Starting to Alter New Book

Started work on the new Altered Book for the "Our Round Robin Altered Book" Group today. I mean seriously working, had already torn out some pages. The book I am using to alter is a 1957 printing of "Look Homeward Angel" by Thomas Wolfe, so I chose "Angels" for my theme. The book has 658 pages, and there are only 10 players in our RR so I divided the book in half, and tore out have of those pages. Today I used Golden Gel Medium to glue the rest of the pages together, waiting to dry now, and I am going to put a drawer into these pages(324 to 658). That way I can put my sign-in sheet in the drawer. I am using a gift card tin, from Michele's for the drawer, but can't decide if I want to go through my hardware stash and find the right size knob or if maybe I should use a large bead. I have drilled a hole where I want the drawer pull to be and I could use a bead by just putting a screw through the bead and then through the hole and put a nut on the screw. We'll see?

Used some green leather to cover the spine on the out side, I cut a square hole in the leather where the name was, leaving the original name visible, then I glued the leather all the way down the spine, got a piece of cardboard the size of the spine and layed that on the spine and bound it all together with rubber bands to dry. The reason I used the card board was so the rubber bands would not make an indention in the leather while it was drying. I am using a brown paper bag to cover the rest of the book, because this book has to "travel" all around the US and the other players have to work in it, so it needs to have a substantial cover, and brown paper it "tough" stuff. Also it will be very forgiving when I apply embellishments to it when it returns, it really is better not to put a lot of 3D embellishments on a book that other people are going to work in. It just makes it easier for them and I can decorate it however I want when I get it back. I am taking some pics and will post them after while.

I have also been working on the "unending series" of "I Wanna Be A Star" AT Cs and will scan them and post them after while also. These little pieces of art are really fun and they are a great fill in thing while I wait for the glue to dry on my other projects, and the dish washer to get finished.

Of course posting on my blog is also a good thing to do while the glue and paint are drying. Of course some times I do use the heat tool, oh my! My grandmother always said patientence is a virtue.

A Lot Going On

There is a lot going on over on the Yahoo Groups I belong to, OurRRAlteredBook Group is really rolling along, planning for the big 1st mailing of our books on Janurary 1, 2008, what a great way to start the year. On Altered Designs everyone is making cards and ATCs for Christmas, except me, I am still on my unquinchable quest to fullfill my destiny of 100 ATCs "I Wanna Be A Star" series. The 4x4" "Alice in Wonderland" page swap is in full swing. Everybody seems to be Busy, Busy, Busy, creating terrific art and having fun. No time to shop for Christmas Presents, but the PCNorth Band is having a fund raiser: Johnny Carino Gift Cards, that I think will serve a double purpose; help the Band and Christmas Gifts for my "big kids". Works for me!

Gotta Go! Making some ATCs you know. And get a Flu Shot....Booooo.

After the Thanksgiving Tornado

Guess what? The Thanksgiving "Tornado" (or feeding frenzy as it sometimes called) is over and the kids and grand kids are all back in their designated places. We had a great time, there was a lot of eating, laughing, hugging, football watching, cooking, and singing (singing because it was my youngest daughters 43rd B-Day). They all left, except they left the grand kids, but the good thing was they came back on Saturday and got them. lol So that left some time on Sunday for Susan to "read" and me to greet my, to long ignored, Muse of Creativity in my studio and Play, Play, Play.
Below you can see some of the things that were created from "Play Time".

I had received my order from Paper Whimsy (see sidebar for link) on Saturday and it was like money burning a hole in your pocket until you can use it. I got Luminers, gotta love 'em. They are wonderful. I used them and my Perfect Pearls combined to make some backgrounds (seen below). What fun.

If you like them, feel free to save them to your computer and use them anytime you would like. Well got to go make art "stuff". I am just full of creative ideas and my Muse calls. Have a great day........................

Some more Backgrounds

These are "faux" Patina strips on watercolor paper, and in the middle is paper dye and Perfect Pearls on watercolor paper. When I have scraps of paper left over I "alter" them and when I have enough I "weave" them all together to make a full page and then I can use them as backgrounds for tip-in pages for Altered Books, or as backgrounds for Collages. Plus they are just to much fun to make. I get to experiment with all of my paints and stuff. A lot of the techniques are from a terrific book by Julia Andrus called "Paper Transformed", (with a few experimental alterations by you know who?)/

These are Rangers Alcohol Inks on plain Card Stock.

These are some ATC Backgrounds. I used paper dye, Perfect Pearls and Luminers on watercolor paper. They will be backgrounds for my "I Wanna Be A Star" Series.

Alcohol Ink

Just click on the picture to make it bigger, you know just for a better look and to download if you so desire. Yes I am sharing these backgrounds with anyone that would like to use them. You can see the gold stamping better when you "make them big". Just click on the pic and then right click and save to your computer or just seclect print.

These are Alchol Ink on plain white card stock and watercolor paper. The ink was dripped on right out of the bottle. Then when dry alcohol blending solution was dripped on top. These will make beautiful backgrounds for ATCs. On some of them I sponged lightly with gold.

Backgrounds:"Perfect Pearls" and Luminers

These are 2 of the backgrounds I made yesterday. They are on hand made paper that has a lot of texture. I used Luminers paint and Perfect Pearls. The purple, pearl and turquoise is done on white paper. The pink green, copper and purple is done on black paper. The reflective quality does not show up very well. They are really "glitzy" in person.

ATCs and Alcohol Ink Backgrounds

6 new "I Wanna Be A Star" ATCs.

A big tag (4x7") named "Dreams"

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I hope you are with family or friends today and enjoying this time to love and be loved by them.

I have a little "EASTISM" wisdom to share with you for today. "Eat a lot of Turkey, you can never get enough natural trytophan, then sit down to watch FB and so to sleep and sleep right through the "clean up". Works for me! lol. Hope it works for you.

Glad to say I have finished more "I Wanna Be A Star" ATCs and will be posting as soon as I get time to scan them. I have been working on a lot of great back ground projects, but you know it just takes time. Also I have been "Gathering" for the 3 Altered books I am working on. I love "Gathering" it is very inspirational and rewarding. I get more ideas than I can handle at one time so I just write them down in my little "Works to be done" journal. It really helps to keep my brain clear to keep working on my current projects or I would never finish anything.

We have had some double edged (good & bad) news this week, my best friend who lives in San Jose, CA. has cancer under her tongue, but she had surgery yesterday and the good news is that they could remove it "all" orally. This is incredibly wonderful news considering what she was told 2 weeks ago when they found it. Originally she had tonsil cancer in 1977 and was over radiated, so she could not have any more radiation and they thought they would have to go in through her chest to get this tumor. But she got a second opinion (which everyone should do) at Stanford and they were able to do the surgery orally. This is a blessing because it was so much less invasive. She has a wonderful attitude and I believe this is a major part of the battle with any illness. She will have physical therapy to learn how to talk and swallow again. She is such a fighter that she surely will kick this round of cancer just like she did 30 yrs. ago. So this is a major Thanksgiving blessing for her friends and family.

Well gotta go COOK you know.

The Traveling Journal

Some of the pages were done with Golden Glazes and some of the pages were done with Perfect Pearls and Perfect Medium. I love both of these techniques. Maybe I should do another post where I tell how I used them. But not today, because I need to get this journal on its way around the world. Wow! This is so exciting.

The traveling journal goes on the road today!

This is my first traveling journal of my very own. I have participated in other traveling journals but this one is mine, and when it gets through "traveling" to California, Canada, Austrilia and Maine it will come home to Oklahoma. I can hardly wait for it to come back, even though it might take 10 months to a year to return. I think I am going to send out some more through another group called 1001 Traveling Journals. This one that I am sending out today is with some friends of Serendipity from California.

I Wanna Be A Star

The first of my ATC Series "I Wanna Be A Star" I really am enjoying making these in between working on a couple of journals and my Altered Bird Book (only 2 pages to go).

Chunky Book

These are the my pages of the Chunky Book for Alzheimer Research. My pages will be combined with the other 13 Book Artist that are participating in this project. We will each get pages from each artist and the extra pages will be put together into a book of "Memories" that will be auctioned off on E-Bay and the money will go to Alzheimer Research.

Just have to tell ya.

This is Joe DeLozier he owns DeLozier Auto Service. Joe's kids were in my art class when I taught at PCNorth High School, they are all grown up now and his son is a teacher in Piedmont. His daughter is a nurse. I have taken my car to his for just about everything since before David died. The whole family have been really good friends to me for over 10 years. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and I thank God everyday for all of my friends.

I just have to tell ya about my great treasures that I found in the driveway at Delozier Auto Service when I took the car to have the oil changed. Every collage and altered artist I know would just drool. Of course Joe Delozier couldn't believe I would pick all of this "junk" up to use in my art work, but there are pieces of rusty metal, washers (some rusty, some shiny but all flattened by being run over by all the cars), rusty wires in all kinds of shapes, strange pieces of metal in shapes that I can't imagine what they would be used on a car and little "diode" looking things that have bright colors on them, I picked up 2 envelopes full of "treasures". Then I photographed some racks in his garage that hold spools of bright colored wire.

A Great New Book

I got Julia Andrus new book "Paper Transformed" and it is one of the best paper altering books I have ever owned. It has over 100 recipes and techniques for making gorgeous paper designs. The photography and the instructions are awesome. Plus it has all kinds of great tips on journaling and altered book uses. It also has a lot of the traditional effects, like marbling. It has all kinds on hints and techniques to use glazes, paints and mediums. If you can't find it at your local book or craft store you can get it from Julia's web site. (There is a link in my partners in art links on the left hand side) I think it is one of the best investments I have every made and I have a lot of art & craft books.

Senior Night and PCN Panther Pride Light Show

Every year the band performs their half time show in the "dark". That's right in the dark. All of the band members have glow lights attached to their shoes, hats, uniforms and instruments, then the big lights are turned off and they march and play thier show. It really is awesome. Hopefully a video was made and it will be posted on YouTube, then I will download it to this blog. In the meantime I have some pics I took, they are really neat, and you can get an idea of how the field looked "in the dark".

Thursday Night Lights

All of the Senior band members and thier parents waited in line
to be introduced.

This is some of the Sernior Band Members
waiting for their parents.

These are the Senior Color Guard members, doing thier Miss

America Pose for me.

Nico Is coming

I have been in contact with Nico this week and he is working on the Visa to come to the US in March 2008. Also got the facility for the workshop, it seats 250, that will limit the number of tickets that will be available for this particular workshop/demonstration.

Nico and I are very excited about this opportunity for him to show his work and get some personal exposure in the US. This will be his 1st time to come to America from Argentina. He is so talented and everyone I have talked to that has seen his work on his web site (see Nico in left column to go to his web site) and on You Tube are waiting for the tickets to go on sale. I already have people sending in their names for a waiting list for tickets. Since there will only be 250 tickets available, anyone wanting to attend should send their Name, Address and e-mail address to leastart@hotmail.com.