A Little Monday Frolic ;)

Such a fun word for this week's Every Inchie Monday: Frolic! 

The final result just sort of materialized despite the other ideas I had frolicking about in my brain! But I guess my Muse knows best! :-)  Slow day at work, so I dug out my colored pencils and grabbed a blank Inchie I now keep stashed in my drawer (LOL!) and just started coloring little people frolicking about! No doubt inspired by my weekend visit with Ava. It's simple, but says it all!

Holiday Altered Book Round Robin - February

February is the month of love, and there is no love so great as that for the child of your child. So in honor of Valentine's Day, I devoted a page in Angela's book to that love. I couldn't find a suitable picture of a grandmother holding a baby, at least not to my liking, so you know what they say, if you don't like what you see, do it yourself! So I drew my own picture. :-)

It's just another "Cosmic" Monday :-)

Today's word is "cosmic." I experimented with alcohol inks because I love the way they flow into themselves. Clearly they wouldn't work on paper (though I stupidly tried to spray them with a sealant first and the inks soaked in anyway...hey, it was worth a shot!)

So there I was, sitting at my desk at work (shhh, they think I "work" there...LOL!), rifling through my desk, looking for something to ink up. Then I grabbed another cracker out of the baggie sitting on my desk and eyed the plastic bag itself...! Hmmm...

Long story short, yes, it worked! I then glued the inked plastic square onto a square inch of dictionary page, but I had to put a coat of gel medium over the top to keep the ink from rubbing off, and in the process lost a bit of the run effect, not to mention it dulled it a bit more than I would have liked. But I sprayed it with PYM to further seal it, and the gloss sort of came back so all was good! Thus, was born the background for my "cosmic" Inchie! :-)

Something's "Fishy" Monday

I just love Dory and her simple logic to "...just keep swimming...just keep swimming..."

So when this week's Every Inchie Monday word was: fishy, of course, Dory popped into mind. And as long as she was there anyway, had to go with her! :-)

So even though it's Monday, folks, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming....:-)

It's an "Electrifying" Inchie Monday!

Today's word for Every Inchie Monday:   "electrifying"

Inspired by a print of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" which hangs in my daughter's room, I pulled out my colored pencils and recreated my version in an inch, adding a bolt of lightning to the night sky - because the painting itself it just "electrifying" :-) - and adding some texture to the ground.

Holiday Altered Book Round Robin - 2011

What do you get when you add twelve artists from around the country, twelve books of varying origins (from rescued books saved from the discard pile, to hand-crafted books), with the twelve months of 2011?

You get a Holidays Altered Book Round Robin, and twelve months of incredible artwork as the books make their rounds to each of the twelve artists for at least one holiday spread per month. :-)

We all did January in our own books before mailing them off to their next home for the month.

The Cover for my Book

"Through the Year"

It's not totally finished as I didn't want to add any bulky embellishments so it'd be easier to work in the book.

 Sign-In Page, where the artist of the month can "check out" my book by signing their name on the library card.

 The list of artists (with full names obviously blurred out for privacy issues....;)

 The Calendar Page - listing possible holidays through the year. I tried to make it quilty-looking; not sure I got there or not! LOL!

 This page is just sort of an added bonus (for me, mostly! LOL!) I was just going to print a page of instruction/suggestions and stick it in the front of the book and call it good, but I found this quote and loved it! So I had to add a page, using techniques I learned in Tam's online class, Art, Heart, and Healing. I am pleased with how it turned out....:-)  Oh, and the pink "pocket" is some paper I made in the backyard last summer.

 My official "January" spread, reflecting my Word for the Year

"FOCUS"

I gesso'd the page black and added serendipity squares that I'd made, adding doodles and swirls with a gold pen.

 The back semi-finished back page: I just needed a envie of some sort in which to insert the tags I'd made to separate sections of the book into 12 months.

 And this is a snippet of the ribboned-off sections for each month.

Can't wait to see my book at the end of the year with months and months of holiday art, but plan to enjoy the journey along the way of working in eleven other books! Stay tuned....:-)