Round Robin Pages

My "Sanctuary"

Just finished another two page spread in a current round robin board book swap with a group of friends. The theme for Pauline's book is "Sanctuary," and I chose "Books" as my theme since I am an avid reader and often lose myself in whatever book I am currently reading. And, yes, the old photo is a snapshot of me with a book when I was only one year old! Wish I could say that I was actually reading it, but that would come a few years later.

Here is a list of a few of the most recent books I have read - enjoy:

The Space Between Us (Umrigar)

Innocent Traitor (Weir)

The Painted Drum (Erdrich)

The Lizard's Bite (Hewson)

Jane Fairfax (Aiken)

Evidence of Things Unseen ( Wiggins)

These are the next on my list:

A Spot of Bother (Haddon)

Loving Frank (Horan) - Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney

Teesha More Journal

Finished binding the pages for the Teesha journal. I chose a simple binding and added some ribbon and beads. One of the pages from Adrienne was perfect for the cover. Now the hard part will be to actually journal !!!!

Board Book Round Robin

I belong to a few Yahoo groups, one of which decided to create round robin board books. Last spring I purchased books for each of the eight of us and mailed them out. Sweet Pea made a "flow chart" so that we could send our books to each other in a logical fashion. Three of us live in the USA and the other five in the UK, so it was imperative that we not lose anyone's book if at all possible. I have enjoyed working on this project - each book was a challenge in a different way. The round robin is almost finished, and, of course, I can hardly wait until my book arrives home!

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For Adrienne Goodenough

The theme of Adrienne's book is color. Since I was the last one to work in the book, I took the "liberty" of creating a final page about the beauty of all colors, not just our individual favorites. And it was also a chance to use a few lines from one of my favorite songs by Harry Chapin!

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For Bren Renouf

Bren asked us create a spread about ourselves. I tried using a number of different images and quotes, but I didn't like the arrangement, so I chose one thing about myself which is important, "Love of Nature."

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Shabby Chic Gesso

This is the first version of my shabby chic gesso technique. After a discussion on Art-Ventures, I decided to add some Rub 'n Buff. I like the subtle difference in how the finished card turned out.
I guess I need to remember all the "stuff" I have stashed away and get it out!!!!

Up, up and away!

As we were eating breakfast this morning, we saw balloons floating by. It was a perfect summer morning, cool with a bright blue sky. I got my camera and snapped a couple of shots. Enjoy!

Teesha More Swap

One of my internet groups is creating a Teesha Moore journal. Each of us had to create fifteen pages of four 7-1/2 X 10" pages in Teesha's style. I was reluctant to join, but finally decided to stretch and do the pages. It was a big jump for me as I tend to do much more "traditional" creating, but I am glad that I tried.
I created the backgrounds using Aileen's Color Mists (what fun!) Once they were dry, I scored and folded the pages and began to create.
Images from magazines were selected, and I had them photo copied. Some of the gals in the swap did 60 different pages! But that was not for me.
I planned, cut and pasted. The next challenge was doodling, something that I have little self-confidence in. Some of my doodles didn't turn out well, so I had to "repair" the "OOPS!" I also used some clear doodle style stamps. The finishing touch was titles. One was done by hand (Party) and the others were foam stamps from the kids department.
After all of this, I am ready to send out to the hostess and wait, albeit impatiently, to receive the fifteen sets of original art work.

"Piece" and Joy

No, I haven't lost my mind and started my Christmas cards! I am in a swap posted on CCSwaps - "Celebrity Swaps." One of our moderators, Chrissy B., finds details for submissions to various stamping magazines and runs a swap to encourage us to submit our work. A number of us have actually had our submissions published!
This card is for a swap called "Odds and Ends" - a challenge to use up those bits and pieces of things we save. I decided to recycle old Christmas cards. It was quite easy - cutting up strips of the cards and layering on sticker paper. The metallic piece is aluminum foil run through a brayer and colored with alcohol inks. Don't forget - Christmas is less than six months away!!!!!