Princess Bubbles Creates

I love making books. I think this one turned out pretty cool. All the dangles hanging off the spine make me really happy. They're so sparkly and pretty! There is actually some foil on the cover but it doesn't show in the photograph that well. This is the inside of the book. The pages are all different sizes. I really like that I stepped outside of the box and made them that way.

I've belonged to the yahoo Altered book group for years. It's a great group. Today is the 10th anniversary of the group. In honor of that we created a flash mob event. The group members uploaded photos of their altered book pages to the group's photo section. Above is the page that I uploaded. Corinne Stubson http://glitzohgirl.typepad.com/ very generously offered to make a book to celebrate the anniversary. We all sent her an original altered page, approximately 180 of us. She is color copying them and binding them into a book. She will send us each a book when all the work is done. I am amazed that she would take on so much work! I'm truly grateful that she has allowed Canadians to participate. I can't wait to see it! In regards to the above page you really can't see the sparkles very well, if at all. It's really hard to take a pictures of glitter. But there is glitter on the white lines coming out of the bottle. It looks better in pers...

Well, I guess I jumped the gun! My book has been accepted to be in Sue Bleiweiss's new book. http://suebleiweiss.typepad.com/ So out of respect to Sue I have removed the one picture of the book. I have left up the photo of the inside of the cover as that won't be in Sue's book. I am so excited!!!! I will be a published artist!! How cool is that!!!

I created this book a while ago and submitted it to two different publications. It was not accepted by either of them. I just can't believe it. I think it's a beautiful book! Why wouldn't they want it in their publication? I painted two artist canvases and used them as the book covers. I also painted the backsides of the canvases and attached some sea shells. The backside of the canvas acts as a shadow box of sorts. The pages of the book are made up of white copy paper as well as pages from an old atlas. I adorned the spine with wires, beads and a small glass bottle that contains some tiny pieces of beach glass that I have collected.

These are some papers that I dyed with fabric dye. The colors are so rich and intense. I just love the way they turned out! I will probably use them in an artist journal. This is a nature print of sorts. I followed the directions in the book Mixed Media Nature Journals by L.K. Ludwig. Again this is done with fabric dye.

These pages are a bit juvenile but I like them. They're so bright and cheerful. We can all use more cheer in our life! I used Caran d'ache watercolor crayons to color these pages. I love Caran d'ache watercolor crayons so much I bought the biggest set they make. 126 glorious colors! One of the best tips I learned for working with these crayons is to spread the color with a damp sponge rather than a paint brush. It works great and you don't have to get your page so wet. I cut the pages into the flower and leaf shapes. It's just a bit of joy in the middle of my journal. You can't tell from the pictures but this is a really large journal. About 14 x 18 inches. It's a challenge for me to work in a journal this big. But I'm always up for a challenge!

Art journaling for a week was great - so much art time and so few responsibilities. Diane Eastham is a very good teacher but I still struggled to create something 'good'. Unfortunately, I don't do very good work in a workshop. I create best when I am at home in my studio with all my stuff. It seems you pack everything you possibly can for a workshop but there is always something at home that you wish you had brought. We came together at the end of each day to share our journal pages. I'm not all that keen on sharing everything that I create in a class but there were a number of people who were in the class that were more than glad to share everything they made. I could have lived without that. My art time is precious and I have to guard it carefully so I am quite selfish about it when I do get it! There were definitely some good ideas shared though. It was great to spend time with my friends Mary Lynn and Nancy. They are two very creative ladies and they...