Shipwrecked

In this latest spread in my ledger, I have used this week's Altered Heart prompt picked by Karen BP. The word prompt is Shipwrecked. I have created a spread based on how things have been in my life this past year, and my feelings about the new year ahead.

Baby it's not your sleigh ride....

Here I was just having some fun creating
a winter scene based on a song I heard
on a TV commercial. Sure wish I knew the
title of the song and the artist!

Graffiti Heart

Here is another spread in my "Windows to the Soul" series. I've created this spread around the newest Altered Heart prompt. This week's prompt was selected by Karen BP, which is graffiti. Thanks Karen, for such an enjoyable prompt idea!

WINDOWS TO THE SOUL

Out of the blue I got this idea to create a series of spreads by selecting images of women, but with each one I would alter their eyes to create their mood, and then paint the backgrounds to suit. I've titled this series "Windows to the Soul". I have all kinds of pictures selected, as I plan on creating a lot of spreads using female images, at least until I get tired of it! lol
These three spreads are what I've completed so far.
The top spread is titled "Forest Maiden". In it I tried to give the woman an innocent doe-like look with the eyes I used for her. The middle spread "Lonesome Christmas", is of a woman alone in her castle on Christmas Eve awaiting the arrival of her love...but he is very late, and she's not looking too impressed about it!
And lastly, the bottom spread, titled "The Secret", is about a woman, and quite the actress too BTW, that leads a very secret life!
Well, now I am off to finish more spreads that I've already got in the works! Such fun! :)

Wow, has it ever been a while since I last posted some artwork on my blog! I've been working so much that I haven't had time to play. But this weekend I finally had some time off work to do just that, play! I haven't been 100% certain of my choice of engagement calendar that I picked to use for the upcoming 2008 calendar journal round robin. So, yesterday I returned the one that I had originally bought in exchange for a ledger style journal. Karen BP used a ledger style journal for the 2007 RR and it was undeniably incredible. Well, when I got home with my new journal, I immediately got to work on it. Above is what I completed. Now it is all set to be mailed off for the brand new 2008 RR! I am thoroughly looking forward to another year of calendar journaling!

It's been over a week since my last post...work just has to get in the way, doesn't it? Arghh! Anyways, I've been working in the final journal for the 2007 Calendargirlz RR. That final journal belongs to Martha, in Toronto, Ontario. To the right are the two spreads I have created so far in her journal. The top spread is on the topic of life, and cherishing it. I also used this spread for this week's Altered Heart prompt, which is 'Soul'. The bottom spread is prompted by the words that already existed on the right-hand page: on your mark...get set...mingle!' I am a homebody at heart and don't do a whole lot of socializing...my home is my castle, and it's where I am the happiest!

DARK PLACES

Well, here it is, my book for the Dark RR! Since part of the theme deals with dwellings, I've filled the book with pages made from wallpapers. All that is left to be done is to write a little blurb in my book and it will be ready to mail out to Karen. I am very excited about this RR. Everybody has such incredible themes: Vampires, Dark Souls, Dark Hearts & Winged Things, Dark Side of the Moon~Celestial, and Dia de los Muertos.
My theme is:
DARK PLACES: Sinister Dwellings, Eerie Cemeteries, Dark Minds, & the Haunting Entities that Inhabit them.
As I was taking the photos I got this above picture of my kitten 'Meesha' playing with the ribbons dangling from the side of my book. It looks to me like she is staring down an old button hanging from the red ribbon. lol The button resembles an old-fashioned door knocker with a lion head.

I just don't do enough doodling, & I
really enjoy it. So, I've decided to
do a lot more of it. Above is another
entry in my doodle book of black pages.

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN EVERYONE!
Here are my entries for both Gothic Arches & The Altered Heart. On the left is my page for Gothic Arches. The theme this week is of course Hallowe'en/Spooky. On the right is my page for The Altered Heart where the theme is Witch. Instead of using the gothic arch & heart template on their own, I decided to create a spread with both in my 'doodle book'.

Well, I have gone and changed my theme for the Dark RR!
I got this bright idea while at work yesterday, and immediately
after dinner last night I set out to create a whole new book,
right from scratch. My new theme is: DARK PLACES.
Eerie dwellings and cemeteries and the like!
Above is a photo of the cover I created last night.
I feel SO much better about this theme!

BOOK
A while back I created a book out of heavy cardstock, cardboard, duct tape, acrylic paints & an elastic threaded spine from a cardholder. Last night I was far too awake to sleep, so I sat up in bed with a journal and doodled a page while coming up with some ideas for it. On the left is the book cover, and on the right is the doodle from last night. I have titled this book: BOOK: Blanket Stitched, Buttoned & Beaded. Each page will have doodled buttons, beads and blanket stitching incorporated into it.

'Through shrouded eyes I look out my
weathered window and realize that there's
a storm raging outside as well as within.'
Based on emotion and weather, this is what I
created using the prompt for this week over
at The Altered Heart. The word prompt for
this week is: weather/weathered.

Here is my heart for our very first word prompt @ 'The Altered Heart'. Karen picked the first word to use, which was: COURAGE. This was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the word. I've used a Zetti stamp, Spider Writers & Aileen's Color Mists to create my heart, along with a personal observation.

ALL THE THINGS ONE HAS FORGOTTEN SCREAM FOR HELP IN DREAMS.

And boy I've been dreaming a lot lately. Normally I never recall my dreams,
but I've been dreaming about love. Gosh, I almost forget what it feels like.

Anyhow, here's my final spread in Andi's Leonardo Da Vinci calendar journal. And once again I didn't do any regular journaling. I journaled using simple images and words about the way I was feeling at the time...a bit down because of things with my 'ex', and feeling like I really haven't found the true love of my life yet. My aunt found true love in her mid 70s, and it was the most amazing relationship one could ever imagine. So I guess there still is hope! lol

This made my day though...
In the mail today I received my 'Color Mists' from Aileen! This spread holds my very first attempt at color misting. They are such fun and absolutely fabulous to play with! Thanks so much Aileen, I will get hours upon hours of enjoyment using them!

This gothic arch is about two guardian angels.
and a special message that is going out to Nancy,
her family, and most especially her son Andrew.
I shall keep you warm in my heart.

Here is my entry for Gothic Arches.
The theme for this week is 'flowers'.
I had fun 'zettifying' this flower child!

Recently I decided that I would alter a cigar
box to hold my gothic arches in. Today I
finally got around to creating it. Here are
two photos of my gothic arches box. I can't
wait until tomorrow to see what the next
theme will be at Gothic Arches!

Here is another entry in Andi's calendar journal. There is a possibility
that I may be living alone in the very near future. This year has been
very stressful and chaotic for me. A lot of drastic changes have come
about in my life. There have been times when I have daydreamed
about living by myself, because of the chaos that has surrounded me.
Although I know at times that I will get lonely, the idea of living alone
sounds quite peaceful. Oddly enough, I would feel safe. Without going
into detail, I go by this belief: a person can only truly 100%, trust ones
self. This spread is a simple illustration of how I am feeling about it.

Here is my entry for "Gothic Arches"
this week. The theme for this week
is vacations/places. I would really
love one day to visit Paris, France.

Last night after work I really had the urge to play.
So I went a little crazy in Andi's calendar journal and
completed 3 spreads. I still have 2 more spreads to create
in her CJ and have the ideas for them planned out in my head.
I never seem to get bored of these calendar journal round robins.
They are just too fun, very inspiring and so stress-free!

This is my latest installment for Gothic Arches. This week the
theme is 'autumn'. Autumn is my very favourite time of the year. I
feel so much better all around in the fall. For this arch I have used
the colours of fall, along with some words from my all time favourite
song: 'Ramble On' by Led Zeppelin. This song definitely has that fall
feeling to it & it always brings to mind some very special autumn
memories that I hold close to my heart. I used paper with a dragon
motif and added an image of a woman by some standing stones.
Since I look so forward each week to the new Gothic Arches theme,
I've decided to alter a cigar box that will hold all of the gothic arches I
create. I've picked out the cigar box I'm going to use. Next up, alter it!

This photo is of one of the spreads I created in Santa's
calendar journal from the calendargirlz RR that I am involved in.
As you can see, I've gotten into using these gothic arches! lol

After painting this picture a few months
back, these words came to mind to use
with it. So I added them using
photoshop. Basically, this is how I
feel all the days of my life.

Here is my latest entry for "Gothic Arches".
This week the theme is "gold".

ANGEL & MEESHA:
Here are the latest pics of the kittens my daughter and I adopted. Once again they are making themselves quite comfortable on my bed! I guess the flash of the camera woke them from their little catnap, as you can tell my Meesha's big stretch! But the top photo is of Meesha sleeping in one of the cubbyholes of my computer desk...she's getting a little too 'leggy' for it now by the looks of it! lol This is her spot while I'm puttering around on my computer. Aww, I wonder what she will do when she can no longer fit in the cubbyhole? We just had the kittens spayed last weekend and they're doing great. They are now 5 1/2 months old. They are such precious loving cats & we're so glad that we decided to adopt them. They have fit in so well with the rest of the brood too...Moody my lilac siamese, Joseph Toes my 26 toed polydactyl, Sophie my American/German Rottweiler & Teddy my Great Pyrenees/border collie. I must take some new pics of the rest of the zoo & add them to my blog sometime soon.

Happy weekend everyone! I am in the midst of creating a blog that will host weekly prompts. It is titled THE ALTERED HEART. And of course, every week we will be using a heart shape as our canvas, or we can incorporate a heart shape on our pages. I hope that you will join me in this fun form to keep us inspired!
In the left hand column, under 'Challenge Your Creativity', you will find an icon (like the pic above) that will link you to the THE ALTERED HEART. But stay tuned...I will announce here on my blog when THE ALTERED HEART is up and ready for anyone who would like to alter hearts along with me! Warm hugs! Vale :)

I was just delighted to learn about the 'Gothic Arches' challenge site! I adore anything gothic. So I have created my first piece, on the subject of the moon. I've incorporated one of my 'papermonzsters' into this moon theme. I am really looking forward to creating more gothic arches using the weekly themes.

Getting into a dark frame of mind....
I recently joined an 'altered text' group and I am finding that altered text is a very inspiring art form. The spread I created above is in advance of the 'dark' round robin that I am involved in with several of the girls over @ the 'altered art divas reliquary' group. This photo I took of the spread doesn't reveal the text too well so here are the words below:
wildfire at midnight
thunder - waiting
the ivy tree
moonspinners - magic
rough - wind of - the hollow hills
the last enchantment
wicked - walk in wolf woods
Boy, has this ever gotten into the mood for a good ol' dark round robin now! lol

MIDNIGHT ENCOUNTER!
I let the dogs out to do their business b4 bedtime and they went absolutely insane trying to get at something. My rottweiler Sophie actually tried to get on top of the bbq to get at it! Both her and my Great Pyrenees Teddy were jumping at the fence and barking wildly. So, I finally see what it is they are losing their minds over...a possum! They have invaded our area this summer, and they are not the friendliest of creatures. I quickly grabbed my camera and took pics of it while it was sitting motionless on the fence. I tried to catch its big wide yawn but only got the tail end of it. I guess it's getting quite tired of playing possum now as it's been about an hour! lol Well, here are a couple of pics I took...a cute but scary little animal for sure! Just look at those teeth! I just checked again and the possum is still sitting on the fence. My dogs still haven't done their business, but they are at the sliding door watching and grumbling away!

THE PANDORA BOOK

THE PANDORA BOOK
These images show how I have altered a hardcover book. I removed a great majority of the pages, then with the 40+ pages remaining I covered back and front with varying wallpapers, mulberry papers and designer papers.