Art Calendar Journal - July

July

has arrived here with a sweltering bang of heat!  Two more days of 100+ temps before we get some relief.  The worse part is the rare added humidity.  I don't like to wish my life away, but I DO wish the next two days go by quickly!

 



I said I was done with traditional themes for these calendars, but I already bought the stars paper and just wanted to use it and be done with it.  A while back Carol drew some birds for me to make postcards with (which I still have not done yet).  I decided to give one a try for my July calendar in hopes of adding some whimsy to the spread.  July doesn't turn out to be one of my favorite month creations, but I'm not totally disappointed, so I will journal it and move on.



On the other hand, I quite enjoyed working on June.  June had an over abundance of high temps.  Some I didn't even note, but wish I had now.  We don't usually get so many 100+ days.  Obviously I thought the 8th was going to be one of those really unusual hot days.  Oh, little did I know...!

 

Wishing everyone a safe, sparkly and happy 4th of July!

 

Annie



Altered Dictionary - B

It's a new fortnight and the

Alpha Challenge has assigned us the letter B  

I wasn't much inspired by any odd words this time.  I've chosen Bucksaw as my entry for the challenge.

 

 

This "junior" dictionary is already so full of illustrations that adding more to some pages just makes clutter.  I added some color to help my altering show out more. 

My intention for this book is to alter at least one word on every page.  So I challenged myself to choose a word to alter on the first B page.  I chose Babel.  And I proceeded to learn about The Tower of Babel, which I had not known about before. 

 

I found quite a variety of images of this tower, but this one seemed the most common.  The variety of images was fascinating to look through.

 

Back in the letter F when I illustrated the word Flourish...

 

 

 

my attempt to only lightly ink my stamp was a flop.  I was so disappointed that the ink bled through the page SO badly.  Once I calmed down over it a few weeks later, I began to read the words on the next page to see what possibly I could do with this mess to use it as part of this altering process.

WHAT LUCK!

part of the definition for the word Fluke is "a failure".  And it couldn't have landed in a better spot.

 

And that's how my dictionary alters to date.

 

xxx

Annie



Altered Dictionary - U

This time around for the Alpha Challenge the letter assigned to us for word illustration is U

 

I've selected the word Ulster. 

A great benefit of this project is learning words I've not ever known before.

 

 

 



 Never before have I ever read practically every word in any dictionary...who does that?!  But when this project reaches it's end, that's exactly what I will have done!  Who woulda guessed. 

 

xoxo

Annie



Sissy and Missy...

...are very large face stamps.  And not so easy for me to be crafty with.  A couple of posts back I mentioned that I love Renee's creativity with Sissy.  Renee's creations are on large envelopes but I'm not sure of the exact size.  I wanted the face to appear quite large, so I used 6" X 9" envelopes (and because I have lots of them).  A meager beginning, but a beginning none the less.

 

 

 

I got greedy and thought I had to have both sides of the face.

 

 

 

I don't know why now.  I hope to find a good reason soon.  Not that it really matters.

I need to work on how to work things out at the top of her head.  Renee solves that problem with 3-D accessorizing.  But I want things flat for mailing, so I'll have to muse on this for awhile. 

 

My first stamping, of course, went awry and was crooked on the envelope, blah blah blah.  Rather than toss the envelope, I cut out the face, colored it and added it to my blog/flickr friends journal that I add art to here and there. 

 

Maybe the solution for the top of the head is to keep it at the top of the page or envelope.  Hmmm

And of course I had to add a "face" to my altered dictionary.

 

 

These large face stamps that I've been addicted to lately have me intrigued and stumped at the same time.  I hope that's only temporary.

 

Off in search of more play time!

xxx

Annie 

Art Calendar Journal - June

June

has made a warm entrance into California's San Joaquin Valley.  Warm weather makes me happy!

 

When I picture the "bad boys of summer", those nerdy boys are NOT the ones that come to mind. 

 

 

 



But they're "bad" in their own little way, I bet.  I wanted to help them out with a bit of adventure here.

 

May is complete!  Carol and a couple of others have filled my month with so many wonderfully good mail days!  Although fun mail is about the most fun part of my day, I had to force myself to find a few other pleasantries to write about.  Just to break it up some.

 

 

Happy month of June to you!

Annie



Postcards To Mail

I have a small stack of

POSTCARDS

that I will be mailing out...

 

 

Indulge (Fabric)

Live the Life (Paper)

The car is made with actual cancelled postage stamps.

 

Air Mail (Paper)

The bird is made with Washi Tape.

 

012 House (Paper)

The house is made with Washi Tape.

 

Cuppa Love (Paper)

The teacup and saucer are made with Washi Tape.  "Love" is attached with mounting dots.

 

Now, my problem is where to mail them. 

 

If you see one you'd like to find in your mailbox, leave me a comment about it, and in a few days I will choose recipients and get your mailing addresses.

 

Wishing you a Good Mail Day!

Annie 



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