6 x 6 damsels

My latest project for this summer's tip-in swap was to create two 6" by 6" collages on heavy card. The title of Dorothy's book is Good Goddess Among Us. We were tasked with creating artwork that features some kind of female character - ie queen, princess, fairy godmother, etc. And make it interesting and unique. I had a great idea to do the Czarina of something.... but could not figure out the "something". So instead i used my stash of female images to direct me.

My first piece was driven by an image from art chix of a striking woman with a butterfly wing.., i don't know really, chariot? I layered her on top of a beautiful flower with another butterfly. Then a few butterfly stickers and a large 3-d one too.

So i had my lady. I had a theme - but i could not figure out what her title was. I had the card completely done and then it just came to me - Baroness! Like Baroness von Blixen from one of my favorite movies! (do you know which one?)

This second piece was done the opposite way. I had the image, probably from Vogue magazine. And knew right away she should be a Contessa. But the Contessa of what? I almost made her the countess of cufflinks. Then found cocktail. Do you know you can google just about anything and find a list? Google nouns that begin with C. It is freaky.

My Contessa has a painted deli paper background with some stamped swirls. I added some feathers and lace to her hat. I love the purple fringe along the right side. I bought 10 yards of it years ago to make a flapper dress costume.

So in case you want to create something along these lines - here is a complete list of female rulers and deities:

A	Auntie
B	Baroness
C	Consort
C	Contessa
D	Diva
E	Empress
E	Enchantress
E	Exemplar
F	Fairy
G	Goddess
G	Guardian
H	Hero
I	Ingénue
I	Icon
I	Inamorata
J	Joker
K	King
L	Lady
M	Maharini
M	Martyr
M	Matriarch
M	Mermaid
N	Naiad
N	Nymphet
O	Overseer
P	Potentate
P	Prophetess
P	Primadonna
Q	Queen
R	Regina
R	Ruler
S	Saint
S	Sovereign
S	Spirit
S	Sprite
S	Starlet
S	Sultana
S	Superstar
S	Sylph
T	Temptress
U	Under Secretary
V	Vamp
W	Wise Woman
X	Xcellent
Y	Young …
Z	Czarina

Yes - i do my homework! Did I miss any??

A Plethora of Purple Pages

What joy to receive packages in the mail - filled with creative works of art by my fellow altered book enthusiates! Today i opened a fat envelope from Dorothy. Her sign in tag is a playing card from the game Clue - Professor Plum of course.

Apparently he was quite the ladies man.

Here are all his many loves: Iris, Violet, Heather and others.

Here is a page that combines Dorothy's love of quilting and fabric with paper.

Never underestimate the many uses for hardware store paint chips!

Here is a little swirl of purple hues.

And what's this?? mini purple quilt! How adorable!

I must do something very special with this!

Thanks Dorothy!

Rose Bowl Flea Market

My husband and i finally went to the Pasadena Rose Bowl flea market today.

Isn't this lovely? It is about five minutes from our new home. Imagine all the paved areas FILLED with antique and collectible vendors. They stretch all around the stadium. I was VERY selective and only bought one small vintage book: The Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb. I had not heard of him until recently, they talk all about his writing in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which i just finished reading. It was perfect vacation reading.

Jim bought a cool new hat.

It was a lovely outing, and i am sure i'll be back next month!

Purple dots anyone?

Our dear altered book friend Shanna moved away last summer and had to leave our little group. But she asked us to participate in a tip-in swap for the summer.

I chose the theme "PURPLE" based on the inspiration of the local jacaranda trees. I wrote about the book HERE.

Well i received my first set of pages in the mail from Shanna and here they are glued into my book. SHe did one-sided pages, a two page spread - so they just needed a bit of glue stick to attach them into the book.

Shanna chose two fun ideas for the purple theme - Here is her one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater! She used lots of glitter and paint and her signature little coloured dots to create the monster. Yes - Shanna HAND PUNCHED all those dots from magazines to create an interesting intricate collage.

Here is Purple Mountain Magesty. A beautiful cluster of pointy purple peaks, again sprinkled with purple dots.

Along with the pages, Shanna included a baggie filled with yarn samples. And yes, MANY of them are purple!! What a fun an unexpected treat.

Here is her eggplant shaped sign in tag - how cool is that!??!

In a book swap from last year, Shanna created a pop-art american flag with hundreds of hand punched bed, white and blue dots. Her attention to detail is inspiring.

Thanks Shanna!

Summer in Montreal

My husband and I just got back from a week in Montreal. After the stress of a new job, moving to So-Cal, and renting our house up north, we were really thrilled to have a vacation.

Here are some random shots of Montreal. I wanted to capture some local architecture to possible use in my artwork. This is a church. I don't know which one. There are, like, THOUSANDS of them.

Paint a little anime on the side of your house, anyone?

This is so greek isles looking.

Last summer i took a bunch of pictures of old doors in Montreal. Then my sim card got filled up so i bought another card and promptly lost the old one.

We tried without luck to figure out what street i took those pictures on. Or maybe we were on the right street but the people in the houses painted or replaced their doors!

Our local newspaper features pictures people take in vacation - so we took this one in front of St. Joseph's Oratory. Maybe it will be published!

Cottage Crafting

While away at my sister's lake cottage last week, my niece Erica and I made some collage artwork. Not really sure what they are or what we will do with them, but we had fun and they turned out great.

I brought just a few supplies - my favorite papers, fibers and some vintage image copies. I had a few stickers and some doodads. Scissors, glue stick and some glue dots.

For the base we used folded promotional cards like this.

I got the idea from Pam Garrison who did something similar with a Smith and Hawken flyer.

The stiffer the substrate - the easier this is to do - but seriously - you could decorate a Targer flyer and still get good results!

I used a combination of tissue papers, wrapping paper and ephemera in a pale blue pallet for this one. I added a few ribbons for texture.

This is Erica's - she did all bright happy colours

Here is inside - you can see she used some thin mulberry paper in sections so that you can still

see the original images show through.

She cut two holes to insert a pink silk ribbon.

She chose her papers very carefully to create a patchwork effect.

I used decorative papers from Catherine Moore for this collage.

I added bits of napkins and some milinary leaves and lace to make them pop.

Her Histoire Naturelle cpapers have a lovely mix of ephemera like ledger paper backgrounds with all things birds.

I added a few aviary stamps and a vellum envelope as a pocket for a petite treasure.

Here are all three lined up together. Don't they look like fun!

Which one do you like best?