At last, another folded book......

Hello there friends - its lovely to be back with another folded book.  Its been a while but I've got a little workshop coming up at our local art gallery and we are making these books so I thought I'd better make another example.  So pleased with this one and I think the ladies will like it too.

The folding bit is what takes the time but then its so much fun thinking of a theme and searching through all the stamp sets to find a selection that will fit and then cutting out the images and placing them.  I think this example will sit really nicely in the gallery as they have a little antiques corner amongst all the lovely work from our local artists.  I'm really looking forward to this workshop now.

Hope you are having better weather where you are - its been rain, wind and even a little bit of snow here yesterday but at least we aren't flooded out like some people.  My heart goes out to them, especially when its happening so often.  Hope things improve soon for them.  Margie x.

Love is all you need.....

Hi there friends - I'm back with my Altered Book round robin pages for Kristen's book entitled "Love".  What a brilliant theme for this time of the year and I've really enjoyed playing in this lovely book.  Here's Kristen's cover - beautiful isn't it?

She had very kindly gesso'd all the inside pages so it was easy to get started with my spreads.  Here's the first one.

Its a bit difficult trying to get a good photo but I've tried holding back the pages with a couple of clips.  The left side was sponged with some Milled Lavender DI before stamping round the edges with a TH swirl stamp to provide a background for the lovely Cherish stamp which I stamped in gold ink then embossed - it looks a lot more sparkly in real life!  The paper pieced couple are from a Flonz stamp which I love and the words are from a Glitz stamp set.  The right hand page was painted with Dusty Concord before adding a torn piece of embossed paper rubbed with Treasure gold.  The little pocket and tag are meant to suggest a love note sent between the lovely couple - ahh,sweet!

For my second spread, I went a bit more to town on the background.

I stamped on the gesso then went over it with Vintage Lace Fresco chalk paint, mixed with a bit of Snowflake and wiped in places with a babywipe to show up the stamps.  Although you can't see it all on this pic, I then added some embossing paste details to give some texture and rubbed more Treasure Gold for shine before adding the image, words and a scrap of lace.  I like the romantic feel of these pages.

Well, Kristen's book will soon be winging its way to Australia and I should be receiving my next one to play with.  The theme of this one will be American South West, hmmmm - going to have to give that one some thought.

Thanks so much for popping by - its so nice to read your lovely comments. Hope everyone is enjoying some crafting time over the weekend - its far too wet and cold to be outside where we are.  Margie x

New beginnings.....

Well, its been a very long time since I've been on this blog but life has been so busy.  Now its 2014 and I'm ready to start heading in a new direction.  I've recently signed up to an Altered Books round robin which will see two groups of 12 crafters from the UK, USA and Australia circulating our books and adding art to each as they pass through our hands!

I'm so excited to be part of this venture and have sent my book off today to its first new home in Australia.  Each of us has a theme - mine is An English Garden and here's a few pics of my work.  Unfortunately, they are just scanned images as my camera decided not to play - just when I needed it!

This is the front cover done with Fresco chalk paints, some embossing paste, a bit of serviette, a TH rub-on and a lovely old image for the centre.  The hardware findings on the front were die-cut (TH again) then embossed and rubbed with chrome metallic gilding wax and fastened with tiny brads - I really like how they turned out.

On the back cover, I went for a softer look.

Again the embossing paste through a couple of stencils gave it texture which I brought out with some gilding wax.  My favourite Jane Austen stamp for the lady and then a little bird flying from its cage, helping this book to wing its way around the world!  I was a bit nervous that my book would get rather grubby over the months, so I gave it a good coating of Liquitex matte medium which went on really well.  I covered the spine with some washi tape to give added protection too.

Now inside, we were to add 2 two-page spreads to our own and everyone else's book to match in with the theme so here are mine.

I've really enjoyed working on this and am so grateful to Shelly Recicar for setting up the whole thing.  Bon voyage, little book - I'll see you again in a year's time!

Thanks so much for calling in to see me.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas and wish you all a wonderful and creative 2014.  I'd love to hear what you think of this idea and any comments would be much appreciated, as always.  Margie x