Monday, January 31, 2011

Queenly Crafting ..... The Results

I promised in a previous post to show you the results of our snow day of crafting, stitching, crocheting and such.

These first pics are of my personal altered book.  For those of you who have never heard of such things, let me give you the quick run through.  An altered book is exactly what it sounds like.  It is a book that you, the artist, alter to hold whatever you can think up - painting, doodling, paper collage, journaling, black-out poetry, rubber stamping, general goofiness, etc.  It can be very serious.  It could be very crafty.  It could have a theme about one particular event, person, special goal, etc.  Basically you just take a book that you like the looks of with the intention of altering to suit your purpose.  Maybe it is old and has terrific drawings or pictures in it.  You might be drawn to the size of the book, even the colors of the cover or the title on the spine might bet your creative juices flowing.  Who knows why................YOU just like it. 

We normally get our books at the thrift store or the local library's "selling" corner.  Look for a book that has a hardback cover, it needs to be sturdy.  You'll want to tear out at least one third of the pages because once you start painting, glueing and adding interesting things to the book it will become quite thick.  You might have to overcome a bit of reluctance at this point.  We have all been conditioned to think of books as something a bit sacred.  Look at it this way - you're keeping the thing out of the landfill and it's a cheap form of therapy for you.  Now doesn't that make you feel better about tearing out those pages?!?!

Once you've removed excess pages, you're ready to get cracking.  If you are wanting to apply paint to your page, you will probably want to adhere several pages together to make a nice solid surface.  Remember you're working with paper, it will need some stiffening to hold up to your paint brush and not turn into a limp mess.  There are lots of books at the library that will help as a reference with ideas and techniques of what to do on a page.

You can also find videos on YouTube that can be a place for inspiration.  Teesha Moore has some REALLY crazy artsy creative stuff working on YouTube.  She has several videos that walk you thru her take on journaling. You can also get a good feel for how she works her journals at her blog  teeshascircus.blogspot.com

Enough rambling.  Here are a few samples from the Queen Mum ........

I realize these are bleeding over the right edge a bit but I wanted you to be able to better see some of the elements that I used in these pages - bits and pieces of old book pages, wrapping paper, smudges of ink pad
ink, artwork from Youngest Princess..................just about anything you can grab and glue.

Love this couple's joy in each other.  He's telling the story and she's giggling about it.  Totally Charming!


I haven't journalled yet on this page but it is ready for me when inspiration lands.


                                
                               These two pages are mostly paint and paper scraps or stickers.



The page below has the sweetest drawings from the youngest artist.  I also included stamping around a picture that was actually a part of the book page. 



Princess Three is quite a talent with all things sewing.  Here she has used thrift store material - deconstructed from old baby clothes, vintage sewing trims and a bit of free hand embroidery to make a spring inspired cuff.



These last pictures are from Princess Two.  She enjoys her altered book journals, has dabbled in repurposing jewelry (that's a whole other post subject waiting in the wings) but she has really been bitten by the crochet bug.  She made a sweet scarf embellished with little flowers for her youngest sister's Christmas present.  This last project was a gift to herself.  What do you think of this?  Isn't it just the cutest!?!? 





Sorry for the bit of blur. (I'm still trying to get the hang of blog photography.)  The first time Princess Two wore this headband, she was asked how much she would charge to make another one.  Who knows?  She may have accidentally stumbled into an ETSY business. 

We've celebrated a major birthday among the princesses since my last post.  The birthday menu was amazing.  Of course, we took pictures to share with you.........    Until then, friends!
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