Ah, April. I pulled out some photos of our Easter table: painted eggs, chocolate eggs, furry yellow chicks, and I made a start on a page. And then, later on in the day, I picked up my book (How To Tell Your Story So The World Listens by Bobette Buster - excellent) and spotted a note about Shakespeare's description of what he called "the uncertain glory of an April day..
which now shows all the beauty of the sun
And by and by a cloud takes all away"How perfect!
Whenever I think of what April means to me, I think about the weather. Because in April I always seem to be wearing the wrong thing. Every year I think it'll be different. Every year I think this'll be it: I'll step out of the house wearing my raincoat - because it's raining - and everyone else will be raincoated up too. And then I discover the rest of the world has gone for tshirts, sandals, even, and they've called it right. The rain stops, the sun comes out, and I'm the only one wrapped in plastic.
But it does rain in April. I know it does. Because the memory round here we most associate with this time of year - the one remember the time guaranteed to make us smile - happened when it was raining. Actually, it happened because it was raining; and raining so hard we couldn't go outside to play. It was raining so hard that my Mum took pity on the three of us and our new roller skates and offered up her hall carpet in the name of Easter holiday entertainment. We spent an entire week skating up and down the hall, inside, on the carpet, where it wasn't raining.. We have a tiled hall floor in this house. Just in case.
Details, Details
1. Starting with bright colours and some Gossamer Blue flowered prints
2. But deciding to take away some of the pattern, flip the paper over and use the grey as a contrast to make the photo pop. The picture is full of detail, so I don't need lots of pattern too. Then adding yellow, and the "weather" Pinkfresh Studio puffy stickers
3. Moving it all around, keeping the idea of the contrast with a black alpha and black doodled flowers, which I supplemented with some very old rubons (Maya Road, maybe? from about five years ago?) and continuing to build from the top down..which is where I start when I'm not sure where I'm going
4. The finished page also includes some Simple Stories stickers and that pink butterfly, which I had cut with the Slice for another project and discarded at the last minute.Here I'm hoping it helps to hold everything onto that white page. A few MME enamel dots, and that's it. April.
17 comments:
A very wise quote from Shakespeare on April! How true! We have had a lovely April this year but it can still be unpredictable. We had a long corridor at home . I am just imagining my fathers reaction if we had roller skated down it. We were not even allowed to run!
A pretty page, a lovely story, and doodling so impressive that I thought it was a stamp. You go girl!
Yes! It's the month of the wrong clothes. I was teaching last week and I set off at 9am, when it was rather chilly and grey. Stepped out of class at midday, into glorious warm sunshine, in my knee high boots, to find half the town in flip flops!
I really like how the colour comes from just the photo and the wee flower. Lovely.
I 've enjoyed reading about your process and the decisions you made and why, Sian. The bright photo really does hold the eye, with a more subdued supporting cast. I did so smile about always wearing the wrong thing in April - I wore my waterproof today, with stout shoes, and passed a man in khaki shorts, a tee-short and flip-flops!
Beautiful LO, Sian.....oh, Shakespeare, you capture my heart so....love your tale of indoor roller-skating (and had to laugh because that's what my littlest one was doing all yesterday afternoon!).....love reading about your process....(your LO's are always so fab....it's great to get a sneak of your process!....although I could never manage to replicate your beautiful, inimitable, style)...
More process posts, please. I've always loved your pages and to read and see how you achieve the finished layout is great. I'd suggest you doin YouTube videos but You may tell me off lol
I really like this series and how you bring back memories associated with each month.
That is a darling little story!! What a great memory to have!
It's a wonderful quote and another great layout! I love reading about your process, too.
This is beaut.....love that your turned over the grey side for the edges. I thought you'd DOODLED...I'm presuming they're the rub on sort of flowery bits on the R hand side? I wish I could doodle....April showers, eh? We had FLOODS here!!! Oh, and great Will S quote, too:):)
Ah, yes, April and weather. We've had several VERY dry years around here, but this April has definitely been filled with lots and lots of rain showers. So glad to see our lakes filling back up and the water restrictions easing up a bit. And our bushes in the newly redone flower beds are loving the rain!
We have had mostly dry sunny weather here except for a couple of really heavy down pours. No excuse for roller skating in the house for me. I do remember a similar story about skates from my childhood though, thanks to your lovely page.
I love your stories, I can imagine a little Sian whizzing up the hall on her skates :)
Love this page and all the white. It really works well.
A lovely story and another great layout. We were never allowed skates in the house :)
I love that your Mum let you skate up and down the hall - it sounds like she knows exactly what keeps a child happy! I love how you included your thought processes for your layout, as always it is beautifully done. You are the queen of white space and use it so well.
I always find a quote from Shakespeare that perfectly matches what is going on. Thats a really good one. Love how your Mum let you guys do that.
Post a Comment