Altered Book page

I finished another spread in my current altered book a few days ago. 

This background has lots of decoupaged book pages for the first layer, followed by scraped paints and gesso through stencils. I also used burgundy spray ink and dripped it from the top of the pages.

The focal points are images from a magazine doctored with collage sheet images. Edges and outlines are smudged with black Stabilo pencil.

Since I don't have the energy or inclination to venture outside in this oppressive heat, I'm enjoying playing around in my art room and catching up on all kinds of projects.

Scrapbook Pages

I've been trying to catch up on many scrapbook pages for the grand boys.

I did this page awhile ago, at the end of the school year. It commemorates Drew's first year of outdoor soccer on K-league.

Our entire family traveled to Vermont to celebrate my mom's 90th birthday in June. I made four identical pages, one for each boy, so they would remember their great grandmother and that special day.  I also did several pocket pages for all the photos of different activities they did that week.

John, Dana and Drew and Grant spent several days in Montreal before returning home.

(made two of these double-page spreads)

They also went to White Sands for a day - the boys had never been.

(made two pages)

Drew's birthday was in early July so this double-page spread commemorates his Ninjago birthday party.

His party was at the same park as his third birthday party so we took the opportunity to take another photo of all four boys at the base of the same tree. What a difference three years makes!

(made one for each of the boys)

In early August Carl flew alone for the first time from Austin up to Dallas Love Field to visit us for a few days. Of course, that needed to be documented!

And Drew's first day of school (first grade) was this Monday. Carl doesn't start for two more weeks but I will be making a similar page for him.

I think I am officially up-to-date with all four books!

Third Altered Book

This is the first completed spread in my newest altered book project. 

The background started with pieces of book text and ephemera glued to the base pages. Then I added texture paste through a stencil. Once that was dry I painted over all with black gesso and sanded when it was dry. Then I added orange spray ink, red gelato and Inka Gold.  The focal points are two models from a clothing catalog; the wing is half of a stamped image; and the remaining images and words are from a magazine. I added depth by smudging a black Stabilo pencil around the edges of all the images and the edges of the pages and then placed the white paint pen dots to lighten up the piece. So fun!

Flying solo

Carl, my 6-year old grandson from Austin, has been bugging his mom all summer to fly all by himself.  Since Austin to Dallas is less than an hour nonstop flight, we decided he would come to visit us for a few days. So last Sunday this guy boarded a Southwest flight all alone and came to Dallas!  He was so excited and was a pro, according to the flight attendants.  I think my daughter, Kelly, was more anxious than he was, but she relaxed a little when she discovered she knew the entire flight crew!

Thank you Kyle for taking good care of this kid.

Thanks to the pilots for allowing him to sit up front.

To top it off, while waiting to board, he lost his third tooth! So the tooth fairy had to find him at our house that night! He was thrilled she didn't forget.

And two more are loose!

He stayed until Wednesday and we had a great time. We played chess and checkers, assembled Legos and went to the Ft. Worth Zoo despite the heat. He is such a big boy now and so easy to have around. I miss him terribly! Needless to say, I didn't get any art time in but it was worth it.

I'm back!

We got back Wednesday night from visiting our youngest daughter in Chicago. We lucked out and had beautiful weather - much cooler than the stifling temps of Texas! We had fun seeing a show, going to the lakefront beach, taking an architecture boat cruise, eating out and walking miles and miles. I've been resting and doing lots of laundry since our return!

Heartbreak Hotel

I've also made some Halloween cards. It seems a bit early, but I'm in a group that sends cards quarterly to St. Jude's Children's Hospital and they have to be mailed in this month.  I rummaged through my Halloween paper and embellishment box and made these all from leftovers. I have many more but it feels good to put some of this stuff to good use!

Altered Book - Final Pages

And here are the last of the pages in this altered book.

This spread has a sewn vellum pocket tip-in. The background for both pages plastic wrap/watercolor technique. Paint with juicy watercolors and then lay a crumpled piece of plastic wrap over the wet paint. Remove plastic wrap to reveal a fun texture. If you let the paint dry before removing the wrap, the texture will be more defined. I also added gold foil.

The crown on this page is made with a flattened aluminum Coke can which I embossed with the Cuttlebug and an embossing folder. Then I added alcohol inks and some black paint to color it.

Metal embossed crown with magazine image

I may have shown this spread before. It's a "neighborhood" created out of various scrapbook papers with little windows and doors that open to reveal more vintage faces. The background is watery watercolors sprinkled with alcohol while wet. The water repels the alcohol making puddles that reveal the layer below.

One more three-page spread with a window in the center page with a suspended corrugated heart. The vintage sepia images are on a background of acrylic paints and gesso through a stencil.

Left page

Right page 

Center window page

This is the last spread in the book. I glued many pages together in the back to be able to cut a niche with a door (left page). The background is a napkin decoupaged over random ephemera and then a wash of walnut ink to age it.  The Bingo card is a collage I made years ago and decided to give it a home here.

Cut out niche with door revealing key and keyhole

I hope you enjoyed peeking inside my altered book. I am so addicted! I have already started prepping yet another book!

This post was scheduled to go live while I am in Chicago. We left yesterday to visit our youngest daughter there for a few days. I'm hoping for some relief from the brutal Texas heat.  I'll be back next week!

Altered Book - Part 2

Continuing on with more book spreads...

For the next page I followed along with LorriMarie Jenkins in this video using cutouts and a Tim Holtz "paper doll."

Cutouts/paper dolls

This page incorporates a zipper to make a pocket for a tag. The old cabinet card image of the man was printed on another image creating a layered look.

Zipper pocket

The background of this spread was done quite awhile ago. I layered two vintage black and white photos over pink tissue paper for the focal points. Then I found an old ratty pink flower which I cut in half and added to the page for texture.

This spread consists of three pages. The first and third pages are decoupaged with a napkin over a painty background. The middle page is actually a pocket for tags. Many scraps, a tag, postage stamps and even fabric bits were sewn to the pages before they were taped together. I found two very old tiny framed photos to add to each side.

Left page and one side of pocket

Other side of pocket and right page

This spread has an acetate window tip-in on the left page. The acetate was already printed with the text and flower. It covers a large image of a family and their house. The background has texture paste through a stencil and watercolors. 

Left page with acetate window tip-in

This spread has two torn pockets, hand-stitched together with black yarn. I added some tags I received in a swap. The microscope slide on the left page is one I received years ago in a swap and the heart on the right page is a sample I made while playing around with black UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel), a stamp and gold ink.

Torn pockets 

Still more to come...