Yellow: Part 1

Earlier this month Kirsty and I were both happy to have been invited to flash our colour credentials for Shimelle Laine.

Or rather, Shimelle asked us to be guest bloggers during her A Month of Colour project. My contribution, a step-by-step walkthrough of how I created an atypical colour combo, was featured on Tuesday - but you can catch up with it here. Kirsty's project will be up very soon and she'll let you know all about it over here too.

With Shimelle's colour-focus in mind we thought we'd take a look at a colour that some people find difficult to work with while others [and I can hardly comprehend this] actually take an active dislike to it!!! I on the other hand, adore it - it's Yellow. And so is this:

Playing this track while reading this is entirely optional ... but it is a very nice one and it makes the perfect backing track for the things I've got to share with you.

Last year, when the yellow fever struck me in earnest, I used a line from Coldplay's song as the title for this layout which I made to record my burgeoning obsession with all things sunny... and that fondness hasn't waned yet as this recent layout proves:

With its yellow American Crafts 'Moda Bella' backing paper, is certainly another attempt by me to capture and pin down a few of the sun's rays. Speaking of which, the colour of my laptop - in the photo - is actually officially: 'Sunshine Yellow' ... another example of my propensity to collect and create artificial sunshine. Just like this:

The mini collage [top] was created in response to an art journaling prompt on Emily Falconbridge's blog. The question was 'What gives me hope?' and my immediate thought was 'sunshine' as everything seems possible when the sun shines. Miserable things still happen when it's sunny, but given the choice, I'll take miserable with the sun on my back over crying in the cold and wet any time!

On a similar theme ...I created this predominantly yellow mini-tag book last year and filled it with quotes around the idea of positive thinking: You can read the story behind it and see more images in my blog post here.

But it's not only in my paper crafting where I bask in a yellow tinged glow. These are the cushions on my sofa:

This little golden-plumed guy is a recent addition to our bird ornament flock, bought for me as a gift from an antiques fair this month. He is unable to stand upright, he's a little grimy in places and has only one claw on his left foot ... but, considering that I often share 2 out of 3 of those traits ... I'm rather smitten by him and all his imperfections!

And last but not least we have the yellow coat [pictured here in a rather fetching yellow passage way in Edinburgh!!]:

It's the same coat I mentioned in our Coraline projects post last week. It's also the coat which means I'll never again be lost in a crowd. The coat which has elicited responses such as 'Oh.... that's ....yellow'. The coat which I employ as a beacon when arranging to meet up with new people at work ...'I'll be the one in the yellow coat' has never failed to point someone toward me yet!

It's the coat which I wish my Grandma could've seen me in. As a fellow colour-lover - she'd have wholeheartedly approved of it. Put simply it cheers up drab, grey winter days and I need all the help with that I can get!

So, are you a convert to the bright-side yet? Any plans for a creative splurge with yellow as your focus? Are you running out in the next 5 minutes to buy a fabric dye to wave a golden wand over less sunny items in your wardrobe? How would you like one of these to help you out with that?

I made these brooches for the Coraline challenge and I'm giving them away ... do you want one? In the spirit of lovely, shiny, happy yellowness Kirsty and I felt it would be nice to offer you all a summery treat ....or two...or three:
... so, I've also made three little [3"x4"] tag books to give away. Each has a Love Elsie fabric cover and contains an assortment of yellow and pink papers and I'll also throw in some smaller punched ftags for you to decorate the books with.

All you have to do is leave me a comment stating whether you'd like a fabric brooch or a tag book [or both!].

You have until the end of the month to enter and then I'll pick winners at random, pack them up, trundle up to my local Post Office [which is next door to the bakery which sells the best Vanilla Slices ... and I might also pop in and buy one ...so you'd be doing me a favour really] and I'll send yellow themed freebies direct to your doorstep!

All this sun-talk may very well have gone to our heads as in a few days Kirsty will be here with her own yellow thoughts plus her own giveaway. We may even have news of some extra goodies on offer from some of our equally colour crazy friends ....... watch this space.....

[but make sure you're wearing sunglasses when you do and never, ever look directly at the sun ...] ;)

Julie :)