Altered Book Challenge - Faux Chipboard

As part of the challenge which I posted a few days ago, I created a double page spread in my Techniques Altered Book. I used Lumiere paint on the pages and stamped the sentiment and the Stamp Zia bough. I cut my Faux Chipboard sample in half diagonally and glued it down. Finally I added the little boy image from Trish's Advent Image Challenge and some gold braid. I haven't been working in my altered books for awhile and had forgotten how much fun they are. Next up is adding the Shining Stones sample to the Background Noise background technique book . Thanks, Trish, for keeping me busy - better than housework!!! Check this out if you are interested in all the things Trish is doing:
http://www.trishbee.co.uk/techniqueszone/

Challenges!

A wonderfully artful Yahoo group which I belong to is "embroiled" in a series of background challenges from our creative genious, Trish Bayley.

Shining Stones:
The first one is a relatively simple but effective background. Dye ink is brayered on glossy CS and set aside to dry. A paste is made with water and Perfect Pearls, then the CS is spritzed with water. The paste is applied, spritzed again with water, and finally "smooshed" with a paper towel. The results are beautiful which, unfortunately, don't totally show up very well in the scan. Here are two samples I made. I also tried it on black glossy as well as red. Here is a link to directions and more samples: http://trishbee.co.uk/?p=309

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Faux Chipboard:

The second challenge for 2008 is "Faux Chipboard." Again, this is simple and achieved with products/items in most mixed-media artists' stashes. Fun foam (!) shapes (such as the snowflakes I had) are glued down to sturdy CS, then lightly gessoed. When dry, acrylic paints are stippled on and left to dry. Finally, the entire surface is overstamped. Here is a link to more complete directions and samples:

http://trishbee.co.uk/?p=318

I tried a few different things such as using Versafine black on the sample to the left and regular dye ink on the sample to the right when I did the final stamping. I decided to finish everything off by spritzing with Radiant Rain. As you can see, the Versafine did not run, but the dye ink did. I like both effects and am glad that I tied both to see what would happen.

Now all I need to do is get my technique book started. I received a great sketch book for my birthday from my good friend Chrissy and covered it yesterday using some background paper made in a class that I took from Traci Bautista. All I need to do is add the title on the cover and include my first two challenge samples. I'll post when the cover is finished.

ATC Art Doll

Just mailed out the ATC Art Doll I made for a swap. I only made one, but she looked lonely all by herself on the page, so I copied some sisters for her. The arms and legs are attached by brads so they swivel up to cover the torso which measures regulation ATC size. The doll "parts" are a sheet of UM's from Paula Best. The "Art" wings are Stampers Anonymous. I also added our group's "mantra" - Make art every day.

Christmas Album #2

I finally got copies of some family pictures to make an accordian album for my husband similar to the one I made for my brother. The tags sticking out from the top are for journaling, and I hope he actually adds text and also labels some of the pictures as I am not sure about everyone in the older pictures.


This is the back cover. I used a picture that I took on Saturday of our grandson JJ and our younger grandgirl, Izabel. She is three weeks younger than he, so we had two 2-1/2 year olds for a family party!


This is the front extended. I used pictures of Dick's family for the front part of the album.


Here is the back. There is another picture from Saturday which includes our older grand girl, Kada, and some photos of our sons when they were pre-schoolers.

These pictures are on the back of the journaling tags. Sorry about the flash - guess I should have scanned rather than snapped!

Merry Christmas from Our Home to Yours!

The Christmas tree is really a history of our life together. Some of the ornaments were given to me by my husband as a gift for our first Christmas together. Other ornaments were gifts, and I made the beaded icicles, about six dozen or so, with the help of my mother-in-law.

Here is a view of our fireplace. I made both the sampler and the Christmas stockings. The Santa on the right is our newest addition.

Here's a view of the Christmas sampler I made almost 20 years ago. During the "off season," it hangs upstairs in our loft, reminding us of our favorite season!

And what would Christmas in Wisconsin be without snow! Last year the ground was bare, but we have had almost 30 inches this December.

12 Days of Christmas Gifts

My friend Kathy of CCSwaps organized the "12 Days of
Christmas" swap this year. We were divided into groups and made something for each of the other 12 in the group. I ended up being in three groups, and these are the gifts I made.
I used stampboard for these pin/pendants - no two are alike.

The little post-it note book is made with decorative paper, slide mount, and bound with my new favorite "toy" - Bind-It-All!

The Winter Birds hanging is made from a beer mat and decorated with images from a napkin. I love using the beaded embellishments to add a final touch.

Make Art Every Day

Make Art Every Day is the mantra for a group of fellow mixed media artists. I used some copyright free images to create these calendars. Some of you who are reading this blog might just very well be receiving one of them. I made a dozen, no two alike!