fancy. Some of my drawings are from life, others from photographs. I am getting better at showing buildings, but I still find people really difficult.

I guess that's where the practice comes in, but I am still not brave enough to post my pictures of people online! Once they start looking like the person they were meant to be, perhaps.

Scrapbook Sunday 5: scrapbooking my pets

I love my pets. Mostly they love me too, but my relationship with Pep the chinchilla is based entirely on tolerance - on a good day, he'll tolerate my presence. I love grid-style layouts and it's the perfect way to use a photo that really isn't good enough quality to print any larger, as it was taken at night on my phone. Normally I don't use elements with Americanised spellings (favorite, ugh) but this one was too cute to resist and I decided it was small enough to get away with. 

If we're talking grammar, then 'Me and the chinch' is wrong too, but it flows nicely and the ampersand balanced out the title. Don't judge me.

Mum was a bit concerned that with all the small fluffies in this house, Morpheus was going to get left out. As if! He is still much loved and very spoiled, and sees all the other animals as there for his entertainment. When he's awake, that is.

Sometimes pages with white backgrounds feel too empty, but in the context of my album they make a nice counterbalance to all the bright colours and patterns. I was aiming for monochromatic here, but this is the best I could do - black, white, blue, beige, a few spots of red and some gold accents. Not very monochrome at all in fact. Never mind.

I am on a self-imposed ban from getting any more pets now, because we simply don't have the space (don't forget the degus who live in another cage.) I dream of a bigger house and room for at least another couple of chinchillas. And maybe a puppy...

Rounding up

This year has gone past so quickly, and it is with definite satisfaction that I am seeing my scrapbook albums build up. Now I am trying to round them all up - looking at the albums as a whole, seeing what gaps there are, checking through my photos to see if there's anything obvious I have missed. I never consider an album 'finished' because there are always other stories to tell, but I like to feel that there is a certain completeness to them.

One of my big projects that is still lingering is my album from our holiday to Somerset in August. I have maybe 500 photos lined up ready to go. I took lots of notes at the time, so even the things I have already forgotten won't be lost. To try and make progress with the album I'm trying a new tactic: instead of leaving the photos in envelopes until I'm ready to scrap them, I've put them all into divided page protectors into the album. No embellishment, no writing. This way I can see as I go what I'm dealing with and how much progress I'm making.

I'll be honest, it sort of looks a bit of a mess right now. More than a few photos are stored sideways and there are lots of gaps. Apart from that, an unexpected bonus has been that this method has prompted me to pull out some of my favourite photos for enlargements - and that's what this one is all about. I just love this photo, and I love that Chris and I went somewhere I've been on wonderful family trips to in the past and it was still every bit as good. And the fact this photo was taken on my phone? Cherry on the top.

Scrapbook Sunday ~4~

Hello there folks. Another Sunday means it's time for me to catch up with my scrapbook pages. I'm a bit behind on posting them, mostly because it is so gloomy at the moment that it's really hard to take a decent photo. So here are two pages to make up for it.

When we visited a local animal park, they let us walk through a lemur enclosure and get up close and personal. The lemurs really liked Chris' feet! There's much less patterned paper on this page than I would normally use, but I enjoyed using the journalling cards as elements on the page. I don't really do Project Life or pocket-page scrapbooking (although I reserve the right to change my mind at any point) but I love all the cute graphic elements that are made for those style of pages.

These letters are blank for you to add your own colour, and I couldn't resist getting a bit carried away with the watercolour paints. I do like feeling a bit artistic on my scrapbook pages.

I've started doing more double pages lately, stretching my creativity and helping me to make sure all those photos get in my album. I find something about the format quite challenging but I'm always pleased when one works. It means there's plenty of space for lots of full-size photos as well as lots of writing. And there was a lot to write on this page about another epic walk.

That sentiment card is kind of ironic, because there was definitely no laying around in the sun on this walk.

I am so glad I put dates on all my photos, because even since August I am starting to forget exactly when things happened. Must be a sign of getting old ;) Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside

Continuing on the seaside theme of my last page, here are some more low tide pictures. Except these are a special low tide, when the sea goes out far enough to let people walk out to the fort and back. I've seen photos and heard people talk about it, but I've never taken part. It was definitely wetter than I expected - the water came over my knees - but well worth it and totally exhilarating.

Still in the 'using up all my stash' mode - see that green sticker with a quote on it? I think that's been on my desk for about five years. Everything else is newer than that, in varying degrees. I guess sometimes it just takes time to be inspired.

Even on a beach page, I can't escape pink and green. And glitter, it seems.

Not quite as many embellishments as the previous page, but I am still using them up. I am really enjoying pushing myself to be creative, mixing products and colours while staying true to my own style. Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbook Sunday ~3~

Now that we're having a few wet and windy days, it's the perfect opportunity to stay in and catch up on this summer's pages. I have already filled my first volume for 2013, so it's definitely going to be a two-album year. It feels strange to go back and scrapbook good things that happened before Gran died. I feel like I should write all my journalling from the perspective of the sadness that was to follow, but I know that wouldn't really be accurate or helpful. Besides, focusing on happy memories helps me get through. Shall we move on to this week's page?

Enough embellishments? I think so! What started off as a plain and simple page went a bit crazy...and I love it! I used all sorts of bits and pieces that have been sitting in my bowl of embellishments for ages and it feels good. Hopefully it reflects the flotsam and jetsam of the beach at low tide.

Buttons, baker's twine, stamps, stickers, chipboard, washi tape, wood veneer, sequins...I think I have every trend covered.

Thanks for stopping by!