Tuesday, April 16, 2013

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

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

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


Monday, April 1, 2013

Art Calendar Journal - April

No foolin'...my
Art Calendar Journal for
APRIL 2013
is ready for marking what's fun in each day. 
 


I'm glad I made the decision to switch from traditional monthly themes to FUN monthly themes. (This isn't really a theme is it?  But it was fun!)  This was even more fun than the first 3 months. 

 
I love this little bad girl.  I see her as me...not at her age...I was 23 before I became her.
 


And these are the wannabe bad girls...
 

I'm so excited to fill in these blocks.  I do hope some worthy fun happens! 
 
March started as a bit of a struggle to squeeze fun into a few of the days.  Those are the days I practiced making inchies.  And some days had a bit too much fun packed in.
 

 
May there be many FUN days in April!
xxx
Annie





Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Altered Dictionary - P

This fortnight's dictionary letter is P
 
I really wanted to choose postage, but since I just did mail, I kinda wanted to take a little different direction.
I chose...
 
........... Perch ...........
I love birds too.
 
 
 
It took me a few days to decide on how I wanted to illustrate this word.  This game is getting tougher for me.  If I were doing this project on my own, I would most likely choose a word based on some inspiration.  However, being told which letter to work with is not so easy.  I suppose that's why it's called a "challenge"!  LOL

I found this fun striped pencil in a magazine and it just had to be included in my altered dictionary.

 
 Simple but fun.
 
xxx
Annie

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Envelope Art

Decorated Envelopes
are just the best mail one can receive.
 
Well, that's as far as I'm concerned it is.  My postcard mail art has led me to wanting to play with arty names and addresses.  After posting a couple of first envelopes on flickr...
 
 


... Carol found and led me to the blog of Jean Wilson, pushing the envelopes  Jean's envelope art is phenomenal and the ultimate inspiration.  Jean has the talent to design an envelope based on the design of the postage stamp.  I couldn't even begin to do that!  I just add the postage stamp as added envelope decoration.
 
 
 
 
It was Jean's blog where I was shocked to learn that you could place a postage stamp almost anywhere on the envelope!  Can you believe it?  I always thought they HAD to be in the upper right corner.  Carol's envelope was my very first moving of the postage!  FUN FUN FUN!  And scary too.  There was a brief visual of the post office slapping a big ole red inked stamp "undeliverable as stamped!"
 
 
And I dared to do it again! 
 
It's kind of a bummer blocking out names and addresses to protect the innocent.  That takes away from the effect as a whole, but, it can't be helped.

AND THEN!
SO AWESOME! 
Carol oh, sweet Carol, sent ME an arty envelope!
 
 
And that's how I know this is the best mail to receive!
Thanks so much, Carol!  That was an AWESOME Mail Day!
 
Wishing everyone a Good Mail Day!
Annie