Just As I Am

My first altered book...in progress.

I first learned about altered books from Ellen...she is a master.  She uses them for art journaling, personal journaling, or just for art..and they are amazing!  Next time I see her I will take some photos of her books.

A is for Altered.

You start with a used book that you like the look and feel of...and the pages become your canvas. You can keep parts of the book, or completely cover the pages or a mixture. It is sometimes helpful to glue pages together to make them stronger, or even cut some out so it doesn't get to chunky.  The most important thing is that there are no rules.  Just have fun and use your imagination.

I found this book at the Goodwill Store...and loved the title...Just As I Am....and I love the color blue.  I also thought the pages had a nice feel to them..and it has the owner's name in it.  I started it several years ago...and I pick it up every once in while to add a few pages.

I wanted a place to put some of my favorite quotes and a little of this and a little of that.  I have a lot of this and that...stickers, snippets from used (and sometimes new) greeting cards, images that make me smile, and left overs from projects that I can't bear to throw away.  Yes...it's a problem...or a blessing...maybe even an obsession.

This is the inside cover....my subtitle is "Snippets and Sentiments, Creations and Color, Tidbits and Treasures."  It's a little goofy...a tad bit corny....but it's just for me....Just As I Am.  That bold blue was the original inside cover color.

I am edging all the pages with stitching...I think that will be a fun touch when it's all done.

It might get a little chunky...but that's OK.

The table of contents was interesting.  I covered a few words to leave behind all things I could relate to. 

On the top right below...I set in a velum window to expose the "Just As I am" on the next page.

I have to talk a minute about the circles above and the squares below.  I started this book while I lived in Wisconsin where I met Denyse Flood.  She is an incredible artist who will be featured at some point.  She introduced me to these black glaze pens that write with a little dimension....so almost looks like the lead of a stained glass window or embossing. 

I love Denyse's doodling art and am lucky to have several of her pieces....but they deserve a post of their own. When I did these first pages, inspired by Denyse, I became obsessed with these little shapes...all done with either water color or magic markers and these glaze pens.  You will find them scattered all over my work.  

It's important to know that also during this time while I was hanging out with my new artist friends...I was experimenting.  I had always been a stitcher....and my Wisconsin buddies were introducing me to new mediums and paints....a whole new world. 

Yes...I had some new shimmer paints that I was trying out...it's a little bright...and maybe even a little obnoxious.  

This page is similar to one I did in an art journal I posted about here.  I glued several pages together and cut them down for this doodle circle.  And...here are more of the little squares and circles.  When I'm in doodle mode....I draw a whole bunch of shapes on a nice piece of art paper.  I color them in with markers...sometimes watercolor not worrying about the lines.  Then I embellish them with the black pens...again, going outside the lines....and finally cut them out.  It's a lot easier that way.  I often use a black sharpie and trace around the shape to cover the white edge. Then I glue them into the book and add the little dots.  It's kind of like zen....doodling.  My version of  Zentangling.   

I love the look of doodling on watercolor!  Sharpies are a wonderful thing!

You are seeing some of my favorite quotes in these pages...and they will probably reappear here and there.  This one about the "many patterns" couldn't be more true and it couldn't be more fitting than in this book....Just As I Am.  It came on a greeting card.

Do you recognize the daisy dots?  They are going to pop up here and there. And...don't you just love Olivia?....one of my favorite children's book characters.  

More pages to come.....