Tea Time round robin theme

 

This was the last book for me to work in during our 6 player round robin. It has been so much fun! 

This last book is heading back home to  Canada, hopefully later today.

Round Robin pages

This is the second to last book in the round robin for me. The theme was "questions of love". 
I'm not exactly sure I hit what Jana was looking for in the most literal sense but I'm happy with my results.




I've titled this spread Secret Embrace

The image is from the cover of an off romance novel.
This is a tribute to Gina Wise...she did some really fun arches for last years ABC 7th anniversary swap with this same technique.

This one is titled Ecstasy

The image is from a late '60s hairdressing guide. I loved the expression, so it drove the direction of the page.
 

Colors swap pages

After a long delay on my part... I finally finished the first set of pages in the colors round robin.

I was so surprised at how difficult just having colors to use was for me. Without a theme, I was spinning my wheels and not able to focus on the task at hand.



The colors were chocolate brown, turquoise and ivory...we could splash black if needed.

This first page was the only one I had in my head from the beginning. This is actually the middle of a signature. These pages will be sewn into a plaster page book for a class, if I understand right.




 


These swirls are on the back of the signature. You can see the fold mark down the middle.

This next set I actually started with the back. I had the papers picked out long ago. Of course the scan isn't showing the color properly. I messed around in Photoshop a little trying to fix it but only seemed to make it worse. So imagine the colors are proper...which they are in real life. :)

This is actually the inside of that signature. I liked the poem and the color was  right.


So for all my fretting about these pages, everything just sort of fell together when I put my mind to it.
I sure hope this is what Marilyn is looking for in these pages.

Vintage Sewing pages

These were some fun pages. I'd do another but the book is getting full fast and there are still two people left in the round robin.

I hope she likes them!

Magician's secrets

This is my more traditional thought on the theme of Magic.

I really wanted the bunny to be able to come all the way out of the hat but maybe he's better this way so he doesn't just decide to hop away. :)

Magic Portals

The second book in the round robin has arrived.
The theme: Magic.
The thought of magical portals came to mind immediately. A world brought to life through the power of imagination. Our imaginations are magical...they can take us places, experience things, create a world all our own...suspend reality...

I have a more traditional "Magic" thought for the second page in mind.

Victoriana part deux

Ok, I really don't think either of these postcards have any origination in France but "part deux" is fun to say.

I sure hope Teri likes them!!

Victoriana part one

I mentioned before that I'm doing another round robin. Well, I finished the first spread in the first book.
Teri's theme is Victoriana.  She also requested that we use a postage stamp somewhere on our pages. Perfect...I already had colors in mind and knew I had a bunch of the same postage stamp. I once again used some fun new bits of stuff I've received lately such as the lace and organza.

I decided to use a real tintype and secured it with brads. I think its funny how they went in and gave her jewelry some "bling" with gold paint then pinked up her cheeks as well.

On to the next page...
I have a few ideas swirling in my head but I really must get some housework done today.

There's no place like home...

Tomorrow, I'll be sending out round robin my book to start it's journey around the USA with a final pit-stop in Canada before returning home to me in before the end of the year.



I've completed the cover, the sign-in page and 2 spreads.






Yes, the photos are blurred...your eyes aren't giving out. :)

Book covers

I've jumped headlong into 2 new long-term swaps.

The first one I signed up for was a tip-in swap with 6 players. The same type of swap as my very first one...except that had more players.
It's a color theme swap...obviously, my color is blue. I'm using this book that I rescued from the library's free shelf. It's not an old sewn binding book as is recommended but I figure since it won't be traveling around I can fix any issues that may occur with the binding.


The second swap is actually an altered book round robin. As of yesterday there were 5 of us. It would be fun if we could get a couple more players but with this type of swap you really need to be committed since mailing entire books can get a bit expensive especially towards the end when the books are getting real thick and heavy.

 
Based on the sewn binding books I had on hand, I decided on the theme: There's no place like home. The title of the book, We have always lived in a castle, helped determine the theme.  It will be really fun to see how the other players interpret the theme.

I wanted to leave the original title on the binding so I used what I call my Kelly Rae inspired background technique which basically consists of using gel medium to glue down scraps of book text onto the cover.  After it's all dry, I paint. Sometimes more text shows through than this. I was actually going for more of that look but I got a little heavy handed with the base wash. So I went with it...

The cover isn't exactly what I had in mind but it's not too often I can get my vision to translate directly to the canvas.


Next I'll work on the sign-in page. I have several ideas floating around but nothing has screamed at me as a must do yet.

Hopefully I'll come to some decision while we are moving snow this morning. The kids got a snow day!  We got over 11 inches of snow and now there is freezing rain coming down!! What's up with that!?!?

Second "beauty"

Here's my second spread for the Beauty theme altered book I'm working in for our current round robin.

UHU glue challenge

My good friend, Elizabeth, in conjunction with UHU glue came up with a fun challenge. Use a sample of UHU glue in an altered art project using a magazine. You can read the full details here.

Since I had a book for a RR I needed to work in I figured I could use it for the challenge. Theme of the book is Beauty. Basically anything you see as beauty in your own mind is game. I've never been on a tropical beach but in my minds eye it would be absolutely beautiful!

Road Trip Complete!!!

My Road Trip themed round robin book came home today!

Isn't it fantastic!?!?!

I couldn't be more pleased with the end result.

Thank you to all the wonderfully talented ladies that worked in it.

Book of Letters

These are the pages for the most recent book I received in a RR.

I'm really happy with the way the beading on the edge turned out. Hopefully the owner will like it as much as I do.

Bird theme altered book

I got a chance to play a bit today.

I've had this book sitting waiting to be inspired.

While cleaning up my table a bit, the ideas finally struck.

Good Old Rock, Rhythm & Blues

I finally got a chance to be creative! Both kiddos are in school today!!!!!! I even have the little one staying through lunch so I can have a little me time.

This is the second spread for the music themed book I'm working in for a round robin.

'80s Girl

Here's a spread for the latest book in my current round robin. The book's theme is MUSIC. I still need to come up with another spread before passing it along but this one just HAD to be done!

I scanned pictures from my teenage scrapbook for this page. What a hoot looking through that old scrapbook!!! I had mostly cut stuff out of magazines with just a few notes and photographs thrown in here and there.

Japanese Arts-n-crafts AB

This book has been a bit more difficult for me to come up with something that fit the theme of the book. The owner wanted a focus on Japan and Okinawa, specifically their crafts and textiles but thankfully.. gave us "an out" so to speak as long as we stuck to the Asian theme.

Haiku and Bonsai felt to me like a good fit without repeating the same Kimono's and Geisha's that would be expected with these theme. The attempt at haiku poetry is all my own...

Asian Theme book

I completed my pages for the latest book I received in my current round robin.

The original drawings from the book were hand-painted by me with watercolor crayons. The chopsticks were shorten by breaking then shaping them in a pencil sharpener before a slight bit of whittling and sanding.

The bamboo was drawn then painted by yours truly. The fortune reads "The luck that is ordained for you will be coveted by others"

I've never done any Asian themed art before...at least not consciously. I did do a mixed-media painting a while back that ended up having an Asian flare.

Second letter completed

Hoorah! I was able to get "T" completed today. The tag reads "Take time... before time takes you." This was a quote by yours truly a couple years back. I had envisioned putting a tombstone on the page as well but didn't find one I wanted to use.