Kids' Class: Altered Niche Book

I finally finished the sample book for the class I'm teaching this summer for kids ages 10 and up. It's an altered niche book entitled "Secrets of Me." Each child will select three items that are symbols of his or her personality, preferences, experiences, or aspirations. They will "hide" those items in a niche in the back of their book, and then create a spread in the book that expands on the symbolism of each item.

Here is the niche spread in the back of my book, and the items revealed:





Here are the covers and the title page. The cover is textured with molding paste and items have been embedded in it, then it was painted with layers of acrylic paints to give it the look of something that might have been dug up from the earth.









The first spread corresponds with the elephant in my niche, which is a symbol I relate to. I've added words that reflect the qualities associated with elephants that I believe apply to me, as well as a hand-written note about my role as "memory keeper" for my family.





The second spread, with a pop-up I think the kids will enjoy constructing, corresponds to the four of cups tarot card I included in the niche. To me, this represents the four members of my immediate family, and the full "cup of life" I enjoy as a result of them.



The last spread expands on the little Buddha statue in my niche. It shows my interest in mythology and legends of gods and goddesses. I've used tags to tuck into the pockets on this page, but the kids will be able to insert any flat items they'd like here.





I am excited about taking this journey of art technique and self-examination with a group of motivated kids! For information on this class and how to sign up, go to Vita Explorations.

April Calendar Exchange: Angels

Well, I did it at the last minute, but I think my angel pages turned out okay. I decided to play with windows cut into the pages, since I had not seen that done in these calendars before.



For the first window, I sewed a metallic thread across, back and forth, to create a web-like effect:



The angel you see through the other side of the web window is part of another person's page.













Here are some close-ups of the quotes I used throughout:









I was pleased to find these quotes online, which seemed to fit the pages well.

So now I'm caught up with all my swaps, and it's only the 5th of the month! Not too bad. I so hate to be late.

April Postcards

Luckily, April's postcard exchange colors were turquoise and red, so while I had all those papers and things out for Michele's book, I just kept on going. I found the Chinese urn in Dover's free clip art downloads recently, so that became my centerpiece.

Michele's Turquoise and Aqua Book

Here is my latest layout for the True Colors journal round robin. I DO LOVE these colors!

Bev's Quilt in the Dining Area

I've been meaning to hang the gorgeous quilt my sister-in-law made me (based on a collage I made, how cool is that?) in my bedroom, but since we've been painting and redecorating the rest of the house for the past couple of months, I just didn't get it done. Now I know why!

Here's my redecorated dining area:





I love the punch of color it adds. It grabs your eye the minute you walk in the front door. Thanks, Bev!

Thrift Store Finds

The past couple of weeks have been a thrift shop bonanza for my art room. I found two cabinets with shallow drawers perfect for collage papers:





Of course the domino effect was in full, well, effect (or should one of those be affect? Have to ask my linguist daughter). Anyway, rearranging to put those cabinets in meant a few things lost their homes, so I needed a small bookcase, which I found for $16, along with the book holders with the small drawers underneath, for another $16.





If you think it looks like semi-organized chaos in my art room, I'd say you're very perceptive.

The fun find of the month, though, is the little crumb brush and dustpan I found for $3.99:





Can't you just picture the penguin-suited waiter with his white gloves brandishing this little baby between courses? You can't? Hmmm . . . I must have read too many English novels lately.

The Hallway is Done!

I am so happy with our new hallway. It's like we have another room in the house now: the "gallery"!

Here are side-by-side before and after shots:



And here are some of the details of the new "room":















Many thanks to Jean for her help in framing some of my artwork and for the idea to "frame" the Italian plates.

The living room and dining area are very close to done, so I will post final photos soon.

Stressed Out Dogs

Nothing like a hassock in the sunshine to stress out a couple of Chihuahuas.







I'm officially requesting that I come back as one of these guys the next time around!

March Green and Yellow Card

I'm a bit late with my colors postcard for March, but it's done and awaiting mailing.

I call it "Yellow-Green Spectrum," but I guess it could also be called "The Button Snake"!

The background uses my handmade papers, and the circles are all punched from my papers as well. I don't know where this strange, abstract idea came from, but it was fun to make. I hope Carol enjoys it. It certainly is bright. ;-)