forever…

joining in again for Elizabeth’s Art Journal Journey BACK TO SCHOOL challenge with a two page spread in an altered book of mine that surfaced in my recent clean up… 

 Lucille Borschke’s school memory book was given to me by a friend that found it in a thrift shop… 

she thought I could make use of the vintage photos and bits of this and that in it… 

seems Lucille was a local girl that attended Notre Dame Academy in Washington, D. C. back in the late 1920’s and her favorite subjects were History, Religion, English and French…

one of the group photos along with an old dictionary page were what got me started and a couple of rubber stamps came in handy too (FOREVER stamp not shown in photo)…

the ridged paper on the right is from light bulb packaging (I noticed when my pages were finished how nicely it worked with the background in the photograph) and the postage stamps were from a letter front included in Lucille’s memory book…

with my father being in the military we moved quite a bit when I was a young girl at all times of the year which made being the “new” girl in class an added adventure… I was quite chatty and made friends easily… I am grateful for memories of a sweet and colorful childhood…

Second on the 2nd for September 2015

back in my early blogging days I participated in lots of online challenges (some of them no longer running) and because of that I got to ‘meet’ so many talented artists from around the globe…
nowadays I participate in far fewer challenges because I feel badly if I cannot visit all of the participants …

for Elizabeth’s Second look on the 2nd challenge this month I am taking you back to September of 2008 (I see I liked using pressed flowers in my artwork even back then)…  feel free to join in at the link above…  all are welcome…

Dans ma maison il y a…. du vintage

Posted on September 30, 2008

I did a spread in my house shaped altered book for the Vintage theme this week at Dans ma maison il y a…..

It all began with the image of the little girl and her doll along with the “Once Upon a Time” scrapbook paper for the background.  The little girls ‘wings’ are pressed Dusty Miller leaves.  The black accents are from a Martha Stewart sticker pack.

What if I fall?

the last book in our local Mixed Media Collaborative art group‘s round robin has come my way and it is a real beauty touching my magpie heart…

my friend Susan chose “Grow Wings” as the theme for her gorgeous book …

I took my time gathering special bits of this and that trying out several layouts before actually gluing anything in place (I even hand dyed some vintage white flowers that in the end I did not use because they were too puffy)…

a John William Waterhouse sketch looked nice transferred onto sheer vintage baby dress fabric and stitched onto the gold square background paper I selected (I used Lesley Riley’s TAP for both images in these pages)…

before falling asleep one night I got the idea to use some of my favorite Goldens Gold Paint to “gild” some pressed thyme leaves…

even though it was a bit fiddly brushing on the paint and then adhering them to the pages using Soft Gel Medium I was really pleased with the way they look…

some vintage embroidered sheer blue and green trim worked nicely on the piece of handmade paper Susan had added in her book … I highlighted the centers of the flowers by adding some gold paint…

pieces of plastered German lace curtain added texture to my pages as well…

I am also joining Conny’s Mix it Monthly August/September challenge of Mixed Media Flowers…

and lastly here is a bit of iphoneography using photos of my artwork and several iphone apps…

“What if I Fall? Oh, but my darling what if you fly?” -Eric Hanson

Second on the 2nd for July … Swans

altered books have fascinated me since early in 2000 and I have always admired swans…

today I am revisiting a post from July 2008 and joining with Elizabeth’s second look on the 2nd of the month … here goes:

Swan * Schwan * Cygne * Cisne * Labed

“Originally” Posted on July 17, 2008

 “For his heart was in his work, and the heart giveth grace unto every Art.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

full of grace …

this month’s rotation of our local Mixed Media Collaborative altered book round robin brought me my friend Linda Yeatman’s “Women” themed book…

I glued together some of the pages and tore a hole in the center ones… 

the book stayed like that for some time while Mao Zedong’s  “Women hold up half the sky” quote kept swirling in my head…

 once I got busy everything began to flow…

I created some pressed flower fusion paper using part of a “W” page from a big old dictionary that someone had unsuccessfully tried to hold together with duct tape for the background …

a Leonardo da Vinci drawing of the head of a woman in profile seemed just right behind the peekaboo netting window I created…

here is part of the view when you turn the window page to reveal pages 3 & 4 of my spread below…

it was such fun finding bits of this and that to build onto my collage paper backgrounds where I used napkin, stamped tissue paper, pattern tissue, pressed flower fusion paper, plastered vintage book text, paper doily, netting, assorted lace and other embellishments including computer generated text along with touches of white gesso…

I am joining in with Art Journal Journey’s “Masculine-Feminine” challenge this month…

 and Mix it Monthly’s  “The Facial Profile” challenge…

Believe nothing you hear…

our local mixed media art group is having a round robin and this month I got a book with the theme of “The Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe” …

I knew right away that I wanted to use some of the black patterned envelopes that I have been saving (I have made a vow to stop saving them so using some felt extra good!)…

outlining the edges with a black Stabilo pencil and brushing with a stiff brush dipped in white gesso gave some color and texture to the background along with some bits of vintage paper and book text…

the image on the left is of a book cover printed onto a torn out page from this book…the red beer bottle cap on the right has been smashed flat and waiting to be used for some time now…

I had no idea this quote was by Edgar Allan Poe but it had always been a favorite of mine (seems Poe is misquoted quite a bit and the way I originally knew the quote was:  “Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.”)…

trying out various fonts and positioning…

until I was happy while having some fun channeling my dark side…

paint and pencil scribbling along with stamping on tissue paper and a piece of poison washi tape that I secured with gel medium…

some spider web washi tape at the top that I extended with black pen down the page (I intentionally left the spider out as a bit of a creep factor…if there is a web there must be a spider  but where!)… a piece of my faux resin paper and a golden flimmerstern that I trimmed randomly with scissors behind the bottle cap…

I am also sharing these pages with Art Journal Journey’s “Favorite Poems and Quotes” challenge…

Mix it Monthly February PLAY WITH FABRIC

working in a local art friend’s fashion themed altered book was the perfect time to play with some fabric and paint for this month’s challenge over at Conny’s Mix it Monthly…

I had an image of fishnet stockings and a little black dress in mind but when I got up to my work table finding bits left from an altered candy tin I created the other day things quickly turned teal/turquoise and gold along with the image of a lovely lady that Conny had shared in January…

wanting to strengthen the pages of the 1938 book a bit I added a thin coat of gesso and then decided to tear strips of scrap paper for interest and stability also adding acrylic inks and paint…

I had fun creating a new dress for the lady using pieces of tattered embroidery from a junk shoppe along with lace for the bodice…

my bottle of Golden’s Iridescent Gold is getting used up…

the bit at the top on the right hand page is an original part of the  lady’s dress…it helped highlight a favorite fashion quote from Gilda Radner which speaks for me and most of my fashion preferences…

I got to use one of the PaperArtsy stamps from the prize I recently won that just arrived from England (lots more fun to be had with those!!!)… 

the French text helped add interest and texture to the pages along with a bit of gesso and black around the edges…

using gel medium to add some metal snaps helped finish the fabric skirt AND thank you Valerie I had birds on my mind and forgot humans also qualify for this months Art Journal Journey’s BIRDS BEASTS & HUMANS challenge

Second on the 2nd for February 2015

February already and it’s time for the second “Second on the 2nd” thanks to Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover for the chance to look back and repost something you would like to share again…

here is a look back to February 2012 and an altered heart book that I created…

the post was titled “pages of my heart”…

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” ~Marc Chagall”

Dream…

a new year so I thought I would join in a new to me challenge with special thanks to the lovely and oh so talented Lynne Moncrieff for always being such an inspiration and sharing her boundless creativity…

you can read all about PaperArtsy’s 2015 Topic 1: “Fragile Papers” Challenge here (speaking of inspiration there is LOTS on the PaperArtsy site…I plan to make time to watch the video they share for this challenge as well!)… 

the “fragile papers” theme really spoke to me as I have always been drawn to old books and papers of all kinds…

I have also been a long time fan of PaperArtsy’s wonderful rubber stamp line so this was a great opportunity to dig into my stash eventho they do not require that you use their stamps to participate in the challenge…

I used a plastic doily as a stencil with some heavy gesso on tissue paper and did the same directly onto the pages of a new altered visual journal (an old book)…

I wanted to use the “dream” stamp on fabric but did not have suitable fabric so I stamped onto a torn out book page instead…

a few of the other supplies I used…

along with torn bits from a 1930’s Geometry book that had a distinctive smell when I used glue stick to adhere the pieces to my art journal…

there is something really special about the various textures and feel of old paper and how it melts into other surfaces…

a computer generated Bob Dylan quote and some bits of netting and cotton trim helped complete my collaged book pages (double clicking on the photos gives a closeup view)…

Second on the 2nd

Elizabeth started a fun new monthly challenge this January which is nice since it is only once a month…

you can read all about it on her Altered Book Lover blog…

 here is a blast from my art journaling past that I posted back in January 2008

“Paint Scraped Journal Pages“

“I am drawn to vintage everything, so these pages were a huge departure for me along with being a whole lot of fun.

The Britannica Junior encyclopedia pages make a wonderful canvas and receive paint very well.

One of the things that made these pages different for me was using images found in everyday magazines/publications.

“Inspired” would be on the left hand spread and “354 check” would be the right hand side of the book. Just above the number is a red label that says “Remove Before Flight”. It could be tricky flying with a peacock on your head!

“Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.” ~Bo Bennett

… the good stuff

haven’t made an inchie in quite a while but this one popped up at just the right time to inspire a couple of quick pages in my gesso journal and the heart is punched from monoprint paper …

the flower was created out of paper clay awhile ago in a mold I made using a fancy metal nail head embellished with some paint and rub on gold…

 scrapbook paper “buttons” and pencil doodles …

wishing you lots of good stuff…

~♥~ tootles until next month ~♥~

OXO

A Life That’s Good …

this is my wish for you…

a couple more pages in one of my gesso art journals…

with a bit of stamping around the edges… 

and some doodling with my white paint pen which is still working like a charm…

the random pencil scribbles on my painted pages make me happy in the dappled sunlight (it is way too chilly to go out to my favorite photo spot on our back porch to snap pictures today)…

“Find your focus by seeking all that is good in your life.” -Lorii Myers

we are not lost …

putting off packing seemed the perfect time to play in my art journal…

do you also find that when you have something you “should” be doing it can be more fun to do something else…

these pages began with a moo I made way back when… 

leading me to use some soft pink paint and hand dyed silk ribbon along with a bit of stenciling using part of one of Gio’s  masks…

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.”  -J.R.R. Tolkien