Feeling Better--New Fairy and Necklace--Mary

Not so under the weather today. Finished another Fairy. Check: www.thingsaltered.com
and in a few days you will get to see the videos. THere will also be some new fairy inchy necklaces that are either 2" X 2" or 1 2/2" X 1 1/2". Here is the mermaid fairy but I want to get better pictures of the other fairies before I show them to you. These will be on the website soon. I am loving the new fairy wings that I am creating. Wings are really fun to make. You can just get crazy you know.

Being sick does not stop Creativity--Mary

Have been sick for a few days but still, it doesn't keep me from creating. Please check the website in a week or so and you will see the new fairy collage pattern sheets. The video will be out soon as well. Maybe by the time you see the video, then this post will be somewhat of the past and all the new collage sheets will be available. Please check at: www/thingsaltered.com and today, my youngest teenage daughter will be helping me with facebook. Grandma's learn a little slower than these young kids that pick it up second nature but I still learn. THis week I want to show some new art journaling pages and some altered book pages. I can hardly wait to dig into facebook. I like changes. Sometimes it takes a little getting used to but I still enjoy changes.

Make a fairy-------Mary

These have been SSSSOOOO much fun to make. If you like fairies, I think they may be fun for you too. They will be on the website soon at: www.thingsalteted.com . I worked for three weeks to make almost twenty different fairies. So look for them in about a week or so. They were a huge amount of work but most of the work is thinking through color combinations that are not only pleasing but not too intricate. I wanted to leave some free space for embellishing. The fun is putting them together. I like making sure the legs and arms are just right, choosing the right color of brads and then EMBELLISHING them!!! THAT is the best part. I wanted to make these so that anyone with a love for fairies could take my collage sheets and embellish them the way they wanted. It makes them more personal and you can even put your own face on them or the face of someone you love or maybe just an old vintage or antique picture. I so love to take old pictures and use them this way. Then I can name them and it is like they have a home. I am always saddened by old pictures without names on them. So as not to feel guilty, I just pretend to be their mother and give them a name that I would choose for them. If they are looking down from Heaven and seeing me do this.....well then, just think of it as an additional name to the one your parents gave you. I have a friend that always asks me "why do you think you have to be the mother of the world?" I guess I love children and even ones I have never met. On this fairy, I used a small cardboard matchbox that I cut in two and glued together and put a little flower and bird in it.

A little something from our collage pages--Mary

Okay just one little idea from our website. We have lots of Collage pages. This is one example of the many Dancing Cards. You can put a picture of yourself or maybe your Grandmother. Check them out at: www.thingsaltered.com

Creative Play----Mary

What I think is the most important thing to remember about art journaling........is to HAVE FUN! Do not get too intense if it does not look perfect. I use art journaling as a way to loosen myself up. Then I can go onto other things that I have to be more precise about. I learn something from every page. Sometimes the accidents are the most interesting. If the page is entirely awful to you, then gesso over it and start again. Here is a page I did just to use the words "Creative Play"

Art journal Cover-----Mary

Wanted to show you a couple of pictures of one of my favorite art journals.
Old books are my favorite thing to use. But I love to make many different kinds of journals. Old books have such a "VERY-USED=VERY-LOVED" kind of a feeling to it. THe old books I love most are the ones with rounded corners and the pages that are sort of thick. I like to glue the pages together and taking out at least 2 to 4 pages in between the glueing. Then gesso them. Then they are ready to use.

Left-Brain and Right-Brain----Mary

Lila, Barb and I met together today for a couple of hours. We got some stuff done and we are feeling upbeat about what we have to do and what has been done so far. Then tonight I thought about my hefty Right-Brain again and thought of a page in one of my journals. I thought you would like to see. My brain, today, looks like the picture to the right. But 30 years ago, it looked like the picture on the left. The picture on the right is much more interesting, don't you think?.

Check out the website in a few days for fairy patterns!!

http://www.thingsaltered.com/

We are going to have a fairy making party in the middle of February. We will be using some of the patterns that will be on the website shortly. I will have someone video-tape that so you can see how it goes. .