Altered Journal Swap - Part Two

In last Monday's post, I told you about the Altered Journal Swap I participated in recently. It really was so much fun and I was grateful to be able to use some of my stash of composition books which I've been hoarding for a while.

The first journal, shown above, is the one I made for Mary. She told me she likes blues and greens, ribbons, as well as bird and vintage themes.

Perfect! Because I like all of those things too!

My inspiration for this journal came from this vintage bird image which I had.

I was taking an online class taught by Jeanne Oliver while I was creating these journals, so I was able to incorporate a lot of the techniques I learned.

This is the back cover of the journal.

The second journal I created was for Patty. She told me she is a "color-loving red girl" who likes vintage ephemera. This too was great, because I love the color red also. Although I don't have any red in this house, my crafting room at our cottage is decorated in reds. I think red is such a happy color.

I grabbed my bin of red papers and proceeded to collage the cover of the composition book. Then I remembered I had this vintage image from a collage sheet I bought from Lisa's Altered Art quite a while ago and decided it would work nicely as a focal point for the cover.

Back cover of journal.

I really had a lot of fun with this swap. I got to use supplies that I already had in my studio. I got to work with colors that I love. And I got to practice new art techniques that I had learned. What could be better that all that?

Altered Journal Swap - Part One

Heather, from Speckled Egg is well-known for her Inspiration Box Swaps where everyone decorates a large matchbox and fills it with lots of fun goodies. Well, this time around Heather switched things up a bit and instead of altering a matchbox, we altered composition books to create journals for our swap partners. I was paired up with Mary and Patty and after exchanging a list of the things we like, these are the journals they sent me:

Here is the sweet journal Mary created. Mary likes birds just like me. I love the soft colors and all the lace she used.

Pictured above is the inside front cover.

The inside back cover.

And the back cover.

The second journal was created by Patty. She really got my love of aquas and pinks.

Don't you love the pocket she hid in the cover? So clever!

Here is the inside front cover shown above.

And this is the back cover. Both of these altered journals are beautiful and I can't wait to start filling them up. Thanks girls!!! And a BIG hug to Heather for organizing another fun swap!

Next time I'll show you the journals I made for Mary and Patty.

Surprise Mail!

While I was spending time at the cottage the past couple of weeks, my mail was piling up at the post office here at home. I picked it up yesterday and sorted it into piles all over the living room floor. . . advertisements, letters, bills (yuk!), magazines, etc. And what do I find in the magazine pile? This lovely pastel pink summer issue of Somerset Studio Gallery. The mailing label said it was an "artcomp" issue, which means there is something of mine inside! After flipping through the pages, I found this little Halloween assemblage of mine on page 50! Woo-hoo ~ what a nice surprise!!!

It's always an honor to be featured in Stampington's beautiful magazines along with talented artists like Becky Shander, Karla Nathan, Jeanne Oliver, Ruth Rae, and Linda Harre, whose art is also pictured in this issue.

Altered Book - {Book of Intentions}

Here it is - all finished! I decided to turn my altered board book (see how it all began in this post) into a book of My Intentions. These are things that I want to keep in the front of my mind everyday in order to live a more full and happy life. I really got motivated to complete the book before the holiday weekend after being inspired by Linda's work here and Patti's work here and Marilyn's work here. These gals are awesome artists!

Altered Board Book Continued

Just a few changes to report on my altered board book. In the first photo, the sitting lady sprouted a pair of glittery wings. Some gold accents were also added to the page, as well as small clear flower buttons stamped with script writing. The new page in the second photo features one of my Moo Cards. I carryied the swirly pattern from the left hand page onto the right page in order to tie the two pages together. I used one of Tim Holtz's images from Stamper's Anonymous on the page in the next photo (also a new page). More work needs to be done on all the pages. I have been working in small increments of time, walking away and then returning to work some more later in the day or the next morning. Seems to be working well for me this way. Have you noticed that I haven't come up with a theme for the book yet? This is a rather backwards approach for me, but I am letting the book "speak to me" and tell me what it wants to be. Have a great day!

Making Progress

I am making some progress on my altered board book, although it is still a work in progress. It has come a long way since this post. I am using papers from Basic Grey's Stella Ruby collection as well as catalog pages (my favorite) and the paper napkins that I wrote about here. The rectangular embellishment on the cover is made using alcohol inks on a game piece and attaching a charm to the top. I intend to hang something from the charm eventually. I applied the papers using Golden's soft gel medium. I am finding that I prefer it to the regular gel medium (as it is a thinner consistency) or Mod Podge (which seems to make the papers wrinkle more). As I said, it still needs work, but thought you'd enjoy seeing it evolve. Hope you all are having a happy Monday!

Something Old, Something New

I was inspired by Sharon to unearth some of the children's board books that I have accumulated over the years and create something with them. Like many other objects, the books were something I bought and had every good intention to use in my art right away. HA! My DH would have a good chuckle at that comment. I am one of those people who can't resist something that can be altered into a piece of art. . .and boy, do I have the storeroom to prove it! My problem is trying to find the time to work on these things. Well, after brushing off the dust from this wee book, I have officially started this little project. I'll keep you posted on it's progress.