The Raven

You know what they say about the best laid plans...well, I ran into a snag early on in my Halloween themed scrapbook venture.  Somewhere in the mix of transitioning from film to digital cameras, a boy's diagnosis of autism, a crashed hard drive, and a particularly splashy dolphin named Cindy (the only sea mammal I've ever held a grudge against--at least for this long) I found that I was MISSING three precious years of Halloween photos.

I was in denial for a long time.  How could they really be missing?  And, was I really in such a stupor when my son was diagnosed with autism on October 26, 2006 that I took no pictures of a proud Mario and his loving sister, Sailor Mars, on Halloween five days later??  {OMG!  Today is the fifth anniversary of his diagnosis!}

After a year of maniacal and fruitless searching, I came to terms with the loss and devised a plan.  I would mix in Halloween themed pages and lore between the years' pages so the big chronological gap would not be so noticeable.  I have kept this book as a close companion to keep me inspired, though I haven't created much from it's contents yet.

In it there is an excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's famous 1845 poem, The Raven.  "Once upon a midnight dreary".....I created an homage to this famous work:

Cardstock:  Bazzill Basics; Paper:  Cloud 9; Ink:  StazOn, Inkadinkadoo; Stamps: Stampin' Up; Paint:  Plaid; Pen:  Sakura Pigma Micron, Marvy Calligraphy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bird himself was so flat looking, straight from my printer (and Google Images--thank you Naama!).  I used some glossy paint to add some detail to the wing, feet, beak, and eye.

I didn't have black glossy paint, but this midnight blue was worth a gamble, and I am quite pleased with the results!

The windows, while looking as if they required a steady hand, were simply tapped on with an old credit card dipped in brown paint.  I used a silver ink pad and my finger to add frost to the window pains and some misty fog crossing in front of the painted moon.

Oh, and good news!  My neighbor (yes, you, Pearl-my lone follower!) found a picture from one of the missing years!  2005:  the Pretty Witch and the Fireman!  Hooray!  

Thank you for visiting!