Lesson 3: Vintage Gluebooks

This spread in my small moleskine journal is for Lesson 3 in Mary Green's Vintage Gluebook week of Artful Pages-4 artists 4 ways - A collaborative online workshop that I am also teaching. My section on Altered Books is coming up in just a week!

For this lesson we are learning about visual weight. I tried to choose a larger main image printed on fabric for more "weight". I added the flower, the leaves (thanks to my friend Carol van Gerve!!) and the pearls at her feet to keep her 'heavy' if that makes any sense?! The yellow card on the side is printed on cardstock for more weight and the text behind the woman is a REAL vintage letter from 1897 ~ or there abouts. Below is how the background first looked:

Hope Karney's first lesson on ART Journaling is up and looks fantastic -it's on my list of fun things to do tomorrow after our friends leave. I'll be back, we are hosting a party tonight with my parents, Garth & Nora and friends we have made here in Florida, Bean & Chandler -should be fun! I hope you have a great day too.

Lesson 2: color and pattern

Even though I have taken lots of Mary Green's classes before, I'm following along with her lessons in Artful Pages - 4 Artists 4 Ways. Mary motivates me to create! She really knows her way around composition and got me to try Vintage GlueBooks, which I now love doing. All you need is paper and glue! Well, I tend to add a little bit more, but that's okay. For lesson 2, Mary concentrated on color and pattern. Here's what I came up with after reading her lessons and handouts. I started my spread in my moleskine like this, below.

On the right is an over printing technique we learned

I added a wee bit of paint and ink to finished the spread like this-

That's me & my sister in Florida on my grandfather's boat

You can join us if you like, registration is open. Register or learn more here! You'll receive all 3 of Mary's lessons which are already up on the private blog and tomorrow (2/27) Hope's first lesson on Art Journaling is posted. I can't wait!! My week of Altered Book lessons is after Hope's (3/06) and then Lisa's yummy Fabric Page lessons start (3/13). It's awesome!

Our very good friends from NY (Garth & Nora) are visiting so I have stolen some time to do this while they were busy today. Now I'll get back to them! Check out my daily photo journal for a quick peek at the unusual visitor Nora met on our walk yesterday. Hope you are having a great weekend.

You can dance if you want to

 I have to share a bit . . . It's been a while. I've been a little busy and not here as much, but it's because lots of good things are going on. Yesterday was my birthday and my mom got me the greatest card.

I just laughed!! It so sums up all the support my mom and dad have given me artistically over the years. They used to share driving me to many, many dance classes for years! The other day I told my mom the only exercise I did that day was "dance around in my studio" as a break from writing lessons. She smiled, and now I know why!

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. Steven took me to the Warm Mineral Springs in North Port and to the Historic Spanish Point in Osprey, Florida. Both places were interesting and fun and it was great to go on a "date" with my husband! I created a photo collage yesterday and uploaded it to blipfoto, my daily photo journal -click there to see it. Below are a few more favorite photos of the day.

Warm Mineral Springs
I am sure this looks excellent for those of you battling snow & cold!

The water is salty! It's very easy to float & relax in.

we enjoyed!!

The fern garden at Historic Spanish Point

what Steven found in the Fern Garden

walking at Historic Spanish Point

Steven taking a break!

In the Butterfly Garden

Historic Spanish Point
beautiful! 

Thanks for your visits and comments! I am wrapping up my Vintage Note card swap at the end of this week, so check the blog for some wonderful eye candy. I received a beautiful package from Sharon Walworth today which I should get uploaded tomorrow and there are a few more still coming in!

Have a creative day!

Lesson 1: Artful Pages

Lesson 1: Artful Pages, originally uploaded by creativelenna.

As well as teaching the Altered Books section for a week, you'll find me taking this class too ;^ ). Right now Mary Green is teaching Vintage GlueBooks the first week and this is my paper & glue collage response for lesson 1. I'm working in a small moleskine journal and I tried to keep Mary's components in mind while working. I choose some larger sized images because of her suggestions and tried to think about pattern and color. I used both "real" old paper and copies. I was so happy to finally use the couple Mary provided in another class. They are so elegant, don't you think? I haven't done any gluebook work for a while, so this was a treat! Below is how it looked before I added the postage stamp, the vine (free -from Mary's February challenge), The text cut from a book, and the bit of a patterned border (from Mary's Vintage Gluebook class).

I think the additions you see in the first photo really make this better.
Vintage Gluebooks are a new favorite of mine!

It is not too late at all to join us! You can register here: http://4artists4ways.typepad.com/

Artful pages opens Sunday 2/20/11

It is with great delight that I welcome the opening of my newest online class. This collaborative class I'm part of features 4 artists teaching one week each. Artful Pages - 4 Artists 4 Ways begins on Sunday, February 20th, just in time for my birthday on the 21st!

This new online workshop is about four different friends who loved book arts. They each had different styles of doing their art, each one special and beautiful. One did art journaling -Hope Wallace Karney, another altered books -Lenna Young Andrews, a third loved gluebooks -Mary Green, and the fourth created pages from fabric and paper -Lisa McIlvain. Click on those links to learn more about the artists who are teaching!

Mary Green

Mary Green

Hope Wallace Karney

Hope Wallace Karney

Lisa McIlvain

Lisa McIlvain

Lenna Young Andrews

Lenna Young Andrews

To learn more about the workshop, which opens in just a few days, 

please visit  Artful Pages - 4 Artists 4 Ways.

We'd love to have you on our Book Arts journey! 

Lenna, Mary, Hope & Lisa

Vintage French

My dear friend Frieda hosts lots of wonderful ATC swaps on the forum site ATCs for ALL. In fact, if you follow that link -look on the left side of the home page. Frieda made the Artist Spotlight, a well deserved honor! On ATCs for All, she is currently hosting a Vintage French ATC swap with lovely returns so far. I finally got mine made and in the mail last Saturday, so hopefully the winds will be will us and Frieda will have them in her hands soon. This is a 3 for 3 swap, but I made 4 so Frieda could choose one as a Hostess gift : )

I cut out words from Frieda's swap instructions
and used images from a 1960 French magazine.

The magazine was called Mon Ouvrage, which I had to translate and discovered it meant My Book. The second part of the title is: Modernisons les pieces anciennes. I never took French, so again, I had to use Google Translate to let me know what that meant -Modernizing the old parts! I can't read the magazine, but it's about sewing things for the home, embroidery and also clothes.

For this ATC I did a gel medium transfer of the flower design -
practicing for my lessons in 4 Artists 4 Ways!

The little black Eiffel Towers and the black French Border
German Scrap trim are from Collage Stuff, yum!

Frieda does love Vintage everything!!
I hope she enjoys these ATCs.

On a personal note, I have lots of things I'd like to share but not quite enough time! I am trying to sneak in here and share things as I can. My main focus right now is getting ready for our new online book arts course: Artful pages - 4 Artists 4 ways. It will open with the first lesson on Sunday, Feb 20th!! We are very excited about it (there are 4 of us teaching) and can't wait to see you there. My week of teaching is March 6 -12th, but I will definitely be in the classroom, participating all 4 weeks. And remember, if right now is not a good time for you, please know that this is also an ongoing class -join anytime : )

I am managing to post one photo a day to my online photo journal, so please stop by there. Another thing Frieda got me into that I just love! ~ Thank you : ) 

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that this new world is born.  -- Anais Nin

valentine book!

Well, I did it! I made a small valentine book for Steven, that is : ^ )
I was scrambling to find the time to make this and I finished at the last minute, just in the nick of time . . .  but I am so glad I did. Steven loved the little book! Tim's video was all I needed to figure it out, see my previous post.

This is the first time I ever made this book -a mini one he calls it the "W" book. So, being my first time it is not that polished and the back cover should have been folded in the other direction. If I had paid more attention the whole book would show the red side of the paper (the back cover only shows the tan side). But, oh well! Steven did not seem to mind : ) This little book is 3" x 3" and made from one single piece of 12" x 12" paper. Here are a bunch of photos for you!

I made an "envelope" out of pretty paper that was
gifted to me : )

click on any photo for more detail

found text -an idea from my Altered book lessons I'll soon be teaching!!
http://4artists4ways.typepad.com/

3 of the pages are pockets!

This is a printed business card by MOO printing
you can see the back of it below left - address etc is below that
Link at the bottom of this post, great cards! 

Tissue tape from Tim Holtz

Quirky!

Love Potion #9?

made with love :  )

I really enjoyed making this and will make another one sometime! Did anyone else watch the video and make a mini book? I'd love to hear about it and/or see a link to your book - please leave a comment! 

Steven and I went out for a lovely dinner after visiting the ArtCenter Manatee and I wrote more about it on my daily photo journal. I found out have published 58 entries in a row, with my last gap being the 18th of December 2010, and 66 entries total since December 4th, 2010. The likelihood of me publishing an image tomorrow is 90.2% - and . . . I mention 'love' 232% more than the average Blipfoto journal. : )))  "all you need is love . . . (everybody)  all you need is love . . . all you need is lo-ove, all you really need is love!"

 xo lenna 

MOO Business Cards - $21.99 for 50 unique, customized Business Cards, each one with a different design.

tim holtz - valentine mini book

I subscribe to Tim Holtz's YouTube videos and found this one in my inbox this morning. Steven loves little books and Tim's book looks like a great variation on a small book I made Steven a few years ago:

2005? That is unbelievably, 6 years ago!

This little book above that I made for Steven is made from just a single sheet of 8 1/2 x 11" paper, where as the book Tim Holtz shows us in his video is made from a 12" x 12" sheet. You can also use Tim's Tissue Tape for the project, which is great fun for me since I only just discovered it at Collage Stuff. Until recently I have not done a lot of shopping because of packing, moving 1500 miles,  packing, moving . .. but I think now I can definitely say I am addicted to Lisa Busch's shop, Collage Stuff... it was my friend Frieda Oxenham who brought it to my attention. I don't know if I should thank her or . . . not??!! ; ^ ) Lisa has great products and wonderful service - I am saying this of my own accord!

I am going to try to make one of Tim Holtz's mini valentine books for Steven. We have a 'date' on Monday, valentines day, and I think this little book would be a perfect addition. We're going to the ArtCenter Manatee to see a watercolor show of the National Watercolor Society and then out to dinner, whoo whoo! If I make the book I'll share the book here if I can, and if you make one - post it on your blog and let me know! You could leave a comment here and give us the link. 

have a fun happy valentines day! 

xo lenna & steven 

(and Asia & Chloe)

sending love from florida!