One of the fun things we do in our Altered Book Club that meets on the second Saturday of each month, is exhange personally designed artwork. Each month one member is showered with handmade pieces on the theme of her choice. Currently we are exchanging postcards. This month Mary W was the recipient. She wanted cards on the theme "Vintage Christmas"
This is the one I made for her. I used a variety of papers, including Graphic 45 Nutcracker.

I made a little 'book' with part of the nutcracker story and inserted it into the pocket. Also in the pocket is a Christmas Carol sheet with a graphic on the back.
I hope she likes it. I did have fun making it

ATC's for a November Swap

   Nancy's ATC                                            Dee's ATC

I love ATC's. They are among my favorite art pieces to swap with friends and fellow artists. Each month an online group in which I am a member swaps either post cards or ATC's. This month was for ATC's and the theme was "The Eyes Have It" These are the ones I created. I used elements from the Graphic 45 paper line "The Olde Curiousity Shoppe". The take-off on an old-fashioned Eye Chart was one of my favorite elements from that collection and was the foundation piece for these compositions. And what a thought!!.... Create Unique Vintage Curiousites 4 unique paper crafting
They have been mailed off to their intended recipients and now I'm waiting to see what will arrive in my mail.

October birthdays call for a special kind of card. Here is one I made using the October Tag

I hope the birthday girl likes it. Probably will because she likes Tim inspired art as much as I do.
I used Core'dinations card stock with black over orange, sanded the edgesand a little bit into the main part of the piece, then layered it onto tan card stock. I used a bit of Spiced Marmalade Distress ink edging on the edges of the card. I think it came out rather well.
Let me know what you think.

I do dearly love Tim Holtz art and style. I rarely copy the exact design, but this month's tag was SO close to what I was working on that I went back and added the extra touches that made the design just POP! I particularly appreciate the use of plain glitter coloured with alcohol ink. Get custom colour and the great sparkle. WOW
Anyway,  here is what I came up with using what I already had on hand. How's that for lucky! Now to decide which of the October Birthday girls gets the tag.

You remember that crazy bunch of ladies who are having an affair with art? Well, we recently had an exchange of postcards on the theme, Vintage Bathing Beauties. The first two images are the ones I created. The third is one I received in return. I thought this was a huge hit! I was particularly happy with "Venus on the half shell". She arrived on the beach only to be the victim of the attack of the Ninja Sea Turtles.

These are the two ATC images that should have posted in the previous entry. See? I haven't been idle. Just tardy, which is an embarrassment

One of the deadlines I missed was an ATC mingle. I have the artworkdone and ready to mail. It's going into the envelopes as soon as I finish this post.The theme was ATC's on the theme of "Africa". When I think of Africa I tend to think first of the wonderful and very different animals who inhabit that continent. Without the animals, the people wouldn't be who and what they are, the cultures would never have evolved as they did. The animals and their habitats underlie everything that is. Here are the two cards I created

I've gotten way behind in my committments due to circumstances beyond my control. But I am catching up. Whew!! It worries me when I mess up. I'm avoiding any new commitments until I get the ones I've already made caught up and mailed. I'm close.

Here is some of the artwork

These pages are for a book that will be done at the Artful Gathering of an online group of mixed media artists, An Affair With Art. The theme is Christmas in July. The people creating the pages were to use rich victorian colours and keep to a specific topic for each page. The topic for this page assigned to Claudia Holcombe is snow flakes and Silent Night. Claudia has had serious health issues, so I have been helping her with the page. This is the result of our collaboration.

Let us know how you like it.

I don't have artwork to share today, but will shortly. I'm participating in Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry 1o1 class online. I am very familiar with Ranger products, Tim's lines in particular, but even so, I am learning a BUNCH from this class. If you have thought about it and passed it up, change your mind and go register. It's not too late. You have lifetime access to the videos and th e comment sections, although those can't be added to after 4/9. It's one of the best class investment's I have ever made.

Tim Holtz has a habit of presenting the most delightful technique samples on #8 shipping tags. I only rarely have the stuff to do one like his and generally try the technique in a different format.

Well, this time I was surprised to find that I had almost all the stuff and what I didn't have could be approximated fairly easily

The tag isn't Kraft Tag, but the back side of one of the scraps of a paper from his Kraft Resist pad. I cut the tag using Tim's Bigz die.

I didn't have and can't find the Antiquities Cement EP. I used Distress Powder Weathered Wood in its place and I think it came out well. The real fun was making the Butterfly Mosaic pieces. Who'd a thunk????

And I truly love that saying. It's one that I will use again and again.

I hope you like it and will try this yourself. It's really an easy tag and I love the techique. You can find the instructions at http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/03/12-tags-of-2012-march.html

The Second Saturday altered book group has been blessed with four new members between Feb and March!! Since some of you aren't experienced in this fascinating art, You might want to look at the tutorial I posted in 2010. Look in the left column and find
"Older posts". the tutorials will be there. It shows how to choose a book and how to prep it.
We are jooking forward to sharing our art with you!

Today I went to a friend's house and 'played' with my art. We belong to a local altered book club. In addition to the altered books, we do other projects. Currently we choose one member per month and make a 4x6 inch post card on a theme chosen by the recipient. This month the card goes to a member who chose to have the individual artists work on a theme of their own choice

I know that she loves dolls and paper dolls. But I learned that she also collects pictures of little girls and their dolls. There were a lot of images on the Internet, so I chose two for the basis of my design. The pictures I found are very Edwardian in character so I used that style for my design.

I really love how the dolls look so much like their little girl "Mommies

Here is the result. What do you think?

Yes, I know it's been a while. I haven't been hiding. Just busy. I recently worked an a book for an online friend. Her theme was French white - provincial. The pages were done in a book she sent, already prepped. Normally I like to do fold-downs and pockets made with the pages. and then insert tags. So this was a challenge and it was fun to do things in a different way. See what you think of the pages.

The first page has a little French doll In a pocket made from a nature study page. Nature and botanical drawings were popular in the 17 -1800's in France. The second page is a cutout border with a tag that has a smaller image of the lady on the tag. It was inserted into the border cut out.

The third page is silk moire with a maroon velvet layer and then the tag in it's pocket

The last page is a gold threaded background with tags made from fleur de lis paper. All pages are decorated with gold German scrap, lace and ribbon. There are some paper flowers on most of the pages., as well. These are all elements that were popular in French Provincial style, which used a lot of white, gold trim and pieces that were just a little heavier and sturdier than the more elegant court style favored by the ultra rich and nobility.