As I mentioned in a previous post, I made two smaller security envelope booklets. I sent one of the books to Andria. She sent me a postcard in return. Andria has a big project going on now with Rolodex Cards. Check out her blog…she recently had a post about “Magic Gardens” in Philadelphia. It’s a huge mosaic made from old bottles and other throw away items. Here’s Andria’s book (note-random posting of photos, WordPress media didn’t cooperate with me this morning):
I made two postcards for the “pink” swap over at Mail Me Some Art and mailed them off without taking photos of them. I’ll have to wait for Karen to post them on the MMSA blog.
I made some more envelope books…I really enjoy making them. This booklet is one I sent to Janet. It is made from only three envelopes:
I re- found this booklet I started about three years ago. It is time to finish it. It’s made it from old envelopes…mostly security envelopes and other old envelopes that brought us bills through the mail 
It’s a good recycling project. I tried to choose envelopes that were the same size. Some were cut down to fit. I turned several of the security envelopes wrong side out and carefully re-glued them back together. It has signatures of three envelopes in each one. This book has four signatures. I am having fun adding more embellishments and tags, etc. Here are some of the spreads from the book. I wanted to do a slide show but WordPress will not allow that unless you upgrade and I haven’t done that yet. I did find a great program that offers free slideshows. It’s called Smilebox if you want to check it out. Note: on the spread with the bluebird, you will see a Teesha Moore stamp. It was a freebie when I ordered something from her store.
I hope spring is around the corner…I am so ready for it!!!
I have been working furiously the past week or two preparing my journal for the round robin group I’m participating in with three others. Danielle, the coordinator for the group, blogs at A Love Affair with Paper, Janet, blogs at Random Acts of Art, and Andria, blogs at Drawing Near. We are different ages and have different styles of art. We each completed two spreads in our own journals before sending to the first person. The first round for me was to send my journal to Danielle and it’s on its way to her. Janet’s journal is on its way to me. Danielle’s goes to Andria and Andria’s will be going to Janet. It sounds complicated but it isn’t. Danielle figured out a guide for us. I will have until March 25 to complete two spreads in Janet’s journal before sending it on to Andria. Go to Andria’s blog to read about her round robin journal and see her photos. I didn’t take photos of the two journal spreads I did before sending off but I’m sure Danielle will show them on her blog when she gets my journal.
Doing the round robin pages put me into a painting and collage mode.
The first one is “Outside the Box.”
“A Small Flower Collage:
“Wavy Pattern”
Happy February 14th! I did get some lovely red roses and a box of Dove Chocolates. We weren’t going to fall into the commercialization trap….but he did anyway! I’ve been busy this week preparing a journal for the round robin group that I’m participating in for the next several months. I’ll be sharing spreads of the journals as I receive them. I have to send mine off to the first person on my schedule by the 25th of this month. I am using a Canson XL Mix Media journal. I’m not really happy with it….the paper is really thin for me….I’m used to working on heavier papers. Here’s what it looked like before I covered it:
I used some phone book pages, brown kraft paper, and other scraps of paper that I painted with bold colors. Then I tore them into pieces and glued them onto the front and back of the book:
This is inside the front cover:
Then, I was playing around with some black paint and painted these faces….one, I tried to jazz up with a little paint:
This last one, on some kraft paper, I ended up painting over her. I tried to correct her eyes and ruined it….but I kind of liked where it was going before that happened:
I can’t stop making faces. I like to start drawing with my non-dominant hand and finish with the dominant hand…I have a few more pages in the old book and I will be looking for another drawing book. I have a supply of old books I’ve purchased at our local library book sale. The first two are drawn with my favorite fine point Sharpie marker. The last one was drawn with a Pilot Pen (says: ultra fine point NO XYLENE permanent type) I think I ordered it from Dick Blick.
There’s nothing that I like about this drawing….bad attempt at ears 
I can’t even begin to imagine what the children, parents, grandparents and school officials in Newtown, CT., are going through. It was a senseless and horrific act….
SAD Days in America!
I have another book recommendation. It’s Wool by Hugh Howey. My hubby and I both read it. It was first available as a short story on Amazon via Kindle. It was so popular that readers begged the author for more and he wrote four more followup additions to the first Wool story. If you haven’t read it yet and you have a Kindle, go to the Amazon bookstore and get the first Wool story….it’s free. But, I’m fairly certain, you’ll want to read more. After we read the short story, I bought Wool Omnibus Edition for $5.99. It’s an awesome read!!! Check out all the reviews for Wool on Amazon. A year ago, the author, Hugh Howey was working as a clerk in a bookstore and writing in his spare time. I love a good overnight success story He has signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster and hard copies will be available by March of next year for those of you who still like to have the actual book in your hands.
I have been semi-busy making backgrounds in two different art journals. Here is a little page that I did with with oil pastels, paint, and gesso:
Here are a few pages from an altered book that I was working in about two years ago. I wouldn’t post any of the pictures because the class was still an open class. I didn’t feel right about posting pictures showing any of her folding techniques she taught in the class. The class has recently been discontinued.
The book that I altered was a Cokesbury book on how to give various showers or parties. I cut the profile from a vintage magazine:
“Avoid inviting people who are not congenial,” the first line on this page says:
Girl from a fashion magazine with flower collage added:
“All Ashore”
Another Thanksgiving has rolled around very quickly (seemed that way to me). I have been busy getting my house ready for holiday company. I haven’t completed very many art projects the past few weeks. I do have a duct tape journal to share with you. I got this journal from Karen last week. It was part of the “Duct Tape Journal Swap” over at Mail Me Some Art. I don’t think Karen has a website but you can see a video flip of the journal she sent me, right here. Check out the Mail Me Some Art blog, there is a big project going on to send mail art to patients at a long term care facility.
Karen’s duct tape journal…I love this cover!
…a page inside
Here’s a page from my “old” sketchbook:
Have a great holiday week to all in the US…and everyone have a wonderful weekend…be back soon!
I like the play of darks and lights.
The next photos are spreads inside the booklet:
