In the Spring...

 

       Behold! The winter is past;
   the rains are over and gone.
 Flowers appear on the earth;
   the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
   is heard in our land.

Song of Solomon 2:11,12

The March Assignments for the ‘Create, Share & Inspire’ site - for which I do those things - were to make the following projects.  I’ll share the two projects I’ve made - one a Layout - one a Card -

The requirements for the Layout/Mini Group were:  Use a Spring theme, journaling, a picture and a creative title.  The requirements for the Card Making Inspiration Group were:  Use a Spring theme, pastel colors of greens, blues, yellows and include a stickpin or dangle charm.  I decided to use the same color scheme for both projects, with a few changes so that they look quite different. 

Here is the Layout - with Comments on what I did to follow:

I used coordinated papers from s.e.i., and although it’s supposed to be for Babies, I changed it up and by adding a few touches, I made it ‘more elegant.’ 

            *  For the title and journaling I used a few lines of a very long, well-known poem, “Locksley Hall,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson:  

                        “In the Spring a livelier Iris changes on the burnish’d dove; 

                          In the Spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love.”

            *  I used the light green as the base piece, with the light blue and yellow as accents and elements.  I used my stitching tool from WeRMemoryKeepers  and faux-stitched around the edge with gray marker pen.

            *  I punched around the edge of a piece of Translucent paper with a Martha Stewart set of lacy punches.  I smudged around the edge with light green chalk ink.

            *  I cut a circle of the light yellow, punched around the edge with a Fiskars Circle Border  punch, embossed it in my Cuttlebug, then smudged it with several chalk inks in grey, beige and pearl.

             *  I used a picture of two young people which I have in an original copy of a 1901 ‘Delineator’ women’s magazine that I found in an Antique Store last year.  I’ve made scans of many of the wonderful photos in it and will use them on future projects!  I scanned the page, then in PSE 8 I changed the color to ‘true’ B/W, then changed the Saturation and Lightness until I found the shade of blue I wanted to print it in.

            *  I cut a circle frame with flourishes and its shadow in two shades of gray.  I added jewels from Recollections.  I matted these with the light blue shade of paper that I’d ripped the edge of and smudged with gray chalk ink.

            * Across the bottom, I put a piece of the light yellow that I’d punched with an EK Success punch.  I then wrinkled it and smudged it with the gray, beige and pearl chalk inks.

            *  I cut the leaf flourishes out of green/white print paper with my Cricut/SCAL2.  I made the larger yellow flower from ribbon.  I sprayed it and the smaller flowers ($ Store) with Opalescent spritz and added jewels and pearls from Recollections to them and to the flourishes. 

            *  I used the ‘negative space’ cut from the circle frame as the journaling piece and printed the poem selection on it.

            *  I printed the title on the light yellow paper, cut it with a 2’ circle punch and smudged it with the chalk inks. 

Here is the Springtime Card I made, with Comments on it following:

            *  I used dark brown cardstock for the card base, so that the pastels would show and it would coordinate with the nest twigs.

            *  I used the same punch for the yellow trim at the bottom.  (By the way, I saved all of the tiny ‘lily-shaped’ pieces from punching and you’ll see them in future projects…as Easter is coming soon!)

            *  I used the same punch on the white trim at the top that I’d used on the Translucent paper for the layout.

            *  I pleated a strip of the green/white paper for the middle section.

            *  I covered the ‘seam’ with green grosgrain ribbon and added a bow.

            *  I found the bird’s nest online a long time ago.  I actually changed the color of the original in my PSE 8 program to be brown twigs and light blue eggs.  I printed it and then lightly ‘greened’ the leaves with colored pencil.  I cut it with an oval template and mounted it on the blue/white paper frame cut on my Cricut/SCAL2.  (I was surprised that my ‘printed blue eggs’ matched the blue paper so well!!)

            *  I made a mini-stickpin from a quilting pin (!) - the head of which I covered with silver glitter glue - then added a tiny organza yellow rose, spritzed with gold, and a silver butterfly which I then put  in the bow.

            *  I added a small yellow title tag that I made with my scalloped circle punch and then trimmed with my scallop scissors.  I added a gem.

            *  I printed the verse I decided to use (see above) on the light yellow paper and cut it to fit inside - waiting for a brief note and signature…

What things and what colors do YOU think of ‘in the Spring’??  Share with us!