New Challenge Site!

Suzan Buckner from Thrifty Collage Artist and I have started a new challenge site for your entertainment and enjoyment! Every Tuesday we will be giving you an off-the-wall, wacky and sometimes twisted challenge. The name is FLUFFY FATBOTTOM's TWISTED TUESDAYS! The first challenge will be posted on October 2nd. Please join us there!

Home Altered Board Book

A sweet friend of mind turned 40 today and I wanted to surprise her with an altered book. She loves antiques, decorates her house beautifully and always welcomes friends and family warmly to her home so a house shaped book seemed particularly suitable for the occasion. I used copies of vintage photos from my collection and gave them a whimsical feel with hats, crowns and wings and added a quotation about "home" to each page. I'll feature the pages separately for a few days.

4" X 4" Friday Challenge - France

I think I'm becoming addicted to these fantastic challenges. This piece is my submission for this week's 4 X 4 Friday.

Fall Altered CDs

A friend and I have been challenging one another for the last year to step out of our comfort zone and try new projects. This month we had to alter three cds...a first for me. Since they've already arrived in Texas, I can now show them on my blog.

Think Monday - Think ATC - "Smile"

Here is my "Think Monday - Think ATC" entry with the theme "Smile". Ah, Spring and those first blossoms never fail to bring a smile to my face.

"Family Tree" Card

The challenge on Saturday Stampers this week is "Trees". I made this card using PaperWhimsy images and a stamp from a new Paperbag Studios sheet.

"Boo!" ATC

Tagged

I am honoured to have been tagged by Jo Capper-Sandon. My task goes something like this:

Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blogpost containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

So, let's see if I can actually come up with something for each letter of my middle name....

L is for Libraries because that is where I've spent a good chunk of my life....as a child reading voraciously, as a teen working as a Page and as an adult working my way through library school to become a librarian.

E is for Early Riser which I always have been. I have to have done a day's work before work to feel as though the day hasn't been wasted. Talk to me at 10:00 p.m.....if you can shake me awake!!

S is for Sewing because I had a misguided notion that I was going to be a Home Economist. I actually took an advanced sewing course in University and absolutely hated every minute of it!

L is for Lake Mindemoya, Manitoulin Island where I spend two glorious weeks each summer at a cottage and lust for the rest of the year.

I is for Interests of which I have many. This fact both excites me and drives me insane due to lack of time to pursue all of them.

E is for Every day. That is how I often I am grateful for having art and artistic friends in my life.

I would like to tag the following wonderful artists if they choose to accept the challenge:

Mary-Beth - My Journey into Art

Cheryl - Mum on the Run

Flossie - Flossie's Follies

Elaine - The Painted Cottage

Tootie from Honey Girl Studio

June 4" X 4" Calendar Pages

"Chill" ATC

"Forest" Round Robin Journal Pages

This wonderful journal's theme was forests and the fairies that live in them. I had recently begged and cajoled my Mom into giving me a Robert Louis Stevenson poetry book that I had loved as a child. I was leafing through it and found this poem. I thought that it suited the theme of the journal. I used lavender for the ground and pressed flowers for embellishment.

Winter Round Robin Pages

For these pages I was inspired to create hanging ornaments from bottlecaps, ribbon and PaperWhimsy images of children. I covered the images with crystal lacquer.

February 4" X 4" Calendar Pages

Board Book based on a Poem called "Anyway"

These photos show an altered board book that I designed for my Mom based on a poem that she loves. I found a board book that had two sets of flip pages. Although intended to flip top and bottom, I thought that it better suited my purposes if it flipped left and right. The photos are from my vintage photo collection. This is also my entry for Saturday Stampers. The first challenge is to use poetry in your art.

"The Little Queen" Card

I'm still playing around with encaustics....

On September 1st and 2nd of this year, a group of artists created a wall of artist trading cards from around the world. I participated in the project as a representative from Canada. These are a couple of my cards. If you'd like to see amazing international atcs, have a look at this blog:
http://hobbyclubretro.blogspot.com/

Christmas Art Doll

This is the third and final art doll I created while on vacation using a kit from Mimsie's Whimsies. This demure little gal has found a loving home with a good friend of mine. I thought I'd show you a photo of all three frolicking at the cottage. My DH and I were in stitches taking these photos.

PaperWhimsy Calendar Page

This is a page I designed for a PaperWhimsy calendar. Each participant is assigned a month....can you imagine how amazing it will be when it is assembled?

A Series of "Ladies with Hats" ATCs

"The Funniest Thing" 3" X 3"