Garden Party ~ Altered Pages Altered Board Book Swap

 Altered Pages Yahoo Group hosted an altered board book swap.  Participants altered a book to send to one partner, the theme was open.  This is what I came up with. 

All floral collage images are from Altered Pages

 I've never done an altered book from start to finish, I've always elaborated with other artists so this was a huge undertaking for me.  I hope you enjoy my Garden Party. 

Page 1 and 2

 My book starts with an invitation to a Garden Party.

Page 2 has a lovely image (all adult female images are from Artfully Musing Free Downloads) of the party hostess.

The frame is one that I make and I'm trying to get some in my Etsy shop.  You can't tell in the photo but it is shimmery.

I told a little story with my book, I hope you enjoy it.  The story portion will be in italics.

 Page 3 and 4

Lady Heidi Hydrangea and Princess Penelope Poppy are the first to arrive and they brought their prize winning cake.

 Next comes Countess Isabel Iris with her gaggle of puppies.  I count them at night, instead of sheep, when I can't sleep.

The dogs hat is from Altered Pages

Page 5 and 6

Followed by the Deacons wife Daphne Daffodil who has the most lovely singing voice.  How magnificent she has brought the Church linens to top our table with.

I hate to tute my own horn but I love how I added the rhinestones to the music notes.  I think I would have enjoyed music much more if there had been rhinestones on my sheet music in high school.

Oh how wonderful her Royal Highness Roberta Rose is here.  And she is accompanied by her charming daughter Bethany Bluebell.  What's she looking at?

I did a lot of work on the background of this page.  All the depths don't show in the pictures.  I stamped a column of roses and then a column of crowns painted them and then did a wash over them.

The little girl is from Altered Pages

Do you see the hidden roses?

Are you ready for the next page?  At the last minute I did the different layers of crepe paper to try and make it look sky like. 

It's the Butterflies!  They've decided to join us.

The background paper is glittery as are touches of the butterflies. 

All Collage images on this page are from Altered Pages

Page 9 and 10

Now let's sit and chat a bit.



I used real tea leaves to decorate the edges of the rosettes, it makes the entire book smell scrumptious!

Would you like some fresh strawberries from my garden to go with your cake? 

Page 11 and 12

Oh how the time does fly.  It's growing late and time to say farewell. 

Again I played with crepe paper, light blue for daytime and black for night I love the effect it gives the page. 

This is the final page in the book.  It's supposed to be a Thank You from the hostess to her guests or vice versa.  I needed more space than I had left over to give the proper credits for each page. 

 See, it barely all fits and I am sure I left something out!

The back cover is simple. 

I love my altered book and had a very hard time mailing it out today.  I  hope who I mailed it too (shhh it's still a secret) loves it as much as I do. 

Hop Scotch

This week at One Powerful Hour Pauline has selected the theme...

Child's Play

Right now I mainly think of my little girls, one loves dress up and the other is into stacking, but I couldn't think of how to portray either or these. So I went with one of my school yard favorites, Hop Scotch.

I am not really pleased with the outcome of this ATC, it's a little to plain I think. I mounted a decorative paper onto a solid blue, printed the hop Scotch board out on transparency, affixed the little girl (she's from Altered Pages) and added the brads, to look like the stones used in the game.

Next week at One Powerful Hour the theme is A touch of spring. Come play along with us!

Something Sweet

This week over at One Powerful Hour I've selected the theme...

Something Sweet

My favorite thing to do with challenge themes are play on words. There are so many way's this theme can be taken. I decided to do a bit of both...play with the "love" aspect along with the "yummy" aspect.

A few weeks ago Sarah who is the mastermind behind Soul Journaling posted a tutorial for those of us that are members of her yahoo group. I followed her tutorial and came up with this piece.

The background on the heart is entirely covered with glitter...brown and pink. The image is from Altered Pages, the words from Paula's Kit Club and the fork from Alpha Stamps. Other embellishments include the pink German scrap (which was a pain to put on but adds a nice touch), rhinestones and I glittered the image using sticklers glitter glue.

I hope you enjoy!

Make A Wish

Today is one of my fabulous One Powerful Hour team members birthdays! Happy Birthday Amy....

She is also the hostess this week and selected the theme of birthday.

Amazingly or maybe just because I am tired of doing such dark work I found time to make an ATC and enter this week.

The background is a lovely confetti paper that reminds me of jimmies on a doughnut. I dry brushed over it with a slightly pink tinted gesso that also had some shimmer mixed in. The image is from Altered Pages. Some of the stamps are from close to my heart and the others an unknown company. I used markers to color everything in...I hardly ever use markers...it made me feel like a kid again. And of course had to add some glitter to finish it off.

I hope Amy has a wonderful Birthday! Now I am heading back to the studio to continue with the dark art...

What Makes a Dad?

This week over at One Powerful Hour I set the theme of...

What Makes a Dad

This is a poem I found online and I have asked participants to use the poem as inspiration. It could result in a father's day item or not.

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so,
He called it ... Dad

Author Unknown


I decided to go in a Masculine/Father's Day direction with my sample.

I took an old recipe advertisment Collage Image from Altered Pages and built on top of that. On the right I cut an opening and placed my "father" figure, from Paula's Kit Club. Next i selected words from the poem and added them to the card. As finishing touches I added the German Scrap car and a mini frame.

That is when I decided that the piece would make a great tag for the gift I am planning on giving my father. So I folded it in half and covered the front with decorative paper, attached a cigar label and finished if off with German Scrap.

The red ribbon was the final touch, I'll use this to affix the tag to my gift.

I hope to have more time to be inspired by the poem, make something that is not necessarily father's day. I hope you enjoy my interpretation.

Altered Pages Give Away Week 3 & Week 4 Winners!

The Week 3 Winner for the Altered Pages Digital Collage Sheet Give Away is...........

Anne Huskey-Lockard

Congratulations!

The Final winner of my Altered Pages Digital Collage Sheet give away is the person who participated/entered the most of the past 3 weeks...

Thank you

Peggy & Yvonne

You entered a total of 6 times! Hope you like this fabulous Corset Collage sheet!

Thank you everyone who took part in my blog candy...keep your eyes pealed...I've reached over 50 followers and as promised there will be a give away...

Altered Pages Give Away Week 2 and Week 1 Winner

Hello again and Welcome to Week 2 of the fabulous Altered Pages Collage Sheet Giveaway! Each week for the next 2 weeks you could win a digital collage image from Altered Pages of my choosing!

This week, week 2, I've selected this fabulous "Vintage Artist Trading Card" Collage Sheet. To me they are gorgeous just as they are but they also make great backgrounds to build on.

If you would like a chance to win this lovely digital collage sheet from Altered Pages please leave a comment with contact information (e-mail or blog address). You will be entered once, to be entered more than once do any or all of the following. 1. Tweet about it (please leave your tweet info) 2. Facebook (also leave facebook info) 3. Blog about it (leave a link to post and a link to my blog and this post) 4. Become a follower (already a follower, they you are already entered 2 times). So if you do all the above you could be entered 5 times!

This giveaway ends Wednesday May 26th 12 pm PT. Once I receive your contact information I'll forward the information onto Jackie at Altered Pages and she will send you your new fabulous Digital Collage Sheet!Note...the 4th giveaway will go to the individual that does the most...over the next 3 weeks!

Onto the Winner of Week 1....Drum roll please.....................................................the winner is....

Silvia

Key West 1927

This week over at One Powerful Hour the theme is...


Ocean...


I challenged myself this week to not use traditional blues and greens. The first place I turned was to Altered Pages wonderful vintage images. This one is from the collage sheet On the Beach.


I tri folded a dark brown cardstock that cordinates with the bathing suits. To add depth I stamped a background that resembles waves in gold. Next I affixed a decorative paper that to me looks like sand. I cut out the collage image using decorative scissors and then placed it on the card, cutting it in the apropriate place. To add an element of personaliation I named each person and placed a date and time on the image.


The Fish is from Paula's Kit Club, a full color german scrap. The sea shells are from some vintage post cards. I added diamond glaze to all three elements. To finish off this piece I added some photo corners and texture paste with sand mixed in along with some bits of shell.



Want a chance to win some of Altered Pages fabulous Collage sheets? Well you have come to the right place. Each week until the end of May you will have a chance to win a digital collage sheet from Altered Pages that I have selected. This weeks give away can be found HERE

Altered Pages Giveaway Week 1

Welcome to week one of the fabulous Altered Pages Collage Sheet Giveaway! Each week for the next 3 weeks you could win a digital collage image from Altered Pages of my choosing!

One of my favorite themes to work with is a retro feel/look so this week I have selected "Ladies Who Lunch". I love the elegance yet playful look of these ladies and wish that I could be out to lunch with them.

If you would like a chance to win this lovely digital collage sheet from Altered Pages please leave a comment with contact information (e-mail or blog address). You will be entered once, to be entered more than once do any or all of the following. 1. Tweet about it (please leave your tweet info) 2. Facebook (also leave facebook info) 3. Blog about it (leave a link to post and a link to my blog and this post) 4. Become a follower (already a follower, they you are already entered 2 times). So if you do all the above you could be entered 5 times!

This giveaway ends Wednesday May 19th 12 pm PT. Once I receive your contact information I'll forward the information onto Jackie at Altered Pages and she will send you your new fabulous Digital Collage Sheet!

Note...the 4th giveaway will go to the individual that does the most...over the next 3 weeks!