Red Tape

Cabinet Card Art

Have you ever tried altering cabinet cards?  These are the sepia toned images you can find at the flea market, from around the 1850'5-1920's.  You know, the ones where no one ever smiles.  I can never figure that one out!  Here is one of my book covers with an altered card. 

You can see a set  of my altered cards on my Flickr site here.  The key is to mask the image, itself, then you are free to alter the background by sanding , painting, stenciling, rubberstamping, or anything you can think of.  Once finished, add some rub-ons or phrases and these become pretty interesting little works of art!  Try one!

Newest Journal Complete

I needed a new journal with a little more space on the pages for drawing and watercoloring.  I love the Remains of The Day style, but I didn't have enough drawing room!  I decided to have fun with the cover.  One thing led to another and the magna-doodle was formed!  Naturally, I couldn't leave the pages completely plain!  I showed a few of the embellishments in a previous post.   Here is the end result.

 

 

What I'm Working On

Snip, swish, pop, goop, swirl.....here are some sneak peaks of the latest project.

      

.......stay tuned!

 

Muslin Sketchbook Is Done!

Here is a short video of my completed muslin sketchbook.  I was inspired by Lynne Hoppe's style and you can visit her blog here.  She has a great tutorial on doing the muslin page backgrounds.  Hope you like it!

  

....music is Love Story Meets Love Story by Jon Schmidt.

The Innards

In my last post, I shared the journal I made at Artful Journey in DJ Pettitt's class.  If we were far enough along with the covers, we could work on painting and embellishing the pages.  I was able to get all mine done, so here are some of them,to give you an idea of what the inside looks like.  So great not to have to face a 'blank' page when I am ready to journal!  One of my favorite things was stitching shapes on the pages, then later going back and watercoloring over them.  If you enlarge some of these, you may be able to see what I mean.  VERY fun class!

Here is a better look at the binding

.....that's all folks!  

 
 
 
 
 

Home Again

I have gone....... and come home again!  Artful Journey and the Monterey Peninsula are packed away in the summer 2010 memory vault now.  The weather was all over the map, from very cool to sweltering.  But the sun was shining and that was the bottom line for me! 

Artful Journey was in it's second session of the year.  There were about 60 of us at the Presentation Center, in Los Gatos, for four different classes.  I took Synergy of Forms from DJ Pettitt.  She was a very thorough, prepared teacher and gave her full attention to the students throughout all three days.  We were learning her methods of layering, as applied to what would become covers for our journals.  I realized I didn't have a lot of pics to share, for this trip, because I was so focused on getting a lot of clips on my Flip video!  So hopefully, a video will follow this soon.  In the meantime, a few snaps of our class time.

Here is DJ making the rounds in class...which she did MANY times a day!  She was diligent to be sure people understood what was needed on their projects.  I appreciated her personal attention and expert opinion when we got stuck!   

This was a fun transfer technique that DJ demonstrated to the class.

As we were building up layers, one of them could be stamping....this is a collection of handcarved stamps that DJ cut, and provided for our use.  They were fabulous.

OK....could not resist this gorgeous combination of green and brilliant blue!  Not a cloud in the sky, and the sky was truly that exact blue!

 

  

This was the front cover of my journal.  Most of our work time was spent on the front and back covers.  The bird was an original photo, provided by DJ, but in the layering process, becomes transformed into what looks like a painting!

...and the back cover.  Also layers and layers of process here.  The flower was a transfer...loved the way it turned out! 

I was able to also paint and embellish the inside pages, before binding the whole thing together. I will post a few of them later.   Rarely do I finish a project, at an art retreat class, but this one went together nicely for me.  It is great to have it done, and not hanging over my head as one of those many unfinished projects, calling my name. 

Artful Journey

By the time you are reading this, I will be in CA for An Artful Journey!  This art retreat is being held in Los Gatos, CA, and I will be taking a class with DJ Pettitt.   However, my artsy friend, Deb, and I will be going out a few days early to enjoy the Monterey Penninsula.  We will be lounging around this beautiful inn...the Jabborwock. Sketching, catching some sun, checking out life on the left coast.  Re-entry to real life will be hard!

I wanted a fresh, new journal for the trip, so I made a new Remains of the Day (Mary Ann Moss) journal to take along.  Instead of the cover that Mary Ann teaches, I decided to just bind my signatures in a hardcover book that I had on hand. I also left more 'open' space for sketching and painting, than I had in previous ROD journals.   Here is a look inside

.......now to fill 'er up!

Littles

I don't know why little things are so attractive.  I am not alone, because I see lots of posts featuring 'little this or little that".  Well, here are some little books that I have made over time.  I have attempted to show the cover and the binding of each one.

The cover of this one is made from layers of UTEE, then treated to give a 'metal' look.   A traditional coptic binding with some twill tape incorporated.

This is a little booklet made from tea-bag envies.  Front and back each have a dif flavor.  Signatures were 'tea dyed'...of course!...and stitched in roughly.  A bit of a shabby looking small booklet.

For the card-shark crowd, 2 cards make a cover, for this top bound booklet.  I used some gros-grain ribbon as the 'spine', where the stitching held signatures together.

Know all those cute 'gift cards' that you save?  How about your stash of Sbux cards....they have had some great designs over the years!!  I made a little booklet by using my Zutter binder with two plastic cards as covers.
 

Ooops...don't hold 'sizing' of these pics against me.  I have already spent enough time with these in Photoshop, at this point!  This little booklet is made of a vintage postcard (especially the ugly ones, no one really wants!)...cut in half, making the front and back cover.  Signatures roughly stitched in with paper tabs this time, to reinforce 'spine'. Nothing fancy but that handmade element is irresistible.

......go make you some!

 
 
 

 

 

Put This New Book On Your Radar

Diana Trout has completed revisions for her upcoming book "Journal Spilling Mixed Media Techniques for Free Expression".  This is a technique book with guided exercises, which you can do in small bites.  Lately, so many books are showcases for other artists' work.  I like to learn something new, so I am looking forward to some fresh ideas presented by Diana.   Also, check out her blog and website, in the meantime.  She gives some good ideas, while you are waiting for the book.

It is available for preorder at Amazon now, with availability in October.  Mark your calendars! 

............till later