My Favorite Reads

I'm back with another brand new case from CSI : Color, Stories, Inspiration today!


October is National Book month, so this case inspiration image fits right along with that! Let's have a look at Case #264.

Here's the freestyle case prompts :

And the traditional Case File and Clues :

EVIDENCE

Distressed solid background (e.g., old BasicGrey solids)
Plaid, check, or grid pattern
Book pages or text print
Metal
Book plates
Dog (or other animal)
Fabric or felt
Buttons
Jar or food elements
Puffy stickers
Light bulb
Distressing
Ink the edges
A container of some sort—envelope, pocket, or something you think up
Lots of layers


TESTIMONY (JOURNALING IDEAS)

Topic: Document something about books or reading
Prompt Idea: Choose a prompt from here.
Presentation: Hidden journaling
Writing Format: Write your journaling as a confession.
Inspiration Words: hide, secret, intriguing


THE SCHEME (RGB Codes)

198.198.194 – light gray
255.255.255 – white
100.162.159 – teal
179.211.232 – pale ice blue
131.45.54 – garnet red


And, here's what I made with it this time :

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to read. I read every night before bed, usually fiction, with some dystopian (utopian) and a bit of fantasy thrown in for good measure. I made this page to document my very favorite series, two of which I own. I'd like to invest in the third someday, but for now, I have them all on my Dad's E-Reader and I enjoy them that way. I read each of these series at least once a year, and will often pre-order the newest books so they arrive at my door on the release dates.

Here's how I solved this Case :

COLOURS

All of the colours are there, with a little bit of gold thrown in to accent. I am starting to dabble a bit with mixed media and am enjoying experimenting with it on my pages. I love gold so I used a little gold texture paste (Vicki Boutin) through some stencils (Vicki Boutin and Tim Holtz) to achieve this look.

EVIDENCE

Check Pattern (on the label above the top photo)
Text Print
Metal
Felt
Puffy stickers
Buttons

TESTIMONY

I used three different clues this time - The TOPIC clue inspired the subject of the page, and the PRESENTATION and INSPIRATION WORD "hide" inspired my journaling treatment

Journaling

I love, love, LOVE to read. For as long as I can remember, I’ve ended each day reading something.

I love the feel of a book in my hand, and have never owned an e-Reader or tablet, or even really thought about getting one. Then about one month ago, my mother gifted me my father’s e-Reader. It’s such a special gift, as he also shared my love of reading. We would often be able to find him in his chair in the living room, reading a book or some sort. I like that I can put it in my purse and carry hundreds of books around with me wherever I go.

I quite often borrow books from the library, and at one point was a member of a small book club that was started by a few women from my church. I like reading many different styles of books, but in particular I like fiction, with a little bit of dystopian fantasy thrown in.

At the present moment, I have 3 favorite authors, with a fourth rapidly growing on me. All of these series were introduced to me by my sister, who reads even more than I do.

First, and for many, many years, I love reading books by Diana Gabaldon. Currently, she is writing Book #9 in the Outlander Series. And, yes, the books are being made into a television show, currently in Season 3. No, I am not watching it. I find the show too far removed from the loveliness that is the books. My sister and I even went on a tour of Scotland that was based on the books!! I am SO in love with Jamie and Claire’s love and life story.

Second, I love reading books by Deborah Harkness. My favorite series is The All Souls Trilogy. An interesting mix of real history, fantasy and romance with some vampires, witches and demons thrown into the mix. Sounds weird but the books are SO well written, that I find myself drawn in every time I sit down with one. I read this series at least once, if not twice a year. These books are also being made into a television show, which I have not attempted to watch yet.

Third, I love reading books by Anne Bishop. In particular, I love her The Others Series, and the spin off from that - Lake Silence. These books are a dystopian fantasy, with a little romance thrown in. Her writing is incredible. I could read this series over and over and over again.

And lastly, my newest series - The St. Mary’s Chronicles - written by Jodi Taylor. These books are funny, fast paced, and action filled, and I’m really enjoying reading them. Thankfully, there seems to be quite a few, so I’ll be able to be reading them for quite a while.

Here's some closeups of my page. I will say that the weather here in Ontario has been quite dull for the last few weeks, and so that's reflected in the darkness of some of these photos :

Here's how you access the journaling hidden behind the blue section of the page. Admittedly, it looks a little sloppy when you pull the pictures on the front back, but that's mostly because when I scrapbook I "go with the flow". I rarely ever plan a page ahead of time and go with whatever I think works. So, I didn't plan to make the back of the photos pretty at all. The floral paper clip is what I intended to be used to pull back the first flap with the half circle punched space (see the first photo) for the top flap. To the left of both of these photos, you can see that I cut my tag in half, with the intent of having it look like a bit like a bookmark when the flaps are closed.

Here's my title work a little closer. The pre-printed "My Favorite" part is from Vicki Boutin's new "Field Notes" collection and it had the right colour of light blue for the page plus the beginnings of the title. I then added some felt letter stickers to finish the words. I liked how the top part looks like it was ripped out of a book, so I crumpled the top edge to add a distressed look. Some sticker circles, gold sequins, ribbon, enamel dots and a sticker button finished off the title.

Here's a couple closeups of my gold glaze and red ink splatters. I'm loving how they turned out on this page!

And finally, a closer look at the journaling under the flaps.

Don't forget, if you play with this case and link up over at CSI using the Mr. Linky tool on the right-hand side, you'll be entered into the draw for prizes from our awesome sponsors pictured above!!

Thanks for popping by and checking out my page today!
I can't wait to see how you solve this case!!!

Always Thankful

It's October!! My favorite month of the year for more than one reason.
First, it's my anniversary month - this year we celebrate 21!
The trees are changing colour - it's so beautiful, and still usually decent weather.
And, it's Thanksgiving (at least in Canada). While I don't really care much about "celebrating" this "holiday" it does mean that we get together as families and eat lots of yummy food. I like food!!

A new month also means a new Case over at CSI : Color Stories, Inspiration!! This month we teamed up with PageMaps to create our layouts & I was SUPER excited to do it! I've used PageMaps sketches off and on in the past, and they always give me a creative boost when I'm feeling uninspired.

Let's take a look at Case #263.

Here's the freestyle case prompts:

And, the traditional Case File and Clues:

EVIDENCE

Textured paper
Woodgrain paper
Book pages/ text print
Bookplates
Flowers, leaves, branches
Apples (or other fruit)
Fall-themed elements
Jars
Wood veneer
Metal
Twine
Numbers
Frames
Lace
Bird (or other animal)
Something woven
Create your page in a grid design
Distressing

TESTIMONY (JOURNALING IDEAS)

Topic: Document something about autumn
Prompt Idea: Choose an October prompt.
Presentation: put your journaling in a frame.
Writing Format: Write a list of 9 things about your topic.
Inspiration Words: season, golden, colorful

THE SCHEME (RGB Codes)

164.162.137 – khaki green
234.136.47 – orange
230.230.230 – pale gray
228.210.146 – flax yellow
48.41.22 – dark, dark brown, almost black


And here's what I made with it this time :

And my sketch from PageMaps (which I loved!!) :

You can see that I stuck pretty close to the sketch. Since October is Thanksgiving, I created this page documenting how thankful I am for my family. The pictures are from my parents 45th Anniversary which we celebrated in 2016. A little more than one year after these photos were taken, my Dad passed away. They are so special to me.

Here's how I solved this Case :

COLOURS

All the colours are there with the addition of a little red, since it was in the patterned papers that I chose to use.

EVIDENCE

Textured paper (the yellow cardstock is a Swiss Dot)
Flowers & Leaves
Fall themed elements
Wood veneer (title letters)
Metal
Twine
Lace
Something woven

TESTIMONY

I used the Topic clue this time, and made a "Thanksgiving" page about my family.

Journaling

little did we know that one short year later the pictures would be changing.
so very glad that we made the time to gather and acknowledge your forty-five years of happy marriage.
thank you for providing a loving example of what a marriage is supposed to be.
i'm always grateful for the uniqueness that every family member brings with them.
always so much love. september 03 2018

Here's a few closeups of my page:

Here's my title block a little closer. The patterned paper had multicolour lines of arrows already, so I decided to cut in between the lines and use them to help create my "weaving". I used a lace tape and wove it in and out of the rows of paper. I really like how it came out! Then I built my title up from there. The whole title block and the main photo are popped up off the page.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my parents together. I chose to give it another mat, and pop it up to give it a bit more presence on the right hand side of the page. Also here you can just see that I trimmed around the pumpkin on the tag and popped it up underneath as well.

This is the the little row of tags and flags above the title block. I actually don't use tags like this very often, but I do like how these turned out! I like how a sketch can push you out of your comfort zone, even just a little bit.

And finally, a closer look at the journaling. Once again, I used the RGB codes provided to get the perfect shade of brown for the type.

Don't forget, if you play with this case and link up over at CSI using the Mr. Linky tool on the right-hand side, you'll be entered into the draw for prizes from our awesome sponsors pictured above!!

Thanks for popping by and checking out my page today!
I can't wait to see how you solve this case!!!