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.

WATERCOLOURS, EPSOM SALTS & PEN AND INKS....