Favourite pages from 2011

Every year I look back through my creating and choose my top 10 favourite projects. It's become a tradition, and it's a nice way each year to reflect on the journey I have been on as a scrapbooker.

For 2011 my favourites are a real mixture, although there are definite trends that I see appearing, in terms of what I was trying and how my work was evolving. 

This is by far my favourite project all last year. I altered a vintage book to create a book containing the wonderfully quirky quotes from Brian Andreas, that I've illustrated. It would seem that it was your favourite project too. This page has by far received the most hits of all the pages on my blog, and the project is still being pinned on Pinterest. The internal pages can be seen here.

Nawww. I love this page for the bright happy photos. The entire page is so reflective of the little kid that Jamie was during 2011. I reckon I created half a dozen pages from this Toy Box line (Crate Paper) last year. It was totally my favourite product. And it showed, as all of the pages I made using it were picked up for publication.

2011 saw me introducing more mixed-media techniques to my work. One of my resolutions at the start of last year was to incorporate more stamping into my pages. On this layout the background is stamped. I love how it worked out.

More mixed media work here. There are a few reasons this page made my top 10. The memory of Jamie as a little guy running around the garden picking flowers, the painting on the background, the cute chipboard, and my favourite letter stickers all in combination on the same page :).

Aaaah. I love it when I get a chance to do a girly scrapbook page. This layout draws comparisons between the hobbies that mum and my sister and I had as children. I love this page for the story I captured, the old photos, and of course the chance to use flowers, flowers, flowers! I also used  walnut ink to paint around the edges of papers to age them and loved the look.

A journaling heavy page! This one compares Jamies childhood toys with mine as a kid. I love the memories on here. I also love the colours, the vintage feel, and the gorgeous embellishments.

This layout was so simple! And it's one of my favourites. A bit of glimmermist slapped on with a wet paintbrush, a printed frame, a Prima vine and voila! The title and the photo really say it all! I love this clean and simple look. It is a look that I think I might be trying more of in 2012.

A mixed-media canvas for my sister. This project was a delight to create. Tissue paper covered canvas. Acrylic paints. Stamping. Misting. Patterned paper hearts. Loads of charcoal shading. Embellishments. Handwritten title (another thing that I enjoyed adding to my pages last year!).I am inspired to explore hearts as a motif in 2012.

One of the last pages I made last year. Stream of consciousness journaling about what was happening in my life at that moment. I created the chipboard window frame from an old piece of chipboard (you know, the piece you get on the back of a note pad). Just ruled it up and cut it out with a craft knife. Nearly everything on here started out as a nude beige colour. Then I misted and coloured, and misted and coloured.This would be one of my favourite colour combos!

 

And last but definitely not least... this one! Jamie playing with his trains. Splatter painting, chipboard to create a scene... capturing the story. Love!

So there you are. My favourite 10 layouts last year.I discovered some new techniques that I've added to my toolbox and will take with me into 2012. Painting with glimmer mist, mixed-media backgrounds, splatter painting, walnut stain, handwritten titles, stamps, charcoal pencil work, heart motifs.

Did you introduce any new techniques into your scrapbooking last year? Do any of the techniques I tried in 2011 interest you? Are any of them something that you'd like me to devote a post on my blog to? Let me know!

Kathie xx