Altered Dictionary - F

 F is this fortnight's letter for the Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn and it comes with the twist to choose a word between Fe through Fr.

 

I have chosen the word fop.  This is not a word I previously knew, but it's a dandy.....literally!

 

 

Again, I have printed the images onto tracing paper, cut them out and pasted them to the page.

 

I'm trying to pull myself back to basics with this project.  Lately I've gotten carried away adding more to a page than I originally intended.

 

 

Fop is my word for the alpha challenge, but I couldn't resist altering a couple more pages.

 

Flourish

 

and

 

Fountain Pen

 

 I think I've known a fop or two in my days.  I just wish I had known the word fop back then!  :-)

Happy Day to you!
Annie

Meet Emily and Renee

There was a day when I would never have braved working with a large face stamp.  But I'm older now and have less sense..........  Or maybe just fewer inhibitions.  I've recently discovered Renee's blog, Bolton House where I find lots of inspiration.  Namely and most prominently are these two envelopes designed by Renee.

Renee's Envelope

Another of Renee's Envelopes

Which have inspired me to try my hand at large face stamps.

6" X 9" envelope turned sideways

I was pretty impressed with myself for creating this little bit of artsy work here.  I knew immediately what I would use this for (as the gift wrap for a hospitality thank you I will need in July), but I also knew I didn't really want to part with it.  So, when that happens, when I get an idea or design I like, I like to get more mileage out of it by using it up and wearing it out.

So I created another version for my journal where I collect blogger and flickr friends and their mail info and add a bit of artsy stuff on a page here and there.

And then another version on an envelope for Carol.

That was so satisfying!  Renee helped me find the very large half face she worked with, so I'm pretty excited now to see what I can create with it myself.

In the meantime, the idea for Carol's name on the envelope above  was so fun that I had to use up and wear out that idea too.

And THAT was really fun to create!  I'll be using this style on everyone I know.  LOL  The little yellow squares look a bit funny because they are done with a glitter pen and are reflecting the lighting.   Sadly, the photo doesn't show how awesome the glittery ink looks.

 To see all the fun envelopes that Carol has sent to me, click HERE to go to her flickr photostream....where you'll see all her fabulous artwork.

 

I try very hard to get some sewing in between envelopes, but every time I go to my work space, it seems another envelope insists on being designed.  But, that's how I roll... crafting what most interests me at the time.  And right now, what interests me most is sending fun snail mail to unsuspecting characters in my life.

 

Wishing you a Good Mail Day!

Annie

 

Dress Form

The dress form stamp I used in my Altered Dictionary post has gotten a few special mentions in comments.  So I wanted to share this photo I found surfing the web a while back.  Isn't this a great photo?!  So funny!

(If I knew who took this photo, I'd be happy to give credit and include a link...or even remove it if necessary.)

 

xxx

Annie

Altered Dictionary - K

The letter K is our letter to illustrate for the Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn this new fortnight.

 

 I have chosen the word Kit to alter in my dictionary, with a sewing kit.

 

 

The dress form, thread spool and tape measure are stamped on tracing paper, cut out and glued to my page.  The yellow measure is washi tape.  The zigzag stitches, buttons, pins and words are rubber stamped.

 

I know a dress form in a kit is a bit large, but really it's light weight and I can manage it under one arm. :-)

 

My dictionary is getting pretty fun to look through now!

 

xxx

Annie



The Alpha Challenge letter this time is

A

The word I've chosen in my altered dictionary is  

ACT

 

 

 

This fun image is cut from a stamping magazine.  I highlighted the word act with chaulk, added the stamped words DONT WAIT, connected them to the portion of the definition, do something and connected that to the image. 

 

xxx

Annie 



Art Calendar Journal - May

May

has arrived!

 

I love starting a new month in my art calendar journal project.  I went a bit bird crazy for this month.  Birds just seem to add lightheartedness to life.

 

After all the many pleasantries in April, that will be a tough act to follow.  I'm actually looking forward to a more relaxed month of May.

 

April having been my birthday month and following my many posts of mail art in one form or another, I had a whole bunch of really amazing mail days to fill my little daily blocks with.

 

 



 I've blocked a couple of days that I wasn't wanting to share.  But other than that, I'm a boring open book.

Have a wonderful month of May!
Annie

Mail Bombed

I've been getting

Mail Bombed

single handedly by my friend, Carol 

 

We have both been bitten by the mail art bug and specifically decorative envelopes. 

While Carol has been bombing my mailbox with fun envelopes, I've only managed to get one envelope to her.

Carol has been really busy creating cool envelope art. 

 

This one was to kick off my birthday month.  I love starting early and this birdie envie got things going.  Carol took ballet at one point in her life, so she knows what a ballerina looks like!  Adorable, huh.

 

Isn't this one fun!  It's Spring!





This one's patriotic.

These next two have been written with some kind of pen that leaves the ink looking shiny after it's dry.  And a slight puffy look to it also.

The shiny confetti is absolute fun!  I know the shiny can't be seen here, but it really is shiny.

And then this dear friend of mine (Carol) got Jean Wilson, Pushing the Envelope to send me an envelope created by her.  What a beauty!

 

And inside this beauty was a bonus envelope...

 

On the back of this bonus envelope, Jean wrote that she hadn't enough time to finish it.  It seems her intent was to fill in more spaces with color.

 

How I've been loving going out to my mailbox lately!  Thank you so much Carol and Jean!

 

A Good Mail Day is hard to beat. 

Ask me how I know that!  LOL
 

xxx

Annie 

ATCs

A new experience in the small world of

 ..... ATCs ..... 
Artist Trading Card
 

A bitty little piece of art no larger than
2-1/2" X 3-1/2". 

I was asked to trade ATCs for a Poe theme.  Debbie has a Poe collection of ATCs and liked one of my Raven postcards.  She wanted it to be fabric.  So I made this one.

That is such a small space to work in.  My 4X6 postcards are looking quite large now!  I really did not enjoy trying to be creative with fabric in such a small space.

 

And, without going into details, I was not a very cooperative ATC trader.  Having not traded them before, I wasn't familiar with the procedure.  And not liking making the fabric one, had not made matters any easier for Debbie.  She is a saint for sure.  

 

I wanted to see how making an ATC with paper would go.  I don't know whether this falls into a Poe theme, but it is my interpretation in a paper ATC.

 

 

This paper ATC I quite enjoyed making.  I included it with the fabric Poe Raven for Debbie to make up for being such a shit about this trade.

 

Then of course I wanted to send it all in a decorated envelope.  After going the extra mile to be so difficult, I really had some sucking up to do! 

 

 

These craft envelopes have proven to be challenging to decorate.  It's hard to add bright color to them.  But I thought the darkishness would go well with the kind of Nevermore theme I had going.

 

And here's the beautiful ATCs I received from Debbie.

 

A Silk Fusion (what gorgeous color) and a tri-fold Raven.  How clever his wings fold in and out.

 

It seems Debbie wasn't disappointed in the end,  but it must have been frustrating for her trying to work with ornery ole me.  And I've learned my lesson in trading ATCs... like, not to do it anymore.  LOL 

 

xxx

Annie  

  

Altered Dictionary - W

Our new letter for the Alpha Challenge is

W

with the twist to add circles in the background.

 

I've chosen the word write.

My style for altering my dictionary doesn't have painted or inked backgrounds, so I had to find a way to work a circle into my word illustration.

 

 

 

I wish I had drawn the circle with a finer pen tip.  But once it's drawn, there's no going back.

 

I discovered I like using tracing paper for the images.  I like the transparency of it and it keeps the addition of bulk down to a minimum.  On the other hand, for an image with lots of cuts, like the written word "write", it was difficult to keep it under control once it had glue added to the back.

 

More Alpha Challenge and altered dictionaries for the letter W can be seen here at The Craft Barn

 

xxx

Annie

Altered Dictionary - R

This fortnight's letter for the Alpha Challenge is R

and my word to illustrate in my altered dictionary is

 

Rouge

 

 

I stamped the face stamp and added rouge to her cheeks and all was good.  Then I tried to do something with the word and definition and turned the whole thing into a disappointing mess.  I really wanted to rip the page out and make it disappear.  But, I wasn't going to do that, so I set out to fix it.  It's better.  That's the best I can say about it.

 

xxx

Annie