Artful Life With Elizajane

#12 - Sweet 4x6

2008-02-06T10:40:00.001-06:00

#12 - Sweet 4x6, originally uploaded by eliza-jane.

A simple glue book style collage this time. More images from the Elvis brochure too. At this point in the project I'm really missing painted backgrounds!

#11 - And, To My Surprise

2008-02-06T09:08:00.001-06:00

#11 - And, To My Surprise, originally uploaded by eliza-jane.

At this point, I no longer have any base materials to use from the envelope so I am using my own bases. I decided to do a couple of 4x6s this time.

First, let me say that the scanner made this guy's face go all weird! I really like how the background turned out for this one. The body for this guy came from an Elvis brochure.

#10 The Music Transformed My Depression Tag

2008-02-05T08:42:00.001-06:00

#10 The Music Transformed My Depression Tag, originally uploaded by eliza-jane.

I really, really like this one. The cute little bear is so not my usual type of image, nor is pink anywhere near my usual colour of choice. It was so fun to see this one come out! Only problem is I cannot find any pink fibres in the house. I have about 12 boxes of yarn but not a single ball of fancy pink! So, I'll add to this once I find some suitable fibres.

#9 Something Totally Different Tag

2008-02-05T08:41:00.001-06:00

#9 Something Totally Different Tag, originally uploaded by eliza-jane.

Then we have some tags. These two blank tags were enclosed in the envelope. I provided the fibres for this one.

#8. The Rite of Spring

2008-02-04T17:18:00.003-06:00

#8. The Rite of Spring
Originally uploaded by eliza-jane

#7. Captured From the Wild ATC

2008-02-04T17:18:00.001-06:00

#7. Captured From the Wild ATC
Originally uploaded by eliza-jane

#6. Someone You Know? ATC

2008-02-04T17:17:00.003-06:00

#6. Someone You Know? ATC
Originally uploaded by eliza-jane

#5. Eternity ATC

2008-02-04T17:17:00.001-06:00

#5. Eternity ATC
Originally uploaded by eliza-jane

Next up is a set of ATC's. These were made on playing cards and kids' flashcards included in the envelope.

This is my favourite one I've done for this project so far. I really have a hard time keeping it simple and this turned out well.

#4 - Our Honeymoon 4x4

2008-02-04T17:15:00.003-06:00

#4 - Our Honeymoon 4x4
Originally uploaded by eliza-jane

Another silly one!

The image here was from a memo pad page which was entirely a faint purple colour so I coloured it and outlined it.

#3 - He Stared Through Me 4x4

2008-02-04T17:15:00.001-06:00

#3 - He Stared Through Me 4x4
Originally uploaded by eliza-jane

This one is just silly!

#2 - Comfort 4x4

2008-02-04T17:14:00.003-06:00

#2 - Comfort 4x4
Originally uploaded by eliza-jane

This is the other one I will be sending to imconnie

#1 - Focus 4x4

2008-02-04T17:14:00.001-06:00

#1 - Focus 4x4
Originally uploaded by eliza-jane

I started off with a few 4x4s. My rules for this project are that I may add paints and pens, etc but only after the main collage has been done.

This is the first one I will be sending to imconnie.

The background is a winetasting from and the part I cut off had square perforations along the edge. I used that as a stencil and will probably continue to use for the duration of the project.

Contents of Envelope

2008-02-04T17:12:00.001-06:00

Contents of Envelope
Originally uploaded by eliza-jane

imconnie asked me if I would like to receive a random envelope and would I make something from it for her. Of course I said "yes!"

So here we have the beginnings of my next M.E.P. What I would call a medium sized envelope with lots of papers and a few doodads. I had already covered a 4x4 with the map before I remembered to take a picture.

Here I have done a preliminary sort into groups.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-29T10:35:00.001-06:00

I bought these pouffy witches hat stickers from the dollar store back at the beginning of September and it has taken me since then to actually get these made!

Another Journal Entry

2007-10-17T18:36:00.000-06:00

Time slipped away from me, I didn't mean to wait almost a week before posting. I did manage to clean up my art table and I also sorted all my acrylic paints into a big shoe box. It looks so pretty, I find myself looking at them all the time.

This journal entry was done on a day when I wasn't in the best of moods and was pretty simple to make. I glued a magazine face to the page, then gessoed over the whole page, face and all. Then I did one of my fast background techniques, dabbing paints with a dry babywipe. Stamped a bit with a circle stamp, then painted over the magazine face, adding the hair and shirt. Painted the words.

It's kind of strange but the days I'm not in the best of moods, I seem to do journal pages that are bright, cheerful colours and when I'm in a good mood my pages are darker. Weird!!

ATC's & 4x6

2007-10-11T17:39:00.000-06:00

And now for something different.

I felt like making some ATC's the other day so I made this set of 4 ATCs. I'm also in a 4x6 swap with someone where we had to use a Campbell's Soup label for the background so I got to work on that one too.

I actually haven't worked in my art journal for a few days now because my art table is too messy. I don't have any room to make anything anymore! So, in the next day or two I'm going to tackle tidying it up and get back to it. I still have several pages left to show though, so I'll keep uploading a journal page every few days.

For these I used a piece of map scrapbook paper for the background, then I coloured over it with water soluble crayons. Then using a dry baby wipe I smudged and rubbed the crayon to blend it all together. Rest of the card was finished with paint and stamps.

Campbell Soup label, foamy stamp, ink, scrapbook paper, image from a kid's book, sharpie and acrylic paint.

Day After Day

2007-10-09T09:44:00.000-06:00

When I first started journaling again this summer, I started by working in some mini-journals. This is a spread out of one I did in August. This journal started off as a little purse-sized calendar.

This journal I didn't actually journal much but rather just worked and tried to capture my mood.

Now here is another spread from my composition book journal.

This page from a vintage children's book has been in my supplies for ages and I'm so glad I finally used it. This was a really fun spread to do and reminds me of the good mood I was in that day. Lots of layering on the page with paints and gesso, stamps and bubble wrap. I used tape to adhere the page and water soluble crayons to paint the flowers.

Finding Time For Art

2007-10-04T15:45:00.000-06:00

This spread in my art journal is pretty simple. I kept trying to get some time to work in my journal this day but everytime I had just loaded some paint on a paintbrush or just got the gel medium spread my 7yo would be at my elbow needing something. It was just one of those days.

Go Back To the Earth

2007-10-02T14:05:00.000-06:00

Another art journal entry from Sept. If you've visited me before you know I am partial to the colours green/yellow/brown. The sunflower picture came first, then I worked the background around it. I love the swirly leaf stamp on the left, which I don't use nearly enough. Looking at the page makes me feel happy.

Don't Mess With Me

2007-09-27T16:40:00.000-06:00

Journal entry done in the composition book in September. For this one I chose the picture first then just started layering with paints and water soluble crayons, paintbrushes and stamps. As I was working the words came to me, sort of a combination between my mood that day and the panda's growly looking face.

Art Journaling

2007-09-26T08:48:00.000-06:00

In an effort to get back to blogging my art, I'm going to upload a pic from my art journal every day or two. As you can tell from recent posts here, I have not been blogging much lately. But I have been arting. I decided a while ago to stop taking pictures of everything I make. It's not really about what I make but more about that I simply DO make ... something .... anything. Life is tough right now, what with one thing and another but I always feel a bit better about myself, the world, my problems ... after I've done a bit of art.

I've been working on a few trades here and there these last months but I've been particularly bitten by the art journal bug. I've worked in and filled a couple of mini journals. But now I'm back to working in my big composition book journal. It's actually now starting to fill up nicely. So here's one of the spreads I've done this month in the composition book.

I'm Lily Munster!

2007-08-19T11:43:00.000-06:00

Your Score: Lily Munster!

Our test has determined that you possess
44% Hellbentness, 11% Sanguinity, and 44% Creeps!
Well done!

Your Proto-goth Icon Match is Lily Munster!

Lily Munster is a Transylvanian transplant who is as hauntingly and gothically beautiful as the day she died. She's a helpful and loyal housewife. The cobwebs in her house are draped to perfection, and the dust clouds that rise from the furniture can't be matched anywhere else. Lily is also a wonderful daughter to Grandpa Munster. She and her husband provide Grandpa with both an unsafe place to live and a dangerous lab to work in. Many less-dutiful daughters would decide that at 378 years of age, Grandpa should be retired by now!

Link: The what Proto-Goth Icon are you? Test written by anastasia_x on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Paint Chip ATC's

2007-08-17T18:51:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post tonight. Here are some ATC's where I've used paint chips for the bases.

Inchies

2007-08-10T20:03:00.001-06:00

Mini Art Journal

2007-08-10T19:39:00.000-06:00

For the last month or so, I've been working in this little art journal I made a while ago. I made a signature of mixed papers then glued them into an old greeting card (for the covers).

When I was working on the spread after this one (above) some glue seeped onto this page and dried and tore that white spot you see in the middle. I thought about trying to cover it up or blend it in but decided it didn't look too bad as it was.

This (above) is my second favourite spread.

The butterfly embellishment caused the page to not lay flat and we have a big shadow across this spread.

This is my favourite spread in the book. Too bad the scan has caused a big shadow in the middle. The image here is an old vintage photograph.

Another big shadow in the scan. Hand drawn bird (if you can't tell what it is) by me. My 7yo is doing a drawing course and I'm drawing along with him. This was one of our assignments.

What I've been up to Lately

2007-08-07T19:21:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of 3x3s I made for my friend Rosalie. The scans are quite a bit darker than they are in real life.

I had a lot of fun working with the 3x3 size, I don't think I've ever done that size before.

I also just finished this page in an unthemed deco.

And I'm working on atc's these days. When working atc's I like to do 4 or 5 together at the same time. Moving around, working on this one, then that one, then back. They end up looking like a set, with similar elements but different. Here's my latest set:

Remains of a Swap

2007-07-11T10:06:00.000-06:00

Way back before December I hosted a 1x1 swap and I saved all the 'stuff' I received from that. By 'stuff' I mean: a couple of people sent me a few collage goodies, others wrapped their items with magazine pages, almost everyone included a sturdy backer in the envelope, some included note cards, and I also saved the envelopes everything came in. So I put all this stuff aside to use later, then in December I moved and I 'lost' it. I just happened to uncover it last month or so and decided to make some atcs and things using only those items.

Here's what I came up with:

And one person included some blank 1x1 backgrounds for me. Thanks JaYne!

I'm Back!

2007-06-28T11:15:00.000-06:00

It really is tough to get back to blogging when you've been away for a while. I'm not going to try and play catch-up with what I've done in the meantime. I've been doing art but mostly I've been taking care of my health and have finally started to feel like myself again.

What I've been doing lately is working on another mystery envelope project. I decided to make atc's with the contents of this envelope. Since I've been sick I haven't felt much like painting, etc. so I challenged myself this time to use only the contents of the envelope plus a sharpie and a multi-colour ink pad. A few times I added a bit of something else (ie. glitter glue).

I ended up making 10 atc's as follows:
(as always click images to see larger)

At this point I had run out of larger images so I started making inchies with the remaining items and ended up with 18 1x1's. The backgrounds for these were made previously.

At this point I was pretty much finished, but as I had been working I saved every scrap of paper that would normally have been thrown in the garbage. I separated my scraps into colours and I made serendipity collages using the scraps and twinkling h2o's, then cut them down to atc size.

These are what I have left. I already made some atc's with the first set which you can see in my flickr.

Books and Reading

2007-05-26T06:46:00.000-06:00

This is a no art post. If you are interesting in my reading habits then this post is for you!

If you've been with me for long you know that at the beginning of the year I committed to only reading from my omnibus collection. I've followed through with this as you can see on the sidebar. The only books not from my omnibus' that I've read are the read-alouds to my ds. Last week when I finished the Dorothy Sayers books I started feeling a little tired with fiction and wanted a bit of a change so I've started reading some biographies.

Back when I was about 12 (no idea how old I was really but somewhere around 12, might have been younger) I read Shelly Winters' autobiography and fell in love with that time period (1930s-1950s) of the Silver Screen: the actors, the directors, the movies, all of it. I then proceeded to read biographies on all sorts of people I'd enjoyed in movies: Lauren Bacall, Cary Grant, Judy Garland, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hughes, Bette Davis, etc (I could go on and on!) and even read books about people I'd never even heard of at the time: Frances Farmer, Sophia Loren (remember I was 12-13 at the time).

So, I'm diving into these books again. I just finished Katharine Hepburn's autobiography. (She is probably my absolute favourite actress.) And I'm off to the library today to get a recent biography on her.

Bit of This n That

2007-05-24T19:33:00.000-06:00

I have been feeling so, so very tired since the other day. The meds seem to be working and physically I'm feeling much better but I'm just so tired. Anyway, I've got some stuff to show.

The following was all done before I got sick.

After I finished the mini-project mentioned in the previous post, I pulled out another little random envelope I've received. This one was full of embellishments, a couple pieces of papers and two puzzle pieces. So I altered the two puzzles pieces and put magnets on the back and made a Queen-themed deco from the bits of pieces. The rest of the "stuff" went into my stash.

Then I made a few ATC's. Unfortunately some of these did not scan very well, the embellishments cast shadows on the scanner and I used some blue metallic ink which doesn't scan well either. These first three are not my best work, but, hey, I've got to show the bad as well as the good here.

Now these next two I am much happier with.

I got a little mini composition book in the mail today for a swap I signed up for. We each are sent these books to alter and then we send them in and they are swapped out. It really is a tiny little thing, fits in the palm of your hand but it has quite a few pages. So I'm having fun right now gluing pages together and painting the pages.

Till next time!

Day in the Hospital

2007-05-22T15:50:00.000-06:00

I spent an interesting day today in the hospital. I
haven't been feeling so good the last couple of days and last night I
felt horrible, my heart was racing and I couldn't relax at all. Sooo,
we went to the hospital early this morning and I spent the day hooked
up to heart monitors and had tests done. I felt like I was in a scene from ER with the nurses over me on either side hooping me up and telling me to relax. It was quite nerve-wrecking but thankfully all the tests came back good and my problem is high blood pressure. I heard the nurse say my blood pressure was so high when I came in that I was floating! They gave me a pill and it sent my pressure way down so I'm feeling a lot better all ready, but I'm now going to be on blood pressure meds now. I feel like I've officially entered old-age! LOL! And I have to give up caffiene! What am going to do without my morning coffee?

Ah well, small price to pay for otherwise good health. I was afraid
the tests would come back saying I had diabetes, since it runs in my
family, but it was negative. Hallelujah!

April Altered Calendar

2007-05-20T09:52:00.000-06:00

I've finished the April Calendar Spread. I didn't bother scanning the top half, I did a big doodle on it this time. The weather is rainy and gloomy today so I'll wait to take a pic of the whole spread when it is sunny again. But in the meantime here is the scan of the calendar half.

click to super super-size.

The collage elements in this are all from the mystery envelope and quite a bit is from the actual envelope itself! I really like how this turned out with the totally random bits. All my other ones I planned around a colour scheme, while for this one I planned a colour scheme around the collage bits. I also used Adirondack Color Wash for the base on this instead of Twinkling H2Os and it worked really well. I have to get myself a few more colours of the colour wash!

So this is the April spread and I am now caught up with it. But, of course, May is getting close to then end so I may find myself behind again very shortly. But in the meantime, I can say I'm caught up. LOL

Mystery Envelope Project #5

2007-05-19T09:07:00.000-06:00

A couple of days ago I pulled a little envelope of collage fodder off the shelf and decided to start MEP #5. This is just a mini-project as the envelope is small with just a few bits and pieces in it. But they are very interesting bits and pieces!

This atc was the first thing I made. The base was a small advertising card somewhat larger than an atc so I cut it down to size and glued the cut-off bits to the edges, then stenciled with gesso over the b/w card. There was a small clipping of newsprint with part of a Spanish comic and that is where the image and words came from.

For this atc, I supplied my own base and then tore up the remains of the comic and made a torn paper background. Added some glitter and scrounged around in my own collage images for the African statue guy. I already knew I wanted it say "chaos" so I grabbed a piece of scrapbook paper I had with winter words all over it and clipped the letters out to spell "chaos".

Next I made this deco for myself. I wanted to use the piece of green material so I supplied my own cardstock and covered with the material. I really like the look of fabric and paper together, but the only time I ever use material is when I get some in these mystery envelopes for some reason! I dismantled a tea bag and it's envelope and added the collage. Used my own stamp for the apple stamp. There was a page out of a Finnish book (oh, I forgot to mention this envelope came from Finland!) so I cut that up for the pages in the deco and even sewed it together with a bit of the cotton yarn included in the envelope.

This is another one done on a book board for the collection I'm making. I'm not too pleased with this for 2 reasons. 1) It didn't really come out how I had envisioned and 2) I'm never really pleased with anything I do that doesn't have a face on it; I don't know why ... it's something I still have to figure out. I had intended to use a red leaf that was included in the envelope but when I got around to putting it on I found that it didn't stand out very well so I went with this very light green one. You know I love red & green together especially when I think red & green apples but every single time *I* put these colours together it looks like Christmas gone wrong. Aside from the note included, "Love You" on the stationary were the only English words in this envie so since they were red, they got added here.

Now, as I said, this is only a little envelope and I think I have enough stuff left to do a calendar spread with the remainder. There are quite a few embellishments here too that will get saved for future use as I need to keep my calendar from getting too heavy so am not adding any more embellishments to it.

Lots of Photos

2007-05-18T12:02:00.000-06:00

I've got lots of pictures to show today!

I've been working on this accordion book for the last few days. I painted the book quite some time ago (pic here) and finally getting around to doing something with it.

You can see the rest of it on flickr by clicking on any of the above pics.

Here are some white 1x1s I did for a swap.

And last but not least, my latest journal entry.

I guess I don't have much to say today . Off to Ikea tomorrow, always a dangerous thing to do as I very rarely leave there without a bunch of stuff I didn't know I needed until I saw it (LOL)

Arting It Up on Mother's Day

2007-05-14T13:18:00.000-06:00

This set of 5 ATC's contains images that I photocopied from a vintage photograph in my personal collection. This is the first time I've actually used a photocopy in my art. The colours are a bit off because the embellishments cast shadows on the scanner. (same old story...)

I had a great Mother's Day! In the morning we went to a huge book sale. We had already been on Thursday night but Sunday was the bag sale. Buy a bag for $2 and then fill it full of books, and they were huge bags. So I got 2 huge bags full of books for $4! I mostly got books for our homeschool, then I got several omnibus editions for my collection and then a few mags and an old 1950s websters dictionary to use in my art. I had to hold back on getting books for my art because I have sooo much already, I don't really need any more.

Above is a quick collage I did yesterday evening. Below is a quick entry in my art journal I did this morning. Our phone and internet went off yesterday and we didn't get them back on until this afternoon. It's amazing how much one can get done when there are not phone or online distractions. LOL!

See that stamp in the background! That is one of my Mother's Day presents. As I mentioned I went to Michael's for my Mother's Day treat and below is what I picked out. I ended up getting nothing I needed and just treated myself to some fun stuff.

The paints are all metallic colours and they are gorgeous!

Mother's Day

2007-05-12T16:46:00.000-06:00

These are three more collages on the book boards. I can't wait till they are all done and I can put it together! I don't know what happened to the scanner with this one but if you click on it you can see a bigger picture.

Today my dh told me that for Mother's Day he is taking me to Michaels! Does that sound lame? Michaels is a 45 minute drive from here so it's a big deal for us to go there. BUT they are building one here in town and I am so excited.

So, we don't have a ton of money to spend but he'll tell me how much I get to spend when we get there. In the meantime, I'm making a list of things I *need* and things I *want*. I'm going to try and pick up just the bare necessities that I need and spend the rest on stuff I want.

Wishing you all a Happy Mother's Day!

If I Had a Million Dollars Project

2007-05-11T09:31:00.000-06:00

Two posts in a day, because I forgot to mention this in the last post! The instructions to the above are now up on Stamp and Scrap Canada!

Fly Away With Me

2007-05-11T09:16:00.000-06:00

I haven't done too much in the way of art the last couple of days. Day before yesterday my 6yo woke me up very early in the morning to let me know he'd thrown up in the living room. So you can imagine how that day went! We had another insident on the stairs and (third time's the charm) finally made it to the toilet for the third time. Then yesterday I must have caught it, 'cause he was feeling better and I felt lousy. I did manage to sit down while he was sleeping and play around with drawing faces.

And this morning I played with the scrunchie technique found here.

I used gel medium though instead of a xyron. Then I just added some distress inks and gesso.

Then I made this 4x6 from it.

Altered Star Book

2007-05-08T12:34:00.000-06:00

Oh! I am on such a roll here! My "still not finished" basket is emptying quickly! I finished the star-shaped board book last night and took it outside for a photo shoot and even with my lousy camera I am pleased with the photos. This board book was sent to me by a wonderful lady (Hi Joan!) in one of my groups as a RAK. I've had so much fun working in it and the feeling to actually complete something beginning to end is empowering!

Click the picture and select "All Sizes" to super-size.

I also made a little Thank-You gift for the inspiration she sent me by way of this little book. But I'll save the picture of that until it has reached it's new home.

TTYL!

Money, Money, Money

2007-05-06T14:37:00.000-06:00

Two more collages done on the book boards. I may use these for the front and back covers. The one on the right got cut off a bit in the scanner and I'm too lazy to rescan it right now.

These are some ATC backgrounds for an ATC Jam Round Robin I'm sending out.

Got to cut it short today. My internet connection keeps cutting out and I better hit Publish now while I can!

It's Deco Time!

2007-05-05T08:58:00.000-06:00

Felicia asked a question about one of the guys in the last set of pink 1x1s. And you are right, Felicia! He is from the Flintstones. That is Mr. Slate (Fred's boss)!

My page in a pink & green themed deco. I taped this one. I've never taped over a collage in a deco even if it is a taped-deco that I'm working in. But this one has a lot of work in it already that is totally taped, and has been put together in a way (folded in upon itself) that if I hadn't taped my piece it would more than likely get ruined before it went much further.

My page in an orange & brown themed deco.

And, finally, this is my page in an unthemed deco.

What I'm working on now:

I've just finished another set of 1x1s for a swap and will post a photo once they arrive at their destination. I have one spread and the back cover left on the altered star-shaped board book that I'm working on.

I've decided to take the month off from swapping and spend some time on what I have going on here at the moment. So I hope to finish the board book this month. As well as the April (and possibly May) spreads in my altered calendar. Then I have the Pinocchio 1x1s under way, as well as the red-themed collages I started on the boards from those kids' books I've been mentioning. Then, if that's not enough I have a huge pile of decos I can dive into. Plus I would like to make some more decos for myself. I've worked in a ton of decos for other people but only sent a handful out in the world myself.

There was a time when I worked on one collage at a time. But I need to have several things on the go these days. I get all obsessed with something when a frenzy of creativity hits me, then it fizzles out and I move onto something else. Then I'll find the spark again and go back to something I set aside for a while. Variety is the spice of life!

Show ... But Not Much ... Tell

2007-05-02T17:10:00.000-06:00

Quickie blog post tonight.

An ATC Jam RR passing through :

A deco I made for someone, from a Label Bag I received. I'd never done label bags before so I had to ask for instructions on how it all works.

And finally I leave you with some 1x1s I did for a swap. I mentioned these in a previous post but couldn't post a pic until they had arrived at their destination.

Annoyed ... But Over It

2007-04-30T16:54:00.000-06:00

I am so annoyed!!! I have these pieces to show and I can't get good pictures! I tried to scan them a dozen different ways but because of the large embellishments they cast shadows. And with all the brown & black in these the scans just look like scans of mud! So I took 'em outside and took photos of them, and you all know how lame my camera is. Anyway ... this is the best I could get and the text isn't readable on most, but if you click on them and go to flickr, I've written the accompanying text for each one.

I just absolutely love how these turned out (in real life, that is). The bases for these are the boards of the books I've been using lately! These 6 pictures are the front and back of 3 boards. When I'm finished I plan on punching them and binding them, probably with key rings or binder rings. I'm going with a red colour scheme, each set will be red and another colour. Here we have 3 red & black and 3 red & brown.

Found

2007-04-29T13:00:00.000-06:00

I've been spending a huge amount of time sorting out my "stuff" into colours. I had all my images sorted into folders but needed something bigger so I could colour co-ordinate everything: embellishments, etc. but didn't have the money for a perfect solution. So I went to the dollar store yesterday and bought 15 stackable tubs. I chose the most appropriate kind I could find wide enough and deep enough. So now I'm about 3/4's of the way done and I have to say it is awesome!

Anyway, I was sorting through some old (30s-40s) birthday cards I have and this fell out of one. A 1935 series A silver certificate US dollar! How cool is that? It doesn't appear to be worth anything, though :-(

I also finished this little blanket last night. It is just a bit smaller than the last one. I had a huge ball of the grey main colour and wanted to use it up. Grey is not my favourite, so this is my least favourite one so far but still happy with it. I discovered last night I can wear these little ones as a small shawl over my shoulders sitting outside in the evening when it cools down.

I've started the next one and it is going to be a big full sized afghan, maybe even bed size and it is turning out gorgeous. I'm using various whites for the main colour and contrasting with pale pastels.

Now here is a picture of something I made quite a while ago but just got around to punching and binding this weekend. I took an old (falling apart) paperback book and tore the pages out, painted one side of some pages then glued two or three pages together with the painted sides facing out. The front cover I kept as is, as a reminder of what it once was. Another art journal. Too bad I don't work in my journals as much as I make them!

You can see a lot more detail by clicking and viewing "all sizes"

And finally, I took this picture a bit ago and forgot to upload it. Here's an in-progress shot of my Robin Hood 1x1s. My camera is lousy with close-ups but you get an idea of how I work.

Talk to you later!

Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum!

2007-04-28T13:14:00.000-06:00

I'm still working on the Pinocchio 1x1s. I've put them aside right now though as I was losing steam on them and need a break to rejuvenate. They are turning out to be a very large batch, lots of awesome images.

Next book up was "Jack and the Beanstalk". It is from the same series as the others but with only about a third of the pages. After a quick glance through it I realized there would only be enough images for a handful of 1x1s, so I grabbed the book and scavenged through it to work on this set of ATCs.

text and image is from the book.

only the text is from the book. The doves are from some vintage giftwrap.

Again only the text is from the book. The image is drawn by myself. The first time I've ventured to use one of my little doodles as a focal image on something larger than a 1x1!

The text and the head is from the book.

The text, image and red polka-dot paper is from the book.

Then when I was finished I scanned through the book and cut out three images to save for future use along with the endpages (the polka-dot paper).

I'm also saving all the boards (front and back covers) for a project I have in mind for them, which I may start to work on shortly.

Until next time!

Decos

2007-04-24T11:47:00.000-06:00

I'm still working on the Pinnochio 1x1s. I'm almost finished adding the images to the bases, next up is to add the text. In the meantime, I was interupted by a couple of decos. I'm expecting an envelope full of new ones soon, so am clearing out the last that I still have here.

This is my page in a Summer themed deco:

And I made this Square themed deco for a friend:

I also started working in my art journal regularly 5 days ago. They say you have to do something 15 days in a a row for it to become a habit, and that's what I'm working on right now. I don't think I'll be uploading scans of individual pages though as I'm trying very hard to actually journal (write) each day and don't feel I want the world reading my thoughts at the moment. But that may change. (OK, I know the 5 or 6 people who read my blog isn't the world, but you know what I mean :-) Basically what I'm doing is sitting down, grabbing stuff already on my art table and gluing it down quickly, then journalling. One day I didn't have anything on my art table (gasp!) except the new 1x1s so I reached into the garbage can under my desk and made a page from "garbage". Then as the mood strikes me I'm going back to finished pages and doodling on them.

One by One with Robin Hood

2007-04-22T10:23:00.000-06:00

Robin Hood! As promised, I've been working on a set of 1x1s using a kids' book version of Robin Hood. There were tons of images in this book and with the text was a bit smaller than in the previous book I had an easier time finding suitable text, though I still did mainly stick with single words. These are so much fun and looking somewhat different than my usual work. I really like this set! I especially enjoyed using the bird and animal images.

Click to see bigger. And select "All Sizes"

I spent some time the other day painting some more backgrounds and slicing them up into 1-inch bases as my little basket was starting to empty.

Next up is Pinocchio! This one is going to be fun, the illustrations are a bit on the 'creepy' side actually. Pinocchio is definately a bit scary-looking and there are some other mean-looking characters.

Even My Knitting is Square!

2007-04-19T09:50:00.000-06:00

I've been addicted to these mitred square blankets for years now. I just can't stop knitting them. One thing I love about them is I can use up the tiniest scraps in these and combine every type of yarn weight into one blanket and it just dawned on me that this is similar to my love of collage! This one is small, I just kept knitting until I ran out of the main yarn and it is big enough to cover an end table.

One By One with Oliver Twist

2007-04-18T11:24:00.000-06:00

On the weekend I went up to my son's room to make space on his bookshelves for some new books I thrifted for him. I got rid of a small stack of books that he had either outgrown or wasn't interested in any more and had an inspiration. Instead of sending them off to the thrift store, I'm going 1x1-ing with them. The first book was a litte kid's version of Oliver Twist and here are my Oliver Twist theme 1x1's!

Click to see bigger.

The text in the book was pretty large so I was limited to using just one word per inch, though I did manage a couple with two words. The backgrounds are all painted except the 4 blue ones in the middle. They are based on a postcard I cut up into inches!

Next up is Robin Hood!

Altered Calendar - March

2007-04-17T14:32:00.000-06:00

I've been waiting several days now to take pics of my latest altered calendar spread but it has been raining for 5 days straight. Then today the rain stopped but it is still overcast and I can't wait any longer. So here we have some dark, dull photos and at the end a scan of the calendar grid.

Click to see details.

This is my favourite one to date! All the collage elements in this one were taken from what was laying on my art table. There isn't as much text in this one as I usually do because I didn't have much text on the table that day. Most of the 'stuff' came from an envelope that Rosalie sent me plus a bit of this and that. The big religious images on the top half came from a Jehovah's Witness flyer I found in the mailbox one day and couldn't throw away because I loved the images. They really do have gorgeous artwork, so next time they come to your house, before you slam the door make sure you grab the flyer first (LOL)!

Asian and Flowers

2007-04-11T08:51:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit! Things have been pretty busy and I gotta say scanning is not my favourite activity so I've been putting it off. But even though I haven't been blogging I have been arting.

I have some 4x6s I did for swaps this month. I actually got a head start on the Asian ones and then these flowers were a lot of fun. So I'm ahead of the game and have all my swaps finished for the month! These scans are kind of dark, I'm finding that if my pieces aren't 100% flat the scanner creates shadows so I guess I'll just have to live with it.

Asian 4x6's

Flowers 4x6's

And finally a set of ATC's

Right now I'm working on my altered calendar. I've got behind and am working on the March pages at the moment but I'm having a ton of fun. I just love working the calendar pages soooo much!

1x1s and White Book

2007-04-04T12:21:00.000-06:00

Did these 1x1s last week on-the-quick. Sometimes I just need a quick fix of 1x1s!

Got my white-themed altered book out again and did this spread. I just love working in my altered books. They are so freeing because they are not for swaps or trades and there is no pressure. I can play and do anything that comes to mind without worrying if it is "good".

I'm also working on a couple of things I can't show you yet. I'm doing a set of 1x1s for a trade that I will show once they have arrived at their destination. Also, I'm working on a star-shaped altered board book that a wonderful lady gave me and I'm saving that to show once I've finished it.

Angst, Art & Answers

2007-04-01T10:19:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted! I haven't been doing much art this last week but I do have a couple of photos to share below. This is going to be a long post!

I've been going through the yearly homeschool curriculum angst that hits homeschoolers around this time every year. This year has been particularly hard for me as I haven't been through it for a few years. My oldest has been taking university courses for a couple years now and my youngest was in K last year and Gr.1 this year. I've been concentrating on reading (and math) with him and curriculum choices were easy. But now that he is entering Gr. 2 next year I've been working on "The Plan" for the rest of elementary and been spending most of my free time visiting homeschool forums and curriculum websites. It's been years since I've visited the forums and it's like I never left! Everyone is asking the same questions they were asking five (even ten!) years ago. Don't know if I find that comforting or disturbing! Curriculum talk is pretty much the same as when I left the forums scene, though there a few new ones in the past couple years that I hadn't heard of so had to go check them out too. Didn't find anything new that interested me, except for Science. So I'm pretty sure I have all my choices made for next year and have a "Plan" written out.

One day I was missing my art and just had to Glue something. So I did a couple of blindfold gluebook style atc's. Blindfold-ing is when you close your eyes and tear three pages out of a magazine and make a card using only those pages. I added a sharpie as I can't "not" doodle.

I'm not crazy about the one with the clock but I do like "Abigail"!

I've also been working on a larger piece.

Life Happens

Click to see larger. If you click on "All Sizes" you can read the text. This was kind of a "don't-think-about-it-too-much" piece and isn't one of my favourites but I do like it, nevertheless. I tried to incorporate as many of the prompts in this as I could. I didn't use the prompts per-se but was consciously trying to get the same layering effect.

Some answers to questions I've had recently:

ACEO stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. It is no different than an ATC. The only difference is the intended use. An ATC is for trading and an ACEO is for selling. Not that I necessarily intend to sell them, I just feel better sometimes calling mine ACEO's.

The prompt words I've been using are from this site. You will find the original 20 word prompts there and descriptions of each. Since I started this I have now changed some of the words to work better for me. My revised list of twenty prompts are: PAINT, TEXTURE, TEXT, PAPER, CHALK, PASTELS/WATER SOLUBLE CRAYONS, CHARCOAL, PENCIL, STAMP, STENCIL, WIPE, INK, PATTERN, 3-D, WRITE, IMAGE, SMUDGE, DRAW/DOODLE, SAND, SURPRISE.

ATC's Abound

2007-03-26T13:23:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been a long time since I made ATC's (well these are actually ACEO's). So I got the idea to try out the prompt's I was doing on 4x6s with a smaller size. So I did it this time on ATC size cards. What I did this time was lay 5 blank 2.5 x 3.5 cards out then I staggered the prompts. I pulled a word out and worked on the first card, then I pulled another word out and worked on the first and second card, next the 1st, 2nd and 3rd card and so on until I was working on all five cards at the same time. And amazingly I kept going up to 19 words! The only one I didn't pull for these was "sand". Without further ado, here they are!

Elements

Afternoon

Celebrate

It Takes All Kinds

Make a Statement

Then since I was on a kick with this size, I made two more (just regular, without the prompts)

A Tree in the Forest

Unusual George

Spring has sprung. The weather is warm. The sun is shining. I love living out here sooooo much. (For those who don't know, we moved from Alberta to Ontario last summer.)

See you soon!

Return to Sender

2007-03-23T15:31:00.000-06:00

My addiction with squares continues. And specifically with grids these days. This one is called "Return to Sender" and the grid was made with 2-inch squares cut from envelopes I've received in the mail.

Return to Sender

As always, click to see bigger.

Reading

2007-03-22T19:56:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post to say I've updated my books read list over in the sidebar. The Irwin Shaw books were very good. These are the first of his books that I have read, though I do sort of remember watching the Rich Man, Poor Man TV mini-series when it was on wayyyy back when. It's been a long time since I've read an epic family drama type novel. I was hooked right from the beginning and considering there were about 1000 pages, it was a pretty quick read. I just love reading older books, I don't read much modern fiction. Next on my list is an omnibus by Frank G. Slaughter which includes three novels.

Find Your Groove

2007-03-21T18:18:00.000-06:00

Something a little different for today. Reminiscent of my calendar pages, I've been working on this for the last few days.

Find Your Groove

And my design for this book was posted today. Click for the how-to instructions.

Good Memories

2007-03-20T09:48:00.000-06:00

Here we go with another 4x6! This may be my last one, I'm not sure yet. I've been working on something else since I finished this. We'll see!

Good Memories

1 SURPRISE - Wow! A good one to start with. This leaves me wide open to start whichever way I choose. So I went with another of my favourite quick backgrounds. I grabbed two colours of paint (yellow and brown). Then drizzle straight from the bottle randomly on my base. Take a dry baby wipe and pounce up and down covering the background.

Note: for the background make sure you pounce, don't wipe as that will muddy your colours. Also sometimes I do this with a wet baby wipe and you get a more transparent background which is good over text or collage. Also if you drizzle a lot of paint you will get a darker solid colour (shown here), the less paint you start with the lighter the colour and the more transparent it will be.

2 PENCIL - OK, pencil is not the best thing to go next so I just shaded around the edges of my card.

3 WRITE - Same as last time I did this. I wrote over parts of my background, some of this is still visable.

4 IMAGE - Love it when I get image. Attached the girls.

5 TEXT - All right! I added the three snippets of text.

6 CHALK - Another good one! Since working on this process I have found a new love for chalk. I chalked around the image with brown and around the text with yellow.

7 SMUDGE - Perfect one to get right after chalk! Of course I then smudged all the chalk.

8 SCRATCH - This is my least favourite of the words. scratching is not my thing. But I went ahead and scratched a border just inside the image.

9 SAND - This is more like it. I like sanding. I sanded over the entire card words, image, background.

10 INK - just a bit of ink this time. The last two text snippets were on a yellowish paper but the first text "childhood memories" was from a magazine and on white paper so I took a paintbrush and inked the text with yellow.

11 PAPER - Added a torn stip of paper to the top and two little bits on the bottom corners of the image.

12 PASTEL - with brown I went over the edges of the paper, the edges of the text and lightly over the words themselves.

13 CHARCOAL - edged the card with charcoal

14 PATTERN - Added the paint dots and decided it was done.

Another one I'm happy with! This has been really fun, I've come away with only one I'm not happy with. I think I may try this on a bigger scale next, maybe in my altered books. We'll see.

Until next time!

Knowing When to Stop

2007-03-19T12:29:00.000-06:00

I am really pleased with today's 4x6! The layered background turned out wonderful but the rest of it is very simple. I stopped after 10 words this time. I probably would have added words to this had I been doing it my normal way but words are not always necessary and this is a reminder to me that less is sometimes more.

Her face looks a little weird here as I seem to be having a bit of a glare problem with the scanner.

1 PATTERN - One of my new favourite things to do is after I'm finished a collage I will draw spirals and dots all over the background. This time I decided to try it first and the words helped me out here perfectly. First I drew gold spirals all the base.

2 PASTEL - with a red oil pastel I added dots all over the background.

3 SAND - Not wanting to smudge my pastel dots, I just sanded around the perimetre .

4 CHARCOAL - something I really liked about the last one was the border drawn a quarter inch from the edge so I repeated that here with the charcoal.

5 SMUDGE - with a dry finger I smudged the charcoal line, with the above sanding this made a nice distressed edge which is no longer visable but it looked good at the time!

6 CHALK - along side the charcoal border I added a brown chalk border.

7 INK - this time for ink I used a spray bottle of adirondak color wash (a spray dye) and sprayed over the entire card. I thought it would be transparent allowing the previous work to show through. Let it dry. When I came back I was pleased to see that not only was it transparent but the gold pen and the oil pastel dots acted as a resist and were completely visible. I love the background at this point and am feeling a bit pleased with myself for this unexpected result!

8 IMAGE - just what the card needed at this point! I add the image of the girl head.

9 DRAW - Hmmm. I thought about this quite a bit before I started. The rest of the girl's body appeared in my head and using my very limited drawing ability I drew her coat and altered the bottom half of the original image to incorporate it into her new clothing. I'm incredibly pleased with it at this point but I go on to my 10th word.

10 STAMP - Another hmmmm moment. I take a black ink and large spiral foam stamp and gently stamp three partial spirals along the right hand side.

Now, I'm thinking that the only thing needed is some text so I am hoping the next word will be text, magazine or even write. Feeling my chances are pretty good to get one of those words I pick the next and get ... "Paper".

Well, I gave it a try. I must have placed torn strips or bits of paper in a ~~hundred~~ dozen places, left it, came back, looked at it, tried a different arrangement, left it and so on...... It didn't look right and was totally throwing the whole piece off so I decided it was time to stop.

This is definately my favourite so far. See you tomorrow for the next one!

A Dud

2007-03-18T10:17:00.000-06:00

The next 4x6 is a dud. I don't like this one much. But I have to remember that it is the process that counts and even when you don't like the finished work there is always something learnt by the doing.

Here is how this one went:

1 PAPER - Paper first. So I decided to try something different with this one and covered the entire base with a polka dot paper background.

2 TEXT - next I put the velum quote on.

3 PASTELS - Good. I love using pastels! I went over all the polka dots with similar coloured pastels to give the background a more artsy look.

4 SAND - yikes! sanding is really going to smudge all the work I just did with pastels. So what I did was sand the text a bit and then I sanded just around the perimetre of the card

5 SMUDGE - Oh no! I guess I'm going to have to smudge the pastels after all. With a dry finger I gently smudged all the pastel polka dots. So far I'm actually liking it.

6 MAGAZINE - Good one. I tore some strips of sky from a mag. page and added above and below the text.

7 INK - Another good one. Grabbed the trusty old distress ink and with a cosmetic wedge I dabbed all over the background and the blue strips. At this point I'm liking the background but those blue strips of mag paper have boxed in the quote and I'm not sure where this is going.

8 CHARCOAL - {sigh} I seem to pick charcoal ever single time I do this. OK, what can I do with the charcoal? I drew a border about a quarter inch from the edges all around the card.

9 DRAW - This seems to be going nowhere fast. Let's give it some ooomf! I got a blue crayola spider writer and drew the spirals on the bottom half and then drew the tiny pattern along the edges of the text. Stand back and take a good look at it and discover I have really boxed myself in here. Oh, well pick the next word and hope for the best. Hopefully, I'll get Image

10 PENCIL - No image. pencil is not my friend here. Hmmm. I shaded over the edges of the blue strips of mag paper.

Well 10 is where I can stop if I want but there is no way this is anywhere near finished.

11 STAMP - Not an image the way I was hoping for but maybe this will work. I stamped the mermaid in the bottom corner with pigment ink and then with weathered wood distress ink I very gently stamped two fish in the upper corners so they just barely show. Looks better now but still hoping for the best.

12 PATTERN - Oh boy. I looked for something that would go with this and couldn't find anything I really liked except these vintage buttons. I must have tried a dozen different arrangements trying to draw the eye away from the boxed text and finally settled on this pattern of 5 buttons.

13 SCRATCH - Curses! Foiled again! I added some lame scratches to the blue strips.

14 CHALK - I chalked over the edges of the blue strips which at least merged them into the background.

Now at this point I was desperate for something good or was going to just leave it as is. So I picked the next word and it was 3D! No way, the buttons were already 3D and I had nothing else that would work with this. So I called it a day and sprayed with fixative to set the chalks, etc.

After this one was finished I quickly started the next one and I can't wait to show it to you tomorrow. I looove it and think it may just be the best one so far!

Count Your Blessings

2007-03-17T15:46:00.000-06:00

Busy day today!

Here is my next 4x6. I really like this one!

Count Your Blessings

1 INK - This was a great one to come first! One of my favourite backgrounds to do when I need a background right away is to grab a couple of distress inks and swipe all over. So that is what I did with Peeled Paint and Mustard Seed.

2 WRITE - . I took a yellow marker and wrote in big letters across the card. If you look closely you can still see some of it.

3 IMAGE - Easy! I attached the image of the girls.

4 CHALK - I outlined the girls with green chalk.

5 SAND - Sand over the girls to distress the image.

6 WIPE - with a baby wipe I wiped over all the ink background which mixed the colours a bit more then very lightly I wiped the chalk around the girls bringing it onto the image.

7 PAINT - Random painting with green and yellow across the background and just catching the edges of the image.

8 SMUDGE - Now I went away and waited until the paint was almost dry but still a bit tacky and with a dry finger I smudged over all the paint.

9 TEXT - Added both the larger words (above the girls) and the smaller words (under the girls)

10 3D - I glued down the leaves. I am really loving this card by this point!

After 10 I do really like it, but it doesn't feel finished. The words aren't integrated and the background is still somewhat plain. So I continue

11 STAMP - Used a large foam flower stamp and acrylic paint and stamped in the three corners. I'm loving the background now but the words still need something.

12 CHARCOAL - Yes! with charcoal I edge the text and edge the entire card.

Finished! One last thing I did was spray with fixitive so the charcoal wouldn't smudge off.

See you tomorrow with the next one!

A New Series

2007-03-16T11:24:00.000-06:00

I'm working on a new series! After the technique 4x6s from the other day, my mind started racing about what I could have done if I'd chosen different words and I've decided to start a series of 4x6s using the same process.

I get bored doing the same thing over and over and feel like I always follow the same steps when I'm doing collages. This process really stretches your imagination and I'm learning new ways of working.

Here is the next one:

Simon

1 IMAGE - A great beginning! I adhered the boy image.

2 SMUDGE - a waste. nothing to smudge at this point, so I move on to the next word.

3 3D - OK, an embellishment this early is tough for me but I go with it and attach the red foamy "S"

4 DRAW - I have a totally white background at this point so I draw some gold spirals coming out from some of the corners and edges. I also doodle on top of the foamy.

5 MAGAZINE - I tear out the apples and glue them on.

6 SAND - I sand over all the images.

7 CHARCOAL - Still have a plain background so I shade in the bottom half under the images with my charcoal stick.

8 PATTERN - Perfect! Paint dab some circles around the boy image tying it into the background.

9 WIPE - wondering when I will ever get a background for this card. I go ahead and wipe with a baby wipe over the images which distresses them further then I blend in all the charcoal.

10 PAPER - OK, now we are getting somewhere! attach torn scrapbook paper over the charcoal on the bottom.

After doing 10 steps, I will continue to do one step at a time until I am pleased with the result. This card still has a white background so I keep going.

11 SUPRISE (WATER SOLUABLE CRAYON) - Perfect! for my surprise I get a crayon and colour in all the background and everything except the images, then I go over it with water and a paintbrush. This mixes in with the charcoal on the bottom and smudged my paint a bit since it wasn't 100% dry and everything has been brought together. This was a totally new experience for me working my background practically at the end since I always start with a background. Then I take the crayon and go over the edges nice and dark.

I really like the piece at this point, except the red letter "S" stands out too much and looks like it was just stuck on. So I decide to pick another word and see if it will help me with the "S".

12 INK - Bingo! I grap a distress ink and ink over the letter "S".

See you tomorrow with the next one!

Intuitive Random Collage

2007-03-15T11:02:00.000-06:00

This set of three 4x6s I have today were done for a technique swap in my group. The technique we followed this month is here. Since we are working on 4x6s we are going with 10 of the words and can do more if we like. This was quite an interesting process and I definately ended up with something I would never have made using my own process. I kind of got jipped with words though as I didn't get picture or text and I always include both of those in everything I make!

So here is the lowdown on how I made these. First, I found three images with similar colours and then gathered together all the supplies, papers, pens, paints etc in co-ordinating colours. I decide to work all three cards at the same time. So, I picked out my first word and it was 3D! I couldn't imagine slapping on an embellishment to a blank page and then working around it soooo I admit I cheated, put it back and started again.

1) OK, Magazine, better. I tore some large words off the magazine page and randomly placed on each card.

2) Paint. Yes! randomly applied some brown and red patches of paint, catching the magazine text a bit.

3) Pattern. I'm having fun now! Grabbed a brown paint dabber and put 5 paint dots on each card.

4) Charcoal. OK. Had to leave everything to dry properly first, so took off and came back later. With the charcoal stick I shaded in some white spaces and drew around the circles on one of the cards.

5) 3D. Hmmm. Embellishment now?? Ok, so I got some confetti trees and applied to each card.

6) Paper. Cool! Tore some scrapbook paper into strips and glued in different places on each card.

7) Surprise. All Right! Now this was a tough spot for me because I still didn't have any images and I almost glued my pictures down, but then I thought what will I do if I get "Picture" next? Better not do it. So instead I got a water-soluable crayon and went around all the edges of my torn papers.

8) Sand. Not feeling the love anymore. Went away for a while to let all the glue dry properly and came back and sanded a bit here and there.

9) Scratch. What the ....?? Grabbed something sharp and did a crosshatch scratching on each card.

10) Ink. Ok, not bad. I still have white patches of the base showing through, so I used a distress ink and swiped over them.

Now at this point, our instructions said we could stop at 10. Well I'm looking at what I have so far and for a background they look ok. But for a finished piece they look like #$%^&! So here we go!

11) Pencil. Darn! Still no picture. used my pencil to trace over the big words on each card and traced around the circles on one card. This step really changed the whole look. Now I at least had a focal point as the words stood out of the background.

12) Draw. Yikes! usually my drawing is to enhance or alter an image already in my piece. At this point I was all ready to throw them out and start over. But not one to quit easily, I decided to have a go at drawing my image since the words were not co-operating and giving me that choice. I can draw a tree. So I did. First with crayon, hmm, not showing up as much as I want. So I got a gold paint pen and Zing! Yes! I like it.

Now the major problem with my cards was that I STILL had rather large white patches of my base showing through. So I had to keep going!

13) Wipe! WooHoo! The answer! I grabbed a baby wipe and started wiping over all the charcoal, pencil, dye ink, watersoluable crayon and blending them into one another and at the same time drawing the colour over onto the white patches.

And now I decided to stop. I felt that anything else I added would look like it was just plopped on top and since now everything was all blended together it was best to stop.

Do I like them?? I don't know. I don't hate them. The more I look at them ... they are growing on me. But this was definately a very rewarding process to try. And one I will definately try again. Go on, give it a try yourself!

And I'll leave you with 10 more 1x1 collaged squares!

1x1s on Display

2007-03-14T10:20:00.000-06:00

Starting off today with some ATC's I made a while ago and forgot to scan.

These next 4x4s are from some prompts. The first one is for orange. I feel like I've done quite a bit of orange lately and lost my mojo for the colour. The second I'm quite pleased with. It was for a Junk Mail prompt. So I used only images from my junk mail and added some paint and pens.

And finally, I have another collection of 1x1s mounted on a painted box lid. I didn't think I had enough to fill this lid but as I started laying them out to see how close I was I discovered I had plenty (with extras!). This one is painted brown and I do prefer the gold one. I don't want them all to be the same colour but I think I'll go with another metallic colour next time 'cause I think it will look better. It is very dark and overcast today so the photo is not the best but you get the idea.

Gold

2007-03-13T12:42:00.000-06:00

A set of gold 1x1s I did for a swap. Metallic doesn't scan very well.

Currently I'm working on more 1x1s (of course) and a couple of prompts. I'm doing the prompts on 4x4s and I think I'm going to start making a chunkybook of the prompts.

Decos

2007-03-12T20:27:00.000-06:00

Worked in a couple of decos today. First is for a group I'm in, this is the front and back of my page in a bird deco.

This is a random "fruit" deco and I chose to do the strawberry page.

Not much point in watching Amazing Race anymore, now that my 2 fav teams have been eliminated. I don't even like any of the other teams. Oh, well. At least I can go back to watching Survivor now that American Idol isn't on Thursdays anymore.

Odds and Sods

2007-03-11T18:42:00.000-06:00

One of my favourite shows on TV right now is Backpackers. I just love it! I like travel shows to begin with but this is awesome, it is so funny. Mick is favourite! If you get OLN, you definately have to check it out.

Another set of 1x1s. I've been working on 10 at a time lately. I have another set on the table as we speak!

I also put some collage packs on etsy. This is stuff from my personal stash that I've decided to try and tame. Lots of goodies, you won't be disappointed! Here's a sneak peak.

Book Meme

2007-03-10T14:39:00.000-06:00

I did the movie one so it's only fair I do the book one too!

Look at the list of books below:
* Bold the ones you’ve read,
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

53/100!

Everything's Coming Up Squares

2007-03-09T20:04:00.000-06:00

I've been busy square-ing this week!

Dot and I are doing a swap, I did these orange squares for her and she's doing green for me.

And here are some more random squares I've done this week.

I may just have a problem as I see potential 1x1s everywhere these days. Don't ask me why. All I can say is these next ones just happened.

Plastic Canvas 1x1s! I embroidered them with cross stitch and then embellished a bit.

Now that March is here, it's time to do the next spread in my altered calendar.

Time for a Quickie

2007-03-07T17:03:00.000-06:00

Just a quick little post today and no pics, sorry. I've been working on some 1x1s for a couple of trades so won't be able to show them until they arrive at their destinations. I love working on these little mini collages soooo much it is unreal.

I've also been crocheting quite a bit, working on another ripple blanket and at the same time I've been using the leftover scraps to make a granny square blanket. What do you call the scraps leftover from your scraps??

Made a couple more little notebooks, they are so fun! This time I made them with mixed-papers: vintage giftwrap, old book pages, etc. And a rather momentous moment for me today. I sold my first ACEO. A rather unique feeling, I must say, the first time someone pays for your art.

And good news. Etsy is keeping supplies. I'm so happy they changed their minds!

Bit of a Rant

2007-03-04T10:28:00.000-06:00

I haven't felt like blogging the last few days. Stuff is happening right now that I don't feel like talking about but I'll just say it's tough to deal with. Thank goodness I have my art! I didn't do anything art related for a couple a days and then I got out my stuff and went to it. There is such a feeling of calm and (for lack of a better word) zen when I do my art. When everything gets you down ... Go.Make.Art.

I've been having fun making these little notebooks slash journals and decided to put them up at etsy.

As to etsy, I'm pretty annoyed at their new policies about supplies. I hope they get their act together and make this right. First they said no commercial supplies, now that has been revised to 100 listings for supplies are allowed as long as you are only de-stashing. So as long as you aren't making any money off of them then it's ok to sell them. What's wrong with making money? What business is it of etsy's whether you are de-stashing or trying to run a profitable business. Oh and yeah, they are discussing just what is a supply exactly. So far the discussion seems to be on things that are intended to be a supply (yarn,beads,etc) and that found items that artists use as a supply are not really a supply? This means nothing an altered/collage/mixed-media artist uses would be allowed in the supplies category. Sheesh! Take a look at some of these awesome sellers that etsy is saying bye-bye to: here, here, here and here. There are many more just like them wondering if the plug is really going to be pulled.

Odds & Sods

2007-02-28T10:03:00.000-06:00

I'm on a roll with the White altered book! This next spread is very simple but I'm really pleased with it.

And here is an altered blank sarabook that I've been working on.

Don't feel like I have much to say today. I'm cold and tired of winter. Can't wait for spring to come!

Movie Meme

2007-02-26T12:53:00.000-06:00

You won't see a lot of memes here. I really hate the ones "What vegetable are you?" "what colour are you?" but this kind I like. I saw this over at Kim's

It’s been said that allegedly if you’ve seen over 85 movies you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste it in and put x’s by the ones that you have seen. Add them up, change the header adding your number, and post it.

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
( ) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
(X) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Total so far: 8 out of 22.

( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
( ) Harry Potter 3
( ) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(X) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
(X) The Village
( ) Lilo & Stitch

Total so far: 12 out of 43.

(X) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
(X) Signs
( ) The Grinch
(x) Texas Chainsaw Massacre The original one though they probably mean the new one.
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
(X) White Chicks
(X) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
(X) Robots
( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
(X) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(x) King Kong the original, the new one, the one with Jessica Lange, and every sequel ever made including Godzilla vs Kong. What can I say, I'm a fan.

Total so far: 21 out of 66.

( ) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
(x) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving Christmas
(x) Flubber both the original and remake
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago I hated this
(x) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
(x) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
(x) The Whole Ten Yards only the original

Total so far: 30 out of 90.

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
(x) Child’s Play
(x) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
(x) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
(x) Lucky Number Sleven
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
(X) Ocean’s Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
(x) Predator I
(x) Predator II and AVP
(x) The Fog again the original
(X) Ice Age
(X) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George

Total so far: 47 out of 121.

(X) Independence Day
(x) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(X) E.T.
(x) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(X) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds
( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She’s All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(X) The Terminator
(X) The Terminator 2
(X) The Terminator 3

Total so far: 61 out of 147.

(X) X-Men
(X) X-2
( ) X3
( ) Spider-Man
( ) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday guess I'm just an original kind-a gal
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2

Total so far: 68 out of 165.

( ) Swimfan
(X) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
(X) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
(X) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
(X) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(X) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Total so far: 77 out of 181.

( ) Base-ketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
(x) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
(x) Night Watch
( ) Monsters Inc.
( ) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard

Total so far: 80 out of 200.

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
( ) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
(x) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
( ) Kill Bill Vol. 1
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
(x) the Hills Have Eyes the original
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness

Total so far: 84 out of 220.

(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope about 900 times!
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix: Reloaded
(x) The Matrix: Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal

Total: 92 of 239

not too bad. Guess I don't have a life, but it's a good thing these weren't old movies or I'd have a lot more checked off. Oh, and almost all of these would have been DVD/video, I don't actually go to the movies very often.

Are You Attractive?

2007-02-26T10:10:00.000-06:00

Keeping it short today, I have lots of housework to do on Mondays. Yuck!

This 4x4 was done for a challenge, where we had to make a blue 4x4. I haven't worked on 4x4s for ages and I just love this size. There is just something I really like about working in a square opposed to other dimensions.

"If you think you're attractive, then you are;"

Flowers, White and Inches

2007-02-25T09:53:00.000-06:00

I was up late last night making flowers! At first it was incredibly fiddly but now after making four I've got the hang of it and don't need to read the instructions. These are fun and a great way to use up yarn scraps.

Then my next spread in the White Altered Book. It's very hard to scan white properly. What you can't see in the scan is that the background is very layered and textured. I'm so glad I got the extra white paints the other day. Here I've stamped with "Parchment" over the bright white.

And another set of one inch squares to finish of this Sunday post.

Shopping

2007-02-24T16:00:00.000-06:00

As I'm working in my White book I realized I only have 3 white paints and that is including my Gesso. They are all basically the same shade so I went to Wal-mart today and got myself 4 different shades of white including one called "Metallic Champagne". Can't wait to get into these paints!

Then we spent the day thrifting and must have hit 6 stores with very little results. I did end up with a couple of things I'm thrilled with though. First a bag full of acrylic paints for $4, most of these have never even been opened! A bag of buttons and odds and ends including a Hazel Loom to make flowers from yarn. Can't wait to give it a try! And I was looking for another book with a colour in the title since I need a more colourful colour besides the white and gold I already have. And guess what colour I found? Orange!! It is called "The Orange Belt Special"

Unfortunately, I searched high and low but couldn't find another latch hook kit. Darn! You know I see them all the time but now that I actually want one, no luck. Bummer!

Figured It Out

2007-02-23T10:11:00.000-06:00

Finally figured out how to upload from the camera to the new computer! So I've got two posts for you today.

The library had a $5 a bag sale a few weeks ago and I couldn't pass it up. Nothing outstanding but I got some art mags for collage, some books for collage, some kids books and mags for my 6yo.

I am tremendously pleased with this next item up for your viewing. I finally found a way of displaying 1x1s that I love. I took an old box lid (square no less) and painted it with a few coats of gold paint. Then I mounted my 1x1s and now have it hanging on the wall in my living room. I can just see a whole collection of them on the wall, it would look fabulous! I've already got the bottom of the same box painted yellow waiting for the next 49 1x1s.

And as promised a while ago, here is a photo of the gorgeous goodies I received from artjunkgirl.

And remember the latch hook kit I couldn't pass up on Monday? Well, I finished it! It was so much fun, I gotta go find me another one this weekend as we plan on going thrifting tomorrow, yeah! Not sure yet if I'll make it into a cushion or put on the wall, it's only 12x12.

White Book

2007-02-23T08:53:00.000-06:00

Here are the first two spreads in my new colour-themed altered book. This one is White. The emphasis will be on white and white will be the main colour of each spread. But as soon as I sat down to work I knew other colours would have to be incorporated too. Pure white pages wouldn't allow me to doodle, outline, paint and that wouldn't be any fun! Two totally different spreads here, one serious and one humourous.

If you click on this to see it in the largest size you will just be able to see the glitter in the background. I painted glitter snow over the background when it was finished. I don't know why I don't use that stuff more often. It's a perfect, non-messy way to add a bit of sparkle. The texture in the background is a used dryer sheet and I've had the vintage lace for a long time and never used it before.

This image is from a german magazine so I have no idea what it was all about but I just love this image. Can't you tell just how excited they are thinking about their new role as "wife"?

This and That

2007-02-22T09:51:00.000-06:00

These are two quick collages in one of my art journals.

And this is a "Bingo" themed deco I made for myself.

I've been busy sorting out stuff to use in my new colour-themed altered books. I'll be starting with the white one. It was so much fun finding things I've had for ages and never used. The hardest part for me in doing an altered book is opening it and putting in that very first mark. So last night before I went to bed I opened it up and gessoed the first spread.

The girls on American Idol where way,way better than the guys. There are several really good girls but Letitia (WOW!) she is fabulous. I had a feeling they would put her last since she is so good. It was kind of like watching a talent show and then having a professional sing at the end. Totally different league than the others. I love American Idol, but these two hour shows are a bit much. I was getting bored just over half way through.

Decos and Reading

2007-02-21T10:03:00.000-06:00

Two more decos done. My pile of decos is almost gone now. The first one is my page in a science deco. And the second is my page in a brown deco. It was very hard to get a scan of this as the deco won't lay flat since it is so full of embellishments. This was the second last page and was awesome to see all the wonderful work previously done it. The owner is going to be very happy with this!

American Idol was pretty boring last night. The judges bickering with Ryan was annoying and I wasn't impressed with any of the singers. Some were pretty awful and even the two I like best at the moment were not that great. My two fav. picks for the night were the beatbox guy (even though he didn't beatbox) and the chubby guy with the big hair. Sorry, it always takes me a while to remember names and I can't be bothered to look them up.

I've also updated my list of books read over in the side bar. The Dorothy Simpson books were really good. Now I'm onto an omnibus of Irwin Shaw that contains 4 novels including the "Rich Man, Poor Man" books.

An Experiment

2007-02-20T11:27:00.000-06:00

The Mother Tree

Click to get a better view, the tree isn't so dark in real life.

I'm not very fond of this. It was an experiment. I had two ideas in mind that I wanted to try when I started this. One was successful the other not.

First, I wondered: If I make a tree an unusual colour will it still look tree-like. So I went with a pink tree. I guess they look like trees but I don't like it. Problem is I can't tell if I don't like because the trees are pink or because the background is so blah. Since I was experimenting I just grabbed the first pre-made background I saw. Maybe I'll try it again with a better background, but I think if I do I'll go with a more tree-like colour like red or yellow.

Second, I wondered: Can I incorporate a face in the tree trunk and have it look like I imagine it will look. Success! I really like the face here, just wish it wasn't on a pink tree!

I won't say the experiment failed because even though I'm not happy with it, it does give me further ideas to try and isn't that what experimenting is all about?

Last night I ran out to Goodwill. Terry has been working on some colour-themed altered book and they are fabulous. This is such a good idea and I'd like to do it too! So I went in search of alterable books with colours in the title. Not much selection at the local Goodwill but I did score two suitable books.
1) The WHITE Calf
2) Jungle GOLD

I also picked up two board books since I've always wanted to have a go at altering them. One is tall and narrow and the other is short and wide. And while there I headed over to the craft section and just couldn't resist getting this latch-hook kit. I haven't hooked in decades! And I just love this! There is no date on it so I don't know how old it is. It isn't very modern though as the yarn is wool. Usually you get acrylic with these little kits. And how appropriate that it is a square! 12x12"

I sat down last night and started working on it. What fun!

February Altered Calendar Spread

2007-02-19T10:45:00.000-06:00

A moment I have been waiting for finally arrived last night. The start of Amazing Race All-Stars! Sad, but true. I love Amazing Race and I love Rob and Amber. You either hate 'em or love 'em and I Love 'Em! It was a great race last night, they came in first and I'm rooting for them and Dave and Mary.

I'm posting things here out of order recently. This next calendar was done at the beginning of the month. This is in my Altered Calendar that I work in every month and here we have the February spread.

The vacuum person was not made by me. This was made by my friend Linda S. as mail art on an envelope she sent me. Isn't he wonderful?! I couldn't resist Captain Kirk, I'm usually leary of using pop culture in my art but I'm a Trekkie and he looks so good there.

Challenges, Prompts and Decos. Oh My!

2007-02-18T09:39:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm learning all the time. A friend just helped me figure out why my scans (with the new scanner) were coming out GINORMOUS. Now they are a much nicer size! yeah!

I love working with prompts and challenges. I always learn something from them. I don't like abstract prompts, though. Discover. Explore. Self. Those kind of prompts are not for me. But give me a technique to play with, a colour to explore, a specific material to try and I am there!

This first collage is from a challenge to quickly place 16 squares on your page.

This next calendar is for a Green prompt. But I was lucky, I was already working on it when the prompt to explore the colour green was given!

I'm finding that with my calendar pieces I am starting to use some collage elements that have personal meaning rather than just random images. This is even more evident in the next one I will be showing you (probably tomorrow). In the left border is a piece of stationery from a letter from a friend, near the bottom of the grid is a gift tag from a present, the frog is from a stamp on my mail, and the lady is from the packaging on a bag of rice!

My pile of decos is starting to get smaller and I decided to do these two Valentine's Decos at the same time.

Technique Swap

2007-02-17T08:02:00.000-06:00

The last set of 4x6s I made for swapping this month are based on the technique found here. This is a stamping technique and while following the instructions I deviated from them a bit here and there to come up with a look that is more "me".

Trading

2007-02-16T10:17:00.000-06:00

These are some 1x1s I was working on over the last week.

Nerissa asked in the comments how do I find trades. I trade in many places and do a lot of private swapping with artists I've met online. Some of my favourite places to go for trading are:

flickr set up an account here and start networking and you'll find many like-minded people to trade with.

swap-bot an orgainzed trading site.

nervousness a mail art swapping site with a marvelous community of artists.

zapbooks this is my own group on yahoo where we have themed 4x6 swaps every month.

I received a fabulous package the other day of ephemera from an artist I admire greatly, Lia over at artjunkgirl. We did an ephemera swap and I am blown away with all the goodies she sent me. She even surprised me with one of her gorgeous 1x1s for my very own! Thank you so much Lia!

I'm having problems figuring out how to get my camera to work with the new computer so I can't show a picture for you to drool over yet. But hopefully, I'll get it sorted out soon!

Crying Hearts

2007-02-15T15:08:00.000-06:00

We got the computer today! Sooner than I'd expected. Yeah! Plus I got a little Valentine's Day bonus, a scanner/printer! We have pictures again. Still have a lot of playing around to figure out how everything works but this first scan is awesome compared to the old. Just click on it to see super-sized.

Crying Hearts - 5x7"

I've been busy "arting" it up lately and can't wait to show what I've been working on.

See you next post!

Good News

2007-02-13T09:27:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all the computer condolences.

I have good news! We are getting a new computer!!! I (We) should have it next week sometime. It is a refurbished one we are getting for a really good deal. This one we have now was a refurbished one too and it has lasted us 7 years so we can't complain too much. Seven years in computer life is an antique! So, while the new one doesn't have all the latest doodads, it will feel like it does to us. I mean we have 7 years of bells & whistles to catch up with!

When it Rains it Pours

2007-02-12T11:58:00.000-06:00

It's been a tough week! Thankfully, the water heater has been replaced and all is well on that front. But more bad news! On Thursday night, my computer died. It went into the shop over the weekend and had the harddrive reformatted. So I've lost pretty much everything I had on my computer, fortunately some files were saved and among those are all our family photos. They are really the only thing I was worried about, everything else is annoying but replaceable. But my computer is so old that it is on its last legs and I can't get my printer, scanner, camera to work anymore. I tried to load in the scanner last night and the computer went crazy again and wouldn't boot. Just had the computer guy here again, he fixed it but said not to load in anything new, the computer just can't handle it. It is working on borrowed time. So no pictures here for a while, I'm gonna see if I can work something out with my son and get some photos once a week or something. I'll probably be blogging sporadically now until we can get a new computer.

Living Like a Pioneer

2007-02-08T17:34:00.000-06:00

Wonderful day. Not!!!

My water heater blew a gasket. Water pouring out of the thing all over the basement all morning before I realized what was going on. Fortunately, it is an old cellar and no damage done. And I'm freaking out because I haven't a clue how to turn the water off. Call dh at work and he comes home to turn off the water, well, just the hot water. Water heater guy comes at supper-time, takes a look and says they'll replace it. (It's a rental). They can come tomorrow. Why does it feel like such a hardship to live with no hot water for 24hrs? I guess it could be worse ... but I wish I could go take a nice long bath to wind down!

I'm out of my "art funk." So I'll leave you with my latest: "Story of the Trees". Click the pic to see larger and read the text.

Swapping and Reading

2007-02-07T10:35:00.000-06:00

Still working on my swaps, trades, mail-art. Next up are some 4x6s for a swap with a circles theme. I wasn't too sure what I was going to do before I started. I just started cutting out circles and then the composition hit me. Simple, yet effective. I really like how these turned out.

Then, when I was in the middle of working on the circle cards I had a vision of a "hearts" page and had to stop everything to work in a Hearts Deco I have.

In 1999, I started to make a list of all the books I read. It has been an on-again, off-again sort of affair but I was doing really well from 2003-2005. At the end of 2005, I posted my list of books read that year on my old blog. 2006 was a bad year for this list, I didn't record much and I didn't read much, it was a pretty hectic year. But this year I am back to it and going to keep my list in the side bar over there. You can see I've already got a list going! We just finished The Wizard of Oz today as our read-aloud. If you haven't read the original you really should. It is very, very different than the movie!

I collect omnibus editions. These are those books that have several novels by one author collected into one book. I have a few hundred of these omnibus editions, with collections ranging from children's authors, mysteries, sci-fi, classics, etc. I've set up a plan to read only from this collection this year and you can see in the side bar that I finished my first collection. Ngaio Marsh, a New Zealand mystery writer; I had read two of her books in the past and now these. Good, British village mysteries. My favourite type of mystery! Still in the mood for who-dunnits I have started a volume of three by Dorothy Simpson. I've only read one of her books in the past.

Asian Themes and Knitting Content

2007-02-06T10:13:00.000-06:00

I've been feeling in a bit of a funk art-wise since I finished the mystery envie project. Can't seem to start any new pieces so have been concentrating on the themed swaps I need to do this month.

I did mess around in my journal the other night. I almost didn't post a picture of this but gotta show the bad with the good right? I wasn't trying to come up with anything here, just messing around.

As I mentioned last post, I worked on some Asian themed pieces this weekend. First are some 4x6s for a swap and next is a deco. I wasn't too sure about the deco. It is in the shape of a kimono and label "different shape deco" and after looking at the other art already in it I couldn't decide if it was supposed to be shape themed are asian themed so sort of went with both! Asian themed shapes.

I'm getting together a package of decos to send on and decided to include one for myself. So I made this Squares deco.

I've been knitting this week, using some leftovers from the ripple blanket I made these fingerless mitts. My 6yo took this photo for me. Did a pretty good job! We only had to do one "do-over" as the first had his thumb over the lens.

Finally got my CPS last week. It went to my old address so that's why the delay. The next issue will come here. I also picked up the latest issue of Romantic Homes because posie gets cozy has a gorgeous long feature in it. Wonderful issue all about colour! I've never bought this mag before as I didn't think it would appeal to me but if every issue is like this it may just become a regular buy.

Ripples

2007-02-03T11:12:00.000-06:00

Here are some more 1x1s:

And a couple of ATC's for a trade:

Since I had been working in my altered book I decided to do one more spread for the time being. This time I used one of the vintage patterns amanda sent me.

And I can't believe it but I finished the ripple blanket I've been working on. The other night I was crocheting away and all of a sudden as I looked at it hanging off the opposite side of the couch I thought "ummm, this is very long". And so it was, time to add a border and BINGO she is done. This has got to be the fastest blanket I have ever made, sure beats the 3 months one of the mitred blankets usually takes! I still have to wash it and let it hang dry to flatten it out a bit but am anxious to get a photo up. Here you go:

This weekend it's all Asian. I have some Asian 4x6s to do for a swap and an Asian deco to work in so I've got my box of Asian papers on my art table ready to dive in.

The Conclusion of MEP #4

2007-01-31T11:59:00.000-06:00

Mystery Envelope Project #4 is officially over! Here is the spread I did in my altered book using the old workbasket magazine for images.

I was especially pleased to use the "A Mom is Love" button. My 17yo gave that to me when he was about 10 and I've been waiting for the right moment to use it in my art.

All things must end and now is the time for the end of this project. What I have left: A sheet of gold paper (saving), the remains of the workbasket magazine (filing away with the images I save as future collage fodder for the altered book), the envelope itself (will take off stamps and postmarks and put in with my collage supplies)

Final recap of MEP #4:

1 handpainted art journal
1 handpainted accordian fold book
1 altered calendar
15 one inch collage squares
1 art doll
1 8.5 x 11 collage
1 handbound mini book (3.5" x 3)
2 altered book spreads

Wow, that's more than I thought now that I've totted it up. To see the whole project at once click here.

Some thoughts on this process:

I love doing these projects, I am in my element when I have a limited amount of supplies at hand. I get an art "high" when working through one of these projects and I always feel amazed by the creativity that spills out of me. I find that I do things that I may not have otherwise ever tried. I don't think I would have ever done an altered calendar without the push from this envelope (for example). I'll take a break now to keep it fresh for the next time. But a next time there certainly will be!

Now that I've done four of these I also have decided that I will continue to do the others with the same rules I used for this one. Each time I've had slight variations in the rules with varying results.

First time, I used only what was in the envelope and added my own bases (for atcs, 4x6s) and writing utensils (pens, crayons, etc.), I had a lot of fun with that one.

#2 - I was very strict and did not allow myself to add any items (except bases) and it was too much, my creativity was stifled somewhat and I wasn't as pleased with the final results. I definately learned from the experience thought.

#3 - I went to the other extreme and allowed myself to add whatever I wanted from my own stock, I just had to use something from the envelope in everything I made. This was way too much freedom and while I had a ton of fun with the envelope contents I didn't feel the same creativity "high".

#4 - I used only the envelope contents but allowed myself to add anything that was needed to complete a piece. The envelope was my main focus but outside elements, whatever they be (paints, pens, embellishments, etc) were used to enhance the contents and bring a piece to fruition. This will continue to be the way the future mystery envelope projects are set up. It gives me a tight boundary to work within but allows me use the tools needed to bring an idea to its full potential.

Altered Book

2007-01-30T15:16:00.000-06:00

Flickr is going bonkers for me today so I've uploaded my pics with blogger. Just click on the image for a bigger view.

I finished another mixed-paper book! These things are addictive! I'm already planning the next one. I've ironed out some problems from the first one and am very pleased with how this turned out. It measures 3.5 x 3" and is made up from the pages from the brochures and mostly the leftovers from the previous book. This is a great way to use up leftovers.

This one is going to be a doodle book. I'm going to practice all my doodling patterns in here.

I also christened the first book and did a journal entry in it last night. What fun to work in a book you made from scratch!

Back to the mystery envelope. I have three items left in the envelope (plus the envelope itself). First a big piece of gold paper that I've been saving just because I simply love it. I'm going to hold onto this until I find the perfect thing for it. The last two items I've saved because I knew exactly what I would do with them. A small very old crochet pattern and a 1950s issue of Workbasket. These are perfect for my altered book. An early 1900s book called "Lady of the Decoration" which has a theme of vintage ladies and centers around various ways women decorate themselves or their surroundings. Now that I was left with these items I was chomping at the bit to work in the altered book again. Click on this image to get a much better view.

I've also got ideas for another spread that will be up next.

Creative Juices

2007-01-28T12:20:00.001-06:00

Before the big clean up I completed the last set of 1x1s from the previously mentioned brochures. One problem I ran into with working with these brochures was that many of the images were just too small to cut out. Usually finding images small enough for a 1x1 is the hard part, I don't expect to run into this problem often!

Now that I'm finished with the brochures here is what I have left:

Starting from the top and going counter-clockwise. The top pile, from all the pieces large enough I cut pieces to put into another mixed-paper book. This time I'll make a small one so I can use up the pieces left over from making the last one. This book (when finished) will be just be 3.5 x 3".

Next pile, from the remains I gathered together the pieces I wanted to keep for future collage fodder; the list of men's names, some text pieces (perfect for 1x1s) and a few images and maps. The last pile is the scraps. I haven't decided yet if I will just throw them out but I'm thinking I'll gather together all the text pieces and make a torn paper background to paint over, like these here.

Looking at my tidy art table last night my creative juices started flowing and I grabbed an art journal and experimented with layers. I just worked quickly and intuitively with this. I'm really into layers and think I'll use this journal now for playing and experimenting with this. It's too big to scan, hence the not very good photo.

And finally, here is a pic of Journal 1202 from 1001journals I worked in. This is a collaborative piece. It had already been started and I was to continue collaging it.
Front:

Back:

All Finished!

2007-01-28T12:20:00.000-06:00

I did it! After a whole day's work I finished cleaning up my little art cubby studio. One thing I should mention is that I still have about a dozen boxes of stuff that won't fit in this little area.

Now I can get back to creating!

Another post coming soon.

My Art Studio (or lack thereof)

2007-01-26T13:46:00.000-06:00

Be forewarned, you are about to see the messiest corners of my home!

No art being created here today. Instead I finally got fed-up with the current state of my art "studio". I can barely pull out my chair far enough to sit on it. So everything has been pulled out and these are a couple of "in progess" photos. Be prepared to see a Mess with a capital "M"!

Here you see my kitchen table with everything that was on the floor. At the back is my art table in my little cubby.

This is a picture of my little cubby "art studio". Once I've finished sorting out this mess, I'll show some after pictures.

Ever since we moved to this new house (Dec. 1). I've had my art set up at the back of the dining room as other options are not available at the moment. I actually kind of like working here because if I need more room I just move over to the kitchen table and all my stuff can stay where it is.

Eventually, I have other plans as to where I will create. But a lot of work on the house will have to be done before these options ever see fruition.

This room is a possible future "art studio". It adjoins our master bedroom. Right now we are using it as a closet. This is an old house (circa 1920) and closets are few. There are actually no closets upstairs except in my oldest son's room, which has two walk-in type rooms, which probably were not intended to be closets originally. Right now, in here we have linens, blankets, some clothes and whatever. I'd like to get matching wardrobes for our room and get a big dresser to hold the linens (to go in the hall) someday and then this could be my art studio.

The other possiblity lies up these stairs. Don't you just love the red walls?? NOT! Everytime I walk up here I start thinking "redrum", "redrum".

Up the top of the stairs is the attic which needs to be completely finished before it will be a usable room. Right now it is the junk storage place and is actually still full of junk left from the previous owners. Oh, and the window up there has been boarded over too, so it's very dark but there is electricity up here. And the vision of it totally refinished with big windows and me working away on my art up here is a possibility but a far away one.

Though I have to say I am currently very happy with my little cubby "art studio" I just need to get it organized and now that my break is over I guess I better get back to it!

Art Journal

2007-01-25T10:49:00.000-06:00

Not much to blog about today. Yesterday I worked in my art journal for the first time this month. I really have to try and work in it more often.

I'm a reality show addict and enjoying American Idol so much this year! I can't wait for the Hollywood episodes, they are always my favourite.

Lov.li

2007-01-24T14:54:00.000-06:00

I just found a new site. Lov.li

Kind of a myspace for crafters and artists. Looks like it could be a good alternative to flickr if it gets off the ground. You can post pics of all your artwork and sell it (if you want) too. It's all free except if you sell something then they take a small commission. I even started a group for collage artists. It's new, so still has bugs but it certainly looks like a place for artists to support. What with flickr being so against artwork and self-promotion and ebay's exhorbitant fees, I'm all for something like this. Go check it out!

www.lov.li

This, That and The Other + Mail!

2007-01-24T10:30:00.000-06:00

My mailbox runneth over today! Lots and lots of goodies, an issue of Paperworks, several 4x6s from swaps, a journal to work in from 1001 journals dot com, some gorgeous 1x1s from a friend, and if that's not enough I received a couple of fabulous vintage sewing patterns I won in a little giveway over on Amanda's blog!

Now onto what I've been up to lately!

An ACEO on etsy:

Back to the mystery envelope project, these are the latest 1x1s. The insurance pamphlet has on the last page a cool list of all the names of the Directors, I'm sure I'll be cutting men's names from it for a while!

This next piece was made from the same brochures I'm using for the one-inchers. I love the layers in this but I'm not sure what I'll do with it. I'm not sure if it is finished. Does it need a focal point? Maybe it's just a background? Perhaps it may be done, time will tell.

A close-up:

And last but not least, this is what I did yesterday. I made my first real book! It is 4x6 and filled with mixed-papers and I did a coptic-stitch! I had to sit in front of the computer and sew and follow the directions step by step but it was not very hard, just fiddley. I think I'd have to make an awful lot of these before I could do it without following the directions. It's not perfect. I know what to do next time to make it better, but I think I did a pretty good job, it's nice and tight if not exactly even. For the papers I just grabbed all the odds and ends I had laying around on, beside and under my art table!

Artful Life With Elizajane

#12 - Sweet 4x6

#11 - And, To My Surprise

#10 The Music Transformed My Depression Tag

#9 Something Totally Different Tag

#8. The Rite of Spring

#7. Captured From the Wild ATC

#6. Someone You Know? ATC

#5. Eternity ATC

#4 - Our Honeymoon 4x4

#3 - He Stared Through Me 4x4

#2 - Comfort 4x4

#1 - Focus 4x4

Contents of Envelope

Happy Halloween

Another Journal Entry

ATC's & 4x6

Day After Day

Finding Time For Art

Go Back To the Earth

Don't Mess With Me

Art Journaling

I'm Lily Munster!

Your Score: Lily Munster!

Our test has determined that you possess 44% Hellbentness, 11% Sanguinity, and 44% Creeps!Well done!

Paint Chip ATC's

Inchies

Mini Art Journal

What I've been up to Lately

Remains of a Swap

I'm Back!

Books and Reading

Bit of This n That

Day in the Hospital

April Altered Calendar

Mystery Envelope Project #5

Lots of Photos

Arting It Up on Mother's Day

Mother's Day

If I Had a Million Dollars Project

Fly Away With Me

Altered Star Book

Money, Money, Money

It's Deco Time!

Show ... But Not Much ... Tell

Annoyed ... But Over It

Found

Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum!

Decos

One by One with Robin Hood

Even My Knitting is Square!

One By One with Oliver Twist

Altered Calendar - March

Asian and Flowers

1x1s and White Book

Angst, Art & Answers

ATC's Abound

Return to Sender

Reading

Find Your Groove

Good Memories

Knowing When to Stop

A Dud

Count Your Blessings

A New Series

Intuitive Random Collage

1x1s on Display

Gold

Decos

Odds and Sods

Book Meme

Everything's Coming Up Squares

Time for a Quickie

Bit of a Rant

Odds & Sods

Movie Meme

Are You Attractive?

Flowers, White and Inches

Shopping

Figured It Out

Our test has determined that you possess
44% Hellbentness, 11% Sanguinity, and 44% Creeps!
Well done!