Altered Book Class - Week 4

Happy Friday and Winter Solstice!

We had our last class yesterday, and I am sorry it is over. It was great fun! I finished my cover of my book by adding two of my pugs and 3 tiny pom poms to the existing cover. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

We also learned how to engineer pop-ups! My favorite! Here are a few pictures to try and show the dimension.

Melanie made a wonderful pop up of her corgi, Moe. She surrounded her pop up with maps of Arkansas where they went to adopt him. I love it! An ingenius idea!

I also completed some pages I started last week and the back of my pop up pages, with photographs of Fred, Emmitt and me taken this summer. What a special keepsake this book has become.

I am excited to create the remaining pages left in my altered book. I have several ideas and will keep you posted! Stay tuned!

New Card Sets on Etsy

I want to thank everyone for their nice comments and support this year. 2007 has been a wonderful year, and I am so excited for 2008.

In the spirit of celebrating, I just created 5 new note card sets that are now available in my etsy shop. You will now find more of my black pugs and "Pug Pals" grouped in small and large breed packages.

My Handmade Holiday Card 2007

I made a 3-D Lotus card combined with my pug stamps for a fun holiday card this year. I also made a cover for the little book to slip into with origami paper. I glued wooden beads on top of the mat board covers to create a pull apart, pop-up book effect.
I learned how to do this in my book arts class this summer. :)

A New Pug Stamp and more book pages...

I had fun this weekend adding to my altered book journal. I have had a new pug stamp all drawn out to carve since this summer. I had so much fun completing it and then adding it to my book. Here are some photos of my new completed pages...

Melanie, Briggs, Bobbie, Terri and I had a great time in class this past Thursday. Here are some picture I took of our fun afternoon...

Patrick even had fun relaxing in my art bag!

This will make you smile...

Click the link below to play the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5rwF_SBsWY

A friend just shared this with me. Enjoy!

I also have been having a great time adding to my altered book journal. We learned how to make pockets and envelopes last week. I love the idea of adding containers in the book to keep mementos and memories all in one place without having to make them an obvious page element. I put postcards I have made over the years for my products in the big pocket and my business card in the small envelope. I also used my handcarved stamps, photographs and crayons to preserve some wonderful moments to revisit. I find myself closing the book and immediately reopening it again to look at every page.

I will post more pictures from our class in my next post. Stay tuned!

My Favorite Movies...

Happy Friday!

I have been tagged by my friend, Linda O'Neill, to list my 25 favorite movies. This was fun to do! Thanks for thinking of me Linda!

These are not in any particular order...

1. A Beautiful Mind
2. Schindler's List
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Forrest Gump
5. Same Time Next Year
6. Driving Miss Daisy
7. The Color Purple
8. Milo and Otis
9. The Wizard of Oz
10. The Sixth Sense
11. The Incredibles
12. Stand by Me
13. 3:10 to Yuma
14. The Man from Snowy River
15. The Black Stallion
16. Cinderella Man
17. Finding Nemo
18. American History X
19. Titanic
20. ET
21. It was the Year without a Santa Claus
22. Tootsie
23. Rain Man
24. As Good As it Gets
25. Where the Red Fern Grows

As I reread my list, I realized that Russell Crowe showed up in alot of these movies, so just tack on all the movies he is in to the end of this list to make it complete. :)

It is another snowy Friday here in Colorado, so a warm pug in a quilt, my yarn and crochet hook and a good movie sounds like a great way to end the work week.

Emmitt would like to tag his new pug friend in Alaska, Frances Louise, to list her 25 favorite movies.

Waiting for herbs...

Melanie and Mark gave us the coolest gift this year!

It is an Aero Garden. It has many different seed kits to grow herbs, fruit and vegetables indoors all year long without soil. The nutrients and light are self regulated by this amazing grower. We are so excited as the first seeds are starting to sprout. We will keep you posted on their growth.

Emmitt is patiently waiting...

New Altered Book Pages!

Good Morning! It is a Winter Wonderland in Colorado today! Infact, it has been snowing on and off for 3 days in a row. I think we have at least 6" so far.

It is the perfect weather for staying indoors and making art!

I have been working on the book pages I started in class last week, and I am so excited about them. I used my handcarved pug stamps, acrylic paints, sewn in seed beads, paper frames and pop ups to finish them off.

I cannot wait to see what we learn on Thursday if we are not snowed in!