Thursday, January 3, 2013

Retrospection: Top 12 of 2012 ......


Happy, Happy New Year everybody ..... its hard to believe isn't it ? .... another year gone, another arriving  - and with it reflections of a year gone by.  2012 has been an amazing year, so many blessings and so many challenges, both to learn and grow from.  I believe that I have grown as an artist, and slowly I'm still unravelling my style and everchanging artistic direction.  I just would love to share with you my top 12 of 2012 ....... the projects that are special to me for either design aspects or personal reasons.

So here we go .........

No. 12 ...... "Girls are like Butterflies" ..... Created for Kaisercraft for CHAW2012.  I am NOT an apricot kinda gal.  Ever.  But for some reason this layout just seemed to work.  It made my top 12 - not necessarily because I love it, but because of my triumph over a color that is so foreign to me, and the fact that it actually worked !!!!  I still look at it in disbelief.



No. 11 .....  "Sparkle" designed for Heidi Swapp, showcasing her new resist papers.  This layout took forever.  Seriously.  Each flower, butterfly and leaf is die cut and either sprayed with mist or colored with Pan Pastels.  This layout pushed my patience to the end after hours of die cutting, not to mention my over developed left arm muscles from churning everything through the Cuttlebug.  "Sparkle" was also the catalyst for the purchase of my new e-bosser ...... say no more.



 No. 10 ..... "Dream your Life" created for my first blog post with Pink Paislee.  I just love the combination of diamonds, roses and text.  All my fav design elements wrapped into one layout.




No. 8 ...... "Pure Delight" ...... created for Prima CHAW2012.  I adore the pastel colors in this one, the contrast of shabby and clean, and the magic in Madison's smile.



No. 7 ....  "Kindy Girl" ..... another Prima CHA creation.  This layout reignited my love for bold color showcased on pale background.  It also recorded by baby's photo shoot the weekend before she started kindy.  


No. 6 ........  "Love, Mummy"..... are all you US girls cringing at the spelling .... lol?  I know I do when I see Mummy spelt Mommy !!!!!!  Anyhow, pure romanticism and everything I love to play with just rolled into one layout.  Lots and lots of ridiculous fussy cutting, I often sit back and just muse over the time i spent cutting images from paper.  It's kind of crazy.




No. 5 .... "Eight" created for Prima CHAW2012.  It's all about the layering and clustering.  I remember receiving the Almanac line and just swooning.  There are just some patterned papers you see and you know exactly what you want to create and what you want to do with them.


No. 4 .......  "Love is Patient" ........ it's all about the clock frame.  And the flowers.  It's always about the flowers.  lol.



No. 3 ...... "Hope" ..... something different for me, playing with paint and rainbows !!!!!  I just had this idea and went with it, and amazingly after attempting the painting 3 or 4 times, it finally worked.  In addition to the wonderful process, I had the pleasure of teaching this layout to over 50 girls in Adelaide over 4 classes.  It has wonderful association with my love of teaching and my love of color. 


No. 2 is kinda shared (I couldn't pick) ..... firstly "Sleeping Beauty"....... a huge embellished doiley on a 12x12 page.  I played with the Tea Thyme range from Prima, alot of cricut die cuts and my pretty lattice die from Cheery Lynn.  I love the way that the design didn't detract from the small photo, and the fact that I remember where the heck all those layers went when I went to glue them down. !!!!  


and "Mine" again with Tea Thyme.  I have this layout framed at home as it suits my shabby chic decor and the products are just sooooooo beautiful.  This photo of the girls and myself was taken by my husband as we were just sitting by the front door talking, I couldn't believe how beautiful it turned out.  (Im one of those girls who you need to take 100 photos just to get that two to pick from) !!!!!

Drumroll.... 
I am seriously amazed if you made it down this far..... lol

No 1 of 2012 .... "She is so Stunning" .... (well she is in my eyes !!!).  Ever have one of those layouts that just grabs your heart and wont let go ?  Well this one does that to me.  Created with Jodie Lee's Nature's Garden, its neutral palette and pretty embellishments fuse together to frame my sweet girl so beautifully.  To me it is the embodiment of why of love to scrap.




So that's it.  2012 in a creative nutshell.  Thankyou so much for sharing my journey with me, and I look forward to 2013 and every wonderful opportunity it might present ......