Rescued Little Golden Book

This mini little golden book, was sad in the free giveaway pile at the library book sale.  Nobody was paying any attention to it, and as I walked by the children's cart, I heard it call my name...really, I did!

When altering used, old books, I usually do the covers last, but for some reason I jumped all over the front and back of this little gem right away without even looking inside.  So for now, here are the covers...

The front cover was a few layers of paper scraps lying around, some doodles, some paint, and a 3-D flutterby using 4 layers of text for the wings.

Back Cover

The back cover was done at the same time, just some paper scraps, some paint, doodles, and one paper doodle flower.

And for a sneak peak at the inside, here is one page...

playing with poppies

The balance of pages I have glued together to make them sturdier and then I will add more layers of paper, rubber stamps, etc, a pocket or two to hold tags, atc's, ticket stubs, and some blank spots for journaling. 

Next time you go to the library, look at their used book sales...they are my fave canvas for art play!

Zentangle ATC Swap

What a wonderful surprise to find in my mailbox today from the online swap at 

Little Bird Creations

From top to bottom: 

Jarda's lovely fabric creation

Sandi's, created on the Ace of Diamonds of a very cool deck of Victorian playing cards.

And from Renee, some wonderful detail on my fave paper.

Next up, we have for your enjoyment...

Pat's in what I like to call a quilt pattern, (I love the feather)

Karen's creation, I am trying to figure out how she did this, also on my fave paper with abit of watercolor on the back, and with a nice fiber addition.

And from Eleanor, a very layered effect on an old watercolor piece that she cut to size, which is what

I did for my own.  (See previous post on how mine came to be.)

 Katie's is very cool, and I am going to try something like this one on black.

Very happy to receive the hamsa from Eileen, for her description of an amulet of good fortune and protection.  Wonderful!

And yes, the lovely creation by Linda was definitely worth the wait. This woman has a

unique story to tell...what do you think she is thinking?

And last but not least, full of color is BLOOM from Mary, with some wonderful layering and texture.  

I LOVE THEM ALL!  

Thank you to Michele for hosting the swap.  This was my first Zentangle project!  

I hope to hear from whoever received mine!

Watercolor Zentangle ATC Swap...

Well, I have delved into the world of watercolor paint.  I stink at watercolor painting.  But, oh how I love the fluidity of it when the full brush of water kisses the color and melds into a beautiful mess...

Well, at least mine are a mess.  But the colors, well they speak for themselves.  And since I really can't paint well, I've decided to use my first watercolor attempts as backdrops for bookmarks, and the ZENTANGLE ATC SWAP going on at Little Bird Creations. 

watercolor play

let the zentangling begin...the 10th card is vacant from this shot!

so from watercolor piece that I didn't like, cut to 10 ATC cards...
to these for an online swap...

 

 and last but not least for the swap...

And these are the bookmarks I made from "poppies gone wrong"... 

Yes, Creative Chaos is my middle name!!!  Thanks for stopping by!  Aloha

LIBERATE YOUR ART POSTCARDS

RADIANCE by Ellery Lewis

1.  Ellery describes this beauty..."inspired by the pattern of douglas fir cone scales, really cool that the dry, dead-looking cones contain the ability to give life to new trees".  WONDERFUL!

 NEW YORK - BULL in ink by Diane McWhirter

2.  This from Diane:  "Many things inspire me and I think that for every piece of art created there is someone, somewhere just waiting to love it.  You just have to believe they will find each other".

Now what I love about this piece all the way from Canberra, Australia, is that she is exactly right about a piece finding the right person, because I live in New York, and my sign is Taurus the Bull!

LAVENDER by Terry Owenby

 3.  I just love this wonderful collage inspired by a wonderful bar of lavender soap gifted to Terry by her sister.  She even used pieces of the box that the soap came in, along with a very cool item that I absolutely love, vintage book binding cloth.  Inspired me to delve into a collage of my own using some of my stash.

Mediterranean Sea - Corsica, France  by Cindy Chilton

4.  This very scenic spot that I can only dream of visiting in person someday, was sent in by Cindy who can be found at seriouslylaughterminded.blogspot.com

by Kristen Playford

5.  This lovely photo postcard was taken by Kristen's house in SW Portland, and it looks like an invitation to ADVENTURE!  Thank you, Kristen!

HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTEST, BY KAT

6.   The  pièce de résistance is this autumn colored branch by the one and only Kat Sloma, the Hostess of the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap.  A huge undertaking for Kat and her terrific peeps, so please stop by to say THANK YOU!!!

And these are the ones I sent out...OLD MAN WINTER!

Hope you are all enjoying the swap and the hop.  And if you happen to receive one of mine, please do drop me a line to let me know!

ALOHA

MAIL ART...AGAIN!

It's that glorious time again for LIBERATE YOUR ART POSTCARD SWAP 2015!!!

A swap friend, Kelly recommended MOO to print postcards from my own photos, and since old

man winter is clinging to us here in the Northeast, I decided to go with an old winter scene. 

For more information on LYA 2015 visit Kat to see all the hard work that goes into such a large swap with over 200 participants. This is my 3rd year, and I can hardly wait!!!

Hope you all get yours in on time!!!  And please let me know if you receive one of mine in the swap. 

It's always nice to know where they end up.  

Time Flies...

Well it's a new year, a new month, and the last time I was here was in December...LAST YEAR!

HONOLULU BOUND, ENVIE SWAP!

So much has happened in our family since December 2014.  First, we actually missed Christmas and New Years due to a medical emergency.  The kind of stuff that happens "to other people".  And the emergency fund that all the financial planners tell you to save for...well, again, for the stuff that happens "to other people"...also by the wayside.

But in spite of all that, we are grateful.  And since my friend Deborah just posted about getting great mail, I thought I would show you an old piece of mail that was sent out to HAWAII.  Now, the idea is to just simply decorate an envelope, no contents required, it's MAIL ART, that's it.  Send it off to make someone smile:)  Yep, that's it!  Hopefully, they will reciprocate, and continue to send glorious MAIL ART via snail mail.  The good old fashioned way.

And here's the start of a Valentine Swap, headed out to my family in HONOLULU!  Give it a try!

 

The first one to send me their snail mail address via email, will receive MAIL ART from yours truly!
There's a catch...you must send me one in return!  STAY WARM...aloha!!!

 

 

Christmas Miracle

Dec. 3 was the date of my last post...the date that we would rush our daughter to the ER with a 104 temperature.  It is now Christmas Eve, and she remains in MICU fighting for her beautiful life, from pneumonia gone bad.  ARDS, Renal Failure...the works.

I've learned so much from these past 3 weeks, that remain a blur, from the local hospital to the big one who would perform a life saving procedure known as ECMO.  Yeah, look that one up!

As today is the first day that she has opened her eyes with her family by her side, I am weary, I am grateful and I want to universally acknowledge, that we are truly blessed.

Merry Merry, Happy Happy, Joy Joy...to one and all!  And many thanks to everyone who participated in our Christmas Miracle that is the life of our beautiful child through prayer and good intentions.

Mahalo from the bottom of my heart!

Art Journal Swap/Hop

Well the neverending Art Journal Swap/Hop is coming to an end.  Here's a sneak peak at a few pages of Judie's book.  Don't want to divulge too much in case Judie is looking.  We want each book to be a surprise upon return to its rightful owner.

What I love about this book is that Judie embedded a real tea spoon to signify the name of our group,
ARTY TEA PARTY... And Lucy, went right on into the next page using original story text to complete her page, complete with a photo of what she thinks the character looks like.  Great idea!

Every picture tells a story...

A natural wreath from Nina's gardens of Happy Herbs Soap at Two Crow Cottage

And of course, the incredible detail needlework of Andrea.

So, for more of the Neverending Art Journal Swap/Hop, check back for the completion and the return of all the books to their owners.  I can't wait to see the talented additions to my own book which started out like this...

 


 Until then, Aloha!!!





 

BOO

MY BROOM IS PARKED...LET STORYTIME BEGIN!!!

Hawaii Hiatus

Sunset at Waikiki

It's been quite awhile since I have been here to blog about altered books and other projects.  However I have a good excuse.  OK, not really, but planning a 2 week getaway 5000 miles away from home all by my big bad girl self, was a really BIG DEAL for me.

The purpose of the long trek to Hawaii was to reunite with my beautiful island Mama's family.  Most of whom I have never met before.  And what a beautiful family they are.  I am truly blessed.  Even have a little 13 year old hula dancer cousin.  And thankfully, I came back just in time to see the gorgeous colors of Autumn in the Northeast.  Culture shock going...and coming back.  But it's soooo true...THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, as I strum my ukulele...

 

So, I am back in the saddle and have many book projects, mostly journals, lined up and cranking them out for the holiday season.  And I'm gonna try my hand at bookbinding, too.  Yes, I'm rejuvenated and ready to dig my heels in...ALOOOOHA!

Linking up to Skywatch Friday here...and I'm actually early for once!!!  GO ME!!!

Art Journal Book Swap/Hop

Another page done along the NEVERENDING journey of the Art Journals.  This is my page in Kitty's book using one of her prompts.."colors came alive for her".  It was just the right prompt, too, because I was ready to play in color out of doors.

Couldn't resist adding one of my new paper flowers...

hula~la la la la la...I'm just sayin'...

This is Kitty's intro to the book...love that hair!!!

The swap should be winding down soon...at least I hope so, it's been over a year that we have been swapping journals.  Hope you enjoy!