One last photo

This is the last page of the book which folds down to reveal a pocket with birthday cards. I think "Bethany" is the cutest of all the little girls - isn't she beautiful? She is a Paper Whimsy image, as are some of the others. They have great collage sheets!

I just love my little book. It's a treasured memento of a wonderful weekend spent with friends and filled with fun, laugther and lots of art.

Tea Birthday Party Book

I've been so busy since returning from the Artful Gathering Retreat that I am just getting around to getting the tea party book I made uploaded here. I've had trouble in the past with Blogger letting me post too many pics at once, so this may take several posts.

Above is the front of the closed book. This was made with three CD folders and additional pages, pockets, fold downs, and tip-ins were added. Jeri gave us a packet with the story pages, menu, photos of the girls and several goodies. We brought cardstock, patterned paper and all kinds of stickers, charms, ribbons etc to add. The theme of the retreat was "birthday tea party" and was based on a vintage 10-year old girl having her birthday tea party at the Cape Town Hotel in Tea Cup, TX. Very fun - we spent an entire day working on these cute books and every one was different!

Here are the first few pages, with tips ins and fold outs:

The left page of this spread folds down and the little girl's image is held in a decorated library pocket. The right page forms a pocket which holds a tag. The photo of "Linda" opens like a card to reveal more images.

Next are a few pages with more pockets, tags and tip-ins.

Second "ZNE" design team assignment for July

This is the second piece I made for the ZNE July assignment, which was to use images from one of their new collage sheets to make an ATC and one other artwork.

This is a 4" x 4" collage using the woman's image from the "Bowl of Cherries" collage sheet. For the background I sprayed Ranger Colorwashes (Butterscotch and Cranberry) over a piece of lace on cardstock. When the lace was removed, the pattern remained as the lace resisted the inks. I then adhered the vintage ad, the lady's image and torn pieces of red foil from Dove chocolates. The best part was being able to eat the art supplies! This is due the end of the month - I'm in just under the wire!

More projects

We made this darling, tiny maze book - it's only 3" square and is made with just one 12" x 12" piece of cardstock plus the covers.









Basically, the cardstock is folded in half horizontally and the top and bottom edges then folded in to the fold. This is opened up and then repeated but vertically. This will divide the cardstock into 12 equal 3" squares. Three cuts are made and then this folds up! The covers were made with lightweight cardboard covered with patterned paper and the first and last pages of the book were glued to the front and back covers. Voila! A sweet little book.

Another project was a soldered collaged glass pendant. We made tiny collages and sandwiched these between two 2" square pieces of glass. The edges were covered with copper tape and then soldered. Jump rings were then added. I will probably not wear this even though it is double-sided. I think I will add it to the tea book we made, which I will post later as I still have a few finishing touches to add.

Retreat projects

Different members presented make and takes during the weekend. This first project was a 4 x 4 "danglie". A collage sheet image was adhered to two pieces of cardstock with a beaded trim sandwiched between on the bottom edge. A wire hanger, German scrap scalloped border and decorative fibers were added. A fast and fun project.

We also made a "triptych" folder with library pockets and cards for keeping track of books and supplies we loan out. This is made with 4" x 8" pieces of cardboard covered with patterned cardstock. A ribbon closure was added before adhering the end papers. We stamped images and added them to circles of gold candy wrappers (and, yes, we were able to eat the candy!).

We also played with Heidi Swapp masks, cutting them into smaller pieces and laying them on card fronts. We then wiped chalk ink across the card and removed the mask to reveal the resist. This is a simple card but an easy technique. It would make awesome backgrounds to stamp over.

More 4 x 4 pages

Here are the remaining 4 x 4 pages that we traded during the retreat. The photo on the left shows artwork by Julie and Kris; the photo on the right shows artwork by Carol, Cher, Robin and Renee.

Back home

I've returned from my art retreat (Artful Gathering - there's a link to Jeri's blog with the same name under my favorites) with an online group I've been a member of for several years. There are about 40 members in all and 17 of them - from all over the country - participated this weekend. This was held from Thursday through Sunday in Grapevine, Texas, and coincided with the Heirloom Stamp Convention. We had a wonderful time, filled with fun, renewed friendships and lots of art!

Several members brought short "make and take" projects or demos. The first day we made our own nametags and then started on 4 x 4's to trade with the group. Since this year's theme was tea, the 4 x 4's were mostly tea-related. We then made covers commemorating our event and assembled these on a ring with fibers to make a darling fatbook. Isn't this a great souvenir of our special weekend?

Here are some of the "pages" of the book.



Left picture: artwork by Gloria, Kris and Jeri. Right photo: artwork by Liane, myself, Ellen and Linda. Bottom photo: artwork by Kate, Autumn, Pat and Teresa.

I'm still scanning these, so will post more later.

Finished!

This will be my last post until next Monday. I will be leaving tomorrow for an art retreat and stamp convention - yippee!

Finished my last color page last night - this one is "verdigris and copper/bronze." I faux painted the background on watercolor paper, then added various papers, stamps, an image of a sad little girl and copper mesh fabric and a copper mesh tag. The nest is strips of text paper glued haphazardly.

It's somewhat of a relief to be done with the eleven pages and four month swap, but it's been a great challenge and lots of fun. I can't wait to receive the pages that were done for me (violet and yellow-green color scheme) - they should be arriving soon - and then assembling them into some kind of book. Another challenge!

Honeydew and Canteloupe

Now don't those sound yummy? Actually, it's the color scheme of the color page I just finished. This one is for Jeri and she has been in a shabby chic phase lately, so I tried to make this "vintagey." I love these images of little girls (from Lisa's Altered Art collage sheets - available at her e-bay store: www.stores.ebay.com/Lisas-Altered-Art ) and used them as my theme.

This didn't scan well because of the several buttons that I added. I also used sheet music, a silk flower, real lace, a chipboard "I" and a scherenschnitte lace laser cut frame I bought at a recent scrapbook convention. This is the tenth of eleven pages I am doing. Deadline for the last one is in two days as I will be hand-delivering to the recipient at a retreat we are both attending. I need to get busy!

MIA

I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last post. Life has just gotten too busy around here.

I'm scurrying to finish my last two pages for the color swap. They are supposed to be mailed by Sunday, but these two are for friends I will see next week, so I have a few extra days! I'm also trying to get ready for a stamping retreat next Thursday through Sunday with an online group. (Our list "mom", Jeri, has a blog - Artful Gathering - which you can access from my favorite links.) Along with the retreat, we will all be attending the Heirloom stamp convention in Grapevine that weekend. Can't wait!!

Also received July's ZNE Design Team assignment - we have to make two art pieces, one of which has to be an ATC, using images from new collage sheets which will be offered in the ZNE shop soon. My sheet was "Bowl of cherries" and included the background, little girl, and heart which I used on this ATC. Note - the black is the background I scanned it on. Still have one more to go!

Finished page #9

In between working both days, going to a wedding and attending a children's play this weekend, I finally put the finishing touches on another color page for the swap that's due on the 15th. This color scheme was "pale glacier blue, eggplant and silver." I struggled with these colors (there was a reason I left these pages for the end!).

I started with a very pale blue cardstock, scrubbed gray, silver, blue and white paints into it. The door is a gel medium transfer - I painted over the bottom part to make it more of a deep red. I stamped with a very pale blue paint, added a Basic Grey rubon on the left and stamped "remember." On the bottom is metal tape from the hardware store which I crimped and painted black, wiping off the excess.

Tangerine and Raspberry

It's midnight and I've just finished another color page - tangerine and raspberry this time. I've really struggled with this one. I did at least three different backgrounds and wasn't happy with any. I finally settled on this music patterned paper, inked with Worn Lipstick and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks. The flowers are torn pieces of napkins and two pictures cut from a magazine. The wings are also cut from a napkin. I printed the quote on the computer and the little girl is a favorite image from Art-e-zine. I added Desert Rose embossing powder on the edges of the page and Judikins Egyptian Gold embossing powder on the wings. This, too, is 8 1/2" x 11". I really prefer a smaller format...