I've moved! My craft room, that is. For the past few weeks months, my altered book paraphernalia has slowly filled strangled my breakfast nook. I woke up one morning and knew it was over--the move was on. Now that I have relocated, it is worse than moving to a new house! I can't find anything! Before, everything had it's own spot, be it a box, drawer, or pile. Now I am completely discombobulated. While I sort things out, here is a page I did before the Great Move of '08.

R & R inspired layouts

Here it is almost to another weekend and I still have pages to show you from last weekend!

This one practically assembled itself on the page. Kristin pointed out the picture of the woman and said, "Use her on a page." So I did!
(Heather, when I was working with the autumnal colors I couldn't help thinking of you! :) )

I suppose this page evolved because of the shopping on my mind. I wanted to do a black and white layout and these pictures went together so well. I like that there are 4 different eras of fashion depicted.
I know you are just holding your breath until the next installment. Stay tuned....I believe there are still two more in this 'weekender' series. Aren't you excited??!

Step Outside Your Box - with meaning

This week, Step Outside Your Box asks, "What is it's meaning?" We are challenged to create a piece of art that has personal meaning. My contribution is a card I made for my Daddy for Father's Day. It depicts some of the things that are special to him--some of the reasons I love him so.

In the garden

In between the visiting and the shopping....oh, and the eating and napping....I managed to produce a few altered book pages over our extended weekend at the lake.

I'll post more later.

Mixed Media Monday - "Something New"

This week at Mixed Media Monday, Diane challenged us to try something new. That opened up so many possibilities for me. While I was still contemplating what my project would be, I made a discovery that I would like to share.

I have a bazillion old Rol-a-dex cards that I thought would be fun to alter. I began trying out my discovery in different colors and couldn't stop!

This is what I learned: stamping on chalk.

I love to work with artist's chalk, but for some reason have never stamped directly onto it. When I attempted it on chalked background on an altered book page, the stamped image was practically invisible. So I touched it--rubbed my finger across the still damp ink. The chalk was absorbed into the ink and the image popped out in the most brilliant color, a darker version of the chalked background! ( A light ink color allows the chalk color to be it brightest.) That is when I started making these little Rol-a-dex cards and could not stop. These are unfinished pieces really, but illustrate the technique.

This is definitely something new to me that I will be using again and again.

More 'new' things can be seen here.

4 x 4 Friday - "Shoes"

Oh boy! Shoes! Yesterday I tried on at least 47 pair of shoes, or so it seemed, and then I made this 4x4, and had fun doing both!
See more 4x4 entries here.

Mixed Media Monday - "By the sea"

When I first read the theme for this week's Mixed Media Monday, *"Zuider Zee" popped into my head. And I Could. Not. Get. It. Out! The rhyme factor, I suppose. So, work with it, I say!

This is a very simple piece. I only used gel medium, stick-on letter tiles, real shells, and a sprinkling of irredescient glitter. It is quite peaceful to me.

*Zuider Zee - an arm of the North Sea extending into the Netherlands.

Altered clipboard

I needed a gift for a special young lady and had been pondering all week what I could make for her. While blog-exploring, I found the perfect project at so much time, so little to do that inspired me to make the altered clipboard you see to the left. Thanks Michelle for a great idea! My little friend loved it!

4 x 4 Friday - "Numbers"

My contribution for 4 x 4 Friday - "Numbers"

TIME PASSES

Numbers......counting.....we are always counting something.

Time passes in years, weeks, days.

Time passes in hours, minutes, seconds.

We count them, but do we make them count?

"Teach us to number our days,

That we may gain a heart of wisdom"

Psalm 90:12

Torso Tags

Just a little doodling I did this morning. I cut out a torso from a dictionary page and embellished it using only pens, pencils, and stamps. It was so much fun, I grabbed a magazine and cut out another torso. Who knows, they may end up in an altered book spread. Which one do you like better?

Mixed Media Monday - "Bingo"

Bingo? I don't have a lot of experience with bingo, but I really had fun with this AB layout. I started with the bingo card and the bingo number buttons, since that was the theme and all. I have been wanting to use the pouting girl; she came next. She looks rather bored so I offered her some options. How many choices can you find?

This is where I am playing along: Mixed Media Monday