"Mary"

This is my first religious piece. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

I like the gold embossing around the edges of the picture on the cover.
Its amazing what effects you can get with fancy scissors, embossing powder and a heat gun! I have learned that I need to use multiple layers of the paper if I'm going to use light colors, though.

What a month!

December has definitely not let me down, that's for sure.

There is a groovy little paper store that recently opened up around the corner from my office. I was in there yesterday checking it out and started talking to the owner about these little guys and today I took in my stock to show her.

Low and behold, I'm now going to teach a class there as well. Thanks Christine!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that January will be as exciting as December has been.

"Discover Life"

I'm not totally sold on the text in this one yet...it might grow on me, I'm not sure. The little glass circle is an "optical lens" as they like to call it in the altered book world. I call it a magnifying glass.

I like the overall idea, but am just not overwhelmed by the result...

-Edit- 12/23/05
I just sold this one to an awesome fellow Craftster, Writer78...Wahoo!

Early Project

This is an earlier project (meaning about 2 months ago).

The box is made of wood and is about 5 inches tall. All of the leaves, bugs, grapes, vines & the face are made from an air dry clay (similar to polymer clay but no baking) that I molded and painted. The sunflowers are plastic and actually look pretty good. The image at the back is just a picture tweaked in photoshop and glued in.

"Book of Love"

So I've agreed to teach the class even though I have no clue what I'm doing and I pretty much avoid any kind of public speaking at all costs.
We decided to concentrate on a theme of Valentine's Day...so this one and the "Love" one both came about from that.

Yesterday I went out to the store and took my whole collection with me and ended up showing them to everyone who was working there, including one of the owners. And they loved them! Totally freaked me out yet again.

We've decided to do one Valentine's Day one and then the "Inspire" one...I'm going to teach this as the "Valentine" one because all of the materials in it are available in the store, or can be easily substituted out for something they carry...

The bottom picture is for scale so you can see how big (or little as the case may be) they are.

"Love"

Two crazy things have happened in the past week. The first one is that I got an order to make 5 of these things for a woman for Christmas presents.

And then, I'm at the scrapbook store buying supplies to make them and I get to talking with one of the managers. She asked what I was making, I tried to explain it and didn't do a very good job. Then I remember than I have 2 of them in the car. I go get them, show them to her and she invites me to teach a class in January on making them. Wowza! That's just crazy...

"Follow Your Destiny"

This one started from the vellum quote as well...

"Imagine"

This is another one that started out as an accident. I had decoupaged gold tissue to the cover and didn't like it, so I tore it off...I liked the effect it left so I went from there.

"Kiss Me Goodnight"

This saying has been a favorite of mine for awhile. When I saw it on a sheet of vellum full of phrases, it had to be made.

"Always, Always, Always"

I was raised with the ideas of...

• Never lose your sense of wonder
• Question Everything
• Think for yourself

That's where this came from.

"Inspire"

Unless otherwise noted, they are made from little paper mache book-shaped boxes about 2.5 inches tall by 2 inches wide.

This started as an accident. I had glued some paper to the cover and didn't like it so I tore it off. Then I tried to paint it and realized that layers of the paper mache had come off with the paper. I went ahead and just stained it instead. Then I realized that between the peeling off of the paper and the moisture from the glue and stain, the cover was starting to tear off. I set it aside and the next day at work came up with the idea of stitching the cover on...and there you have it.