Two More Tip-In with a Twist Pages

It would seem that lately I've been so busy trying to catch up on all my swaps so much so that I haven't even had time to post them. I'm not sure at all when that happened but it must be a good thing.

With only one more partner left to swap with after these two pages I feel a sense of relief that this wonderful swap is finally coming to a close. Unbelievably this swap started back in October with a new partner every 2 weeks. I know I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I signed up but I really feel that this experience has opened my eyes to some really great possibilities in my art. It was actually through this swap that the big-eyed bird was born This partner had expressed a rather fond rememberance of a bee instance from her childhood and loved bees for it. Weeelllll, who am I to not do a bee page for her? As soon as I saw that this particular idea popped into my head. The execution of said picture from my head proved a little more difficult than I had imagined it to be but after everything was said and done I am more than pleased with the results.

The opening that the bee is going into is actually cut out and you can see his little head poking through the opening on the back side.

See?

Of course these bees are truly getting their "buzz" on...

My next partner stated that she liked the birds I do and loved colors...hehe, another lightbulb lit up over my head and this page was born. The birds are actually cut out and the little wings fold up and the backsides are painted just like the front for a truly 3-D effect.
Hehe, the worm.

I was a little worried that he might come across as way too cartoon-y but I think he's great.

I've been finding that when I use a scrapbook type paper for the background it's much easier for me to do my illustartion on a seperate piece of cardstock, cut out the figure and then glue it on.

I do wonder if I'm making more work for myself than necessary but I can't seem to help it. It's been working for me and I'm almost afraid to change.