Tooting my own horn..... again ;-0

Have been playing some more with the original altered book I started, and realized that 'practice' wasn't bringing out the best in me.  When I saw these old-fashioned composition books with the squiggly B&W covers on sale for a buck a piece, I knew it was time to plunge in and do the real thing.  I've made this for a dear friend, but she won't know who she is from this blog until it arrives in her mailbox......

As luck would have it, at the same time, I found a public library book with a few ideas for altering these composition books (Beyond Scrapbooks by Barbara Bourassa, published in 2006 by Quarry Books).

I have been collecting a stash of vintage ephemera (some from Lenna's inspiring blog).

When it all was put together, the front of the notebook happened,this way - gessoed, stamped, collaged, buttoned, beribboned, tagged, and more -  altered beyond recognition, but still with some of the B&W squiggles peeking through because I like them!!  So I took this photo....

Please click for larger view

It's funny when you see something in a photo (particularly your own work) how it looks so different from the real thing.  There was something blah happening..... so I added a bit of distress ink around the edges and judiciously on the spine, and here's the final result.

Please click for larger view

The inside cover is also decorated a bit, as is the back cover (to hide unlovely barcodes and such...)

mixed media or pig's breakfast???

With all the SNOW photos on several of the blogs I follow, thought I might see if I could create a wintery scene.  This is certainly a mixed media piece - watercolor (background), stamping, paper lace, hand lettering, rub-on snowflakes, and later, I enhanced the snowman with a bit of micron pen.  The paper lace was a good idea, but didn't seem to translate well onto paper.  Something that ought to have worked, but didn't.  What I don't know, is this because of a correctible mistake I made, or was this element just a bad choice?  I do like the sparkly paper behind the doily, and the barely-there star stamps.  I keep forgetting that I am new to all this and need not be so judgmental!!  Discovering one's particular talents and style allows for experiment.....

Day 6 text

Day 6 art

Day 6 detail

A little digression.....

With several books about collage (see the "What I'm Reading" sidebar) from my local library, I was eager to create a project not confined to the journal.

Here's what I did:

-gessoed a piece of heavy card stock cut into the arch shape
-mixed a nice brown with acrylic paint thinned with matte gel medium, then painted the arch with a large, very cheap natural bristle brush
-selected and discarded the elements several times (we all know how that goes!)
-put it all together with more matte gel medium, leaf printed tissue paper, coffee-stained green bias tape, 20 lb. hemp cording, a snippet of upholstery fabric, chalked edges, hand stitching, a little vellum, a handmade heat embossed art foam medallion, stamping, a few dangly beads.....  Maybe this layering thing won't be so difficult after all!

And voila!  Une femme, tres jolie.....