Found some really nice paper at one of the scrapbook stores in Surfside Beach SC. This card is one I made with the paper I purchased. The ribbon is hand dyed. It looks brown here, but is rose and tan.

More altered book pages. This time from a book I worked in for a member of the online art group to which I belong.
The theme of this book is "A Ladies Diary"  This was the name of a wonderful scrapbook paper line put out by Graphic 45. The colours and art style were dictated by the look of this paper. 
Here are the pages I made for the book. I have to say that I had a wonderful time with them.

There is a story theme that goes with this book. The lady who is writing the diary is trying to get over her lost love, who went off to college and then on world travels, not knowing how she felt. She is trying to get over him by immersing herself in work as a fashion designer. She has been quite successful but is not happy with the millinery available to complement her designs. So she has now begun to design her own and has found a skilled milliner who is willing to make her hats. 

Now the book goes on to another member of the group who will continue the story with a new chapter which she will write. When everyone has worked in the book, we will hear the end of the story

What fun!!

One of the art exchanges this year in my online group, An Affair With Art, is a round robin altered book project.
Altered books, for those not familiar, are used books that are otherwise going to be tossed, which are turned into art works. I just finished the second  of the books I will receive and now have it ready to pass on to the next person who will work in it

Here are the pages in the first two books in the series. The first one belongs to my friend Roxanna King, who used to live in my area. She has since moved half way across the country. So, it was a particular joy to work in her book.. She chose as her theme, "An Artist's ABC" The guidelines are as follows
Choose two 2-letter combinations.
Use the alphabet cards provided as an element on each page
Your work must include a colour that starts with the letter, a flower and an animal that starts with the letter and the definition of a word that starts with the letter
I chose one easy combination the letters O-P, and one challenging combination, W-X.

One of the reasons I chose the letter O is because  the wild flower, Oconee Bells, are among the rarest in existance and they are native to this region where I live and where Roxie lived for many years. You can see the picture at the top right of the O page

The second book belongs to a lady who also  lives half way across the country' Dawn's theme is Mixed Media. this  allows the work to be as realistic or as abstract as you like. You just have to use a variety of materials and media to create your work.

For the first layout, I covered the pages with two coats of white Gesso. Then I spritzed these pages with Ranger Distress Spray Stain, Broken China. The bird images on the left side page were adhered with Golden's light body art paste. The quote was stamped and brushed with Perfect Pearls, Perfect Bronze. the border was stenciled and brushed with the Perfect Pearls

For the second set of pages were done using Gelli Plate prints made with craft acrylic paints.

when those were dry the were pasted into the book. Then I adhered a selection of paper flowers. On the left page the stems were drawn and on the right page, the stems were made with some narrow silk ribbon

I hope you like these. Please post a comment

One of the very best things about rubber stamping, card making and paper arts in general, is sharing the fun and the joy with frineds. On Sat last, five friends got together at the home of one of us and had a card making day. We brought food, had lunch and made cards. Each of us was responsible for designing a card and making a kit for each of the participanst, plus and extra one for our friend who is still in the rehab hospital recovering from a serious injury this fall. The only requirement was that the card needed to be fairly quick and easy to assemble.
This is the card I designed, in two variations.

The tree is Spellbinder's 2012 Tree - one of my favorites. The little snowflakes are from a stash I have from when I used to work as sample designer, demo artist and teacher at Stamps and More by Eleanor in Powdersville SC. They are the last and I chose to share them with friends.

The stamps are from some old clear sets I have had for many years. The information is missing but I think they are Inkadinkadoo. The labels are also from Spellbinders sets. The one on the left is from Radiant Rectangles. The one on the right is old. I have had it for many years and it is a big favorite .

The sparkly trim is from Starforms.

Please enjoy and let me hear your opinions in the comments

My online art group, An Affair With Art, has a current swap which challenges participants to create a card based on the November Tag of the Month on Tim Holtz blog. The original Tim Holtz tag can be seen here The original Tim Holtz tag can be seen HERE Below is the card I made that is based on the Tim Holtz original

My version has been turned into a greeting card using some extra cutouts of the wonderful fall leaf. Tim used distress paints for the leaf. I didn't have all of the best colours in the paints so I subbed distress spray stains instead. Tim's is a #8 shipping tag. I made miewith manilla card stock and corrugated cardboard cut close to the size of a #10 tag

A group of mixed media and altered arts artists in which I participate online, has a swap for Halloween. The swao is cards that feature a window or element that contains windows, and the theme IS Halloween. I did one card using the traditional symbols such as a haunted house, black cats with arched backs, a full moon with bats flying around. The other card used a graphic of Sleeping Beauty from Grimm's Fairy Tales - which I always thought of as rather spooky when I was a kid - and made a 'pretty' card which is any thing BUT traditional. I hope you like them

Tha Sleeping Beauty card has a blue base card wht black matting. A gold cardstock window displays a Sleeping Beauty graphic from Graphic 45 "An Eerie Tale collection..

That was mounted on a back ground I made using Ranger;s TIm Holtz Distress Stain Sprays. The bow is Snug Hug seam binding tied into a quadruple loop bow

 Graphic 45 Raining Cats and Dogs Cards

Cats are my favorite companion animals. As anyone who knows me is aware, I love dogs, too. But cats are my first love. Graphic 45 has published a pad of cat and dog themed papers. Of course I had to make a card using these papers.

Now, I love elegant and complicated cards as well as anyone else. But sometimes you need a card NOW, and don't have time for a more elaborate card if you want to have something on a timely basis

Here is an example of a card that is striking and attractive. Just a few touches take it out of the realm of simply simple to something with a bit of  'pizzazz'

The matting for the image has rounded corners, a decorative bottom border (a Martha Stewart punch) a bit of gold trim. The greeting is stamped on pale cream card stock with Stampin' Up  Rose Red ink and then matted on the same paper as the main image. The black card base makes the whole thing pop.  I thought I might add a bow to this, but it just didn't look right. This is intended as a class project.