Double Slider Cards

These look like fun too -

Movable Animals

Cooper-Hewitt Mechanical Books

I lied... this is the last one. I started by search with 'interactive books' - then 'pop-ups' to 'paper engineering' to 'pull tabs'... then hit the jackpot with 'mechanical' - there is a series of videos from Cooper-Hewitt on Mechanical books- start with this one and then search for your own!

Okay - one more... thinking of lots of ideas!!!

Celebrating Movable Books

Wow - what a great video - check this one out at 3:30 - how cute is that!

Wheel Books

Something like this would be great for our interactive circus book - think of the possibilities!

Interactive Pages and Paper Engineering

Still looking for more information for the fat book swap? The Smithsonian has a handout on the history of pop-ups, and don't forget to check out Robert Sabuda's page for ideas - lots of simple pop-ups you can make. And they are color coded for difficulty - simple, intermediate and advanced! Can you use the Darth Vader pattern and make it into a clown?!

New Swap - Big Top

New swap announced - Under the Big Top - an interactive fatbook. Each of the pages needs to have an interactive push, pull, flap or other to engage the viewer.
Sign-ups now and spaces are limited - this pages are labor intensive! How's this for inspiration?

Halloween Fatbook

Wow - great job everyone! All the pages in by the due date... which meant that the book was on its way and delivered in a timely fashion. Just in time for a little spooky fun.

Enjoy!

Pumpkins, Cool Weather and ....

... Halloween Pennants have arrived. Pages for our book swap keep coming in - but I had an extra box waiting for me today! The 'All Things Tim' Yahoo Group had a Halloween Pennant swap and my pennants arrived today. What a great start to October -

Enjoy the eye candy!

European Papers

I just received an order from European Papers - what a beautiful mailing! Wrapped in tissue, sealed with a gold sticker.... pretty. Here are some of the things I purchased - visit their site - lots of treasures!

Halloween...

... the new swap is under way - Black, White & one color. Something a little different - pages can be any size that will fit between 6" x 6" covers - and with at least 4" on the left hand side for punching for coils. Thinking outside of the box within the box?
Here is a photo of a swap I participated in with the All Things Tim Yahoo Group - my pennants are on the way to Oregon and 10 should be on their way to me next week.
Enjoy -

New Swap -

- Halloween!! There is a quick turn around on this book. Sign ups started strong with 11 on the first day! Sign-ups close at 20... visit the Yahoo group to sign up.
Pages can be any format - covers will be 6 x 6.... your page can be a bat stretching 6" long and 4" tall... or 4" wide and 6" tall and filled with a witches hat! Or anything in between... other restrictions? Pages are black, white and one color!
Have fun.

Flower Garden Books...

... are on their way. This really was a FAT book!! Everyone did a great job - I find something new each time I look at the book. Thanks to everyone that participated. I hope you enjoy the books as much as I do.

6th Graders' pages

I shared fatbooks with a fellow teacher last year - she has done some with her Language Arts class. Here is their newest project - we have 'life skills' designated for each month. September is 'friendship'. Her students wrote a 'friends are like....' phrase and then illustrated. They made 4 or 5 of the same page. Here are some photos of the few she had finished:

Tip-ins to share

In a previous post I shared my tip-in page for a swap. The theme was 'a different way of seeing.' My pages came last week and I finally had a chance to photograph and upload. Enjoy!

Feel like getting organized?

Things getting a little out of control? You have to visit Creations by Christie to see how she organized tools and materials. Wow!! Lots of videos on projects too -

One week until flower pages are due...

... still looking for an idea? Jeffery Rudell shares some very simple instructions to make these beautiful flowers... simple flowers

Summer Treats on Hold... but...

I put the summer treats idea on hold to give the flower garden participants a larger window - but I did want to share Stampington & Company's free download of treats. Bring back some memories? E-Crafting is their digital download Web store- visit

In My Garden...

I sent off pages for another swap I participated in - these were tip-in pages. Tip-ins are a way for people to collaborate on an altered art book without the possibility of losing an entire sketchbook in the mail. Participants complete a certain number of pages in a predetermined layout (frontand back or facing). Everyone sends them to the hostess who redistributes and mails out.

Our theme was 'a different way of seeing.' Here is my page and the info I included:

A New Way of Seeing

Summer 2010

Outside of my kitchen window is a huge butterfly bush… so close to the house you have to duck when you go through the door. And it fills up the entire window. Our butterfly bush is a ‘fountain’ bush, where the loaded branches bend down like a waterfall effect. It reminds me of fireworks, especially with the glittering splash of Tiger Swallowtails, Black Swallowtails, Zebra Swallowtails, Spicebush, Common buckeye, Great Spangled Fritillary and a few Monarchs. Sometimes if I am patient I catch a couple of hummingbirds fighting over the blossoms. But mostly it is the golden highlights of the Tiger Swallowtail I see dancing through my window.

I started by putting a thick layer of gesso on white drawing paper. I pressed a leaf stamp into the wet gesso and set the paper aside to dry. Using diluted acrylics (blues and greens) as washes, I went over the dried gesso... I let the page dry a little and used a damp paper towel to wipe some of the acrylics off. This highlighted theimpressions made by the stamp.

I diluted a pearl pink acrylic and used compressed air to ‘splatter’ it across the page, I added gold pen for the twinkle of the Tiger Swallowtail... this was my way to recreate the fireworks.

I spent a little time watching through the window and taking photos of the butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. I picked a Tiger Swallowtail, intensified the colors a bit, printed and trimmed to add to the page.

I added a strip of hummingbirds to the back of the page - a stop motion movie that catches the movement.

For last element, I edited a photo in Picnik. I used the special effect called ‘hexagonal tiling.’ I thought that must be what the blossoms looked like to the butterflies! That is my new way of seeing.

I inked up the edges of the pages - just to add a finishing touch.

Vintage Photo Swap

I belong to a Yahoo group called All Things Tim - (Tim Holtz products). We worked on a Vintage Photo Swap and I just received the pages. They were 6" x 6" and are they thick! I took some photos of the pages and created a VoiceThread. You can view the pages without signing in, if you want to leave a comment you will need to create an account and sign in. Want a closer look? Click on the image to zoom in -
Enjoy:
Vintage Photo VoiceThread

Altered Bits

Here is another blog to visit for inspiration - Altered Bits...click on the tab at the right for free templates, images, background sheets, textured backgrounds.... well you get the idea. These are for personal use in altered art and mixed media projects. Have fun!

Today Show, Trashion and Singed Flowers

Bobbie Thomas was on the Today show sharing some 'trashion' tips... I can skip the jean pocket catch-alls, using a tank top for a tote and cutting up old sweaters for necklaces... but the singed flowers were really cute... and from a viewer.

From the Today Show

Viewer idea: Fancy flowers
I was excited about this TODAY viewer submission sent in by Jennifer Ragan from Boston, Mass. There are certain articles of clothing that we assign emotional value (e.g., your senior prom dress or the bridesmaid gown you wore in your sister’s wedding). And while you may never have a reason to wear them again, you don’t want to give them up. Which is why I had to highlight Jennifer’s clever way of turning these old dresses into keepsake jewelry and hair accessories ( JLRY Designs; $9.50-$40).

What you'll need: Satin, tulle, organza or any polyester fabric, scissors, a candle or matches, beads, glue gun/sticks, and hair accessories you plan to use as the base.

Directions:

Cut fabric into circles of various sizes.

Using a candlestick, carefully singe the edges of fabric, barely touching to the flame.

Once slightly cooled, use your fingers to mold and shape the edges.

Layer pieces on top of one another.

When you like the look of your flowers, use a needle and thread to secure the layers together with beads.

Hot-glue or sew flowers onto hair accessories, such as bobby pins, headbands or brooch pin backs.

Here is a video I found that uses a heat gun:

Text Rain

I love words - choosing just the right one to connect with a memory, create a melody or for its visual appeal. I joined some friends for dinner last night at Proof, part of 21C, and after dinner walked through the gallery. I really enjoyed playing with Text Rain - now how do you put that into your altered art?

Text Rain Camille Utterback & Romy Achituv, 1999

Text Rain is an interactive installation in which participants use the familiar instrument of their bodies, to do what seems magical—to lift and play with falling letters that do not really exist. In the Text Rain installation participants stand or move in front of a large projection screen. On the screen they see a mirrored video projection of themselves in black and white, combined with a color animation of falling letters. Like rain or snow, the letters appears to land on participants' heads and arms. The letters respond to the participants' motions and can be caught, lifted, and then let fall again. The falling text will 'land' on anything darker than a certain threshold, and 'fall' whenever that obstacle is removed. If a participant accumulates enough letters along their outstretched arms, or along the silhouette of any dark object, they can sometimes catch an entire word, or even a phrase. The falling letters are not random, but form lines of a poem about bodies and language. 'Reading' the phrases in the Text Rain installation becomes a physical as well as a cerebral endeavor.

The Vintage Moth

Looking for that special something for your garden page? Here's another plethora of free digital graphics for altered art -

Ahhhhh... I needed this -

I spent a little bit of time on Amazon (hah!)... I spent a bit of time on Amazon (better) and found and ordered this little book. It is a thin book but full of ideas and techniques. The only drawback... it focuses only on Golden products, but it is a great primer. I can't wait to try some of the products I have but didn't know what to do with...

Altered Surfaces: Using Acrylic Paints With Gels, Mediums, Grounds & Pastes

Now That's a Fat Book

I was searching last night for more ideas for fat books and I am not sure how I ended up on Altered Route but what a treat! In 2008, blog owner Connie participated in a fat book swap with 120 artist. Each artist created a 120 original pages (!) of a technique with instructions on the back. Can you imagine hosting? Can you imagine binding? Each artist received the 120 pages and bound their own books. Connie has several ideas posted, and CreativeRebelGal has pictures of her binding technique on her blog.

Truly inspiring!

New Swap Announced!!

A Flower Garden - a skinny fat book. Interested in playing? Join our group. Sign-ups close on July 30.

It's Here!

The 'Under the Sea' book arrived today and it is beautiful - thanks Bunki for hosting the swap and to everyone that participated. Fabulous colors, a gathering of shells, a bevy of mermaids and a school of fish.. not to mention all of the fun stuff that makes the book a 'fat book' -

Another look -

Here is another peek at some pages in the book. All of these pages were made by Rebecca Journey-Smith.

photo by Rebecca Journey-Smith

Want a peek?

Want to see a page from our Under the Sea book? I can upload it here... or add a link to the post.... but how about a visit to Vintage Dragonfly...
okay maybe a little hint....

Fabric Flowers

In our Button, Button book I had a page with fabric flowers:



Tip Junkie had a great post with lots of options - visit her blog to view more great ideas -
Fabric Flowers

Little Fat Book

A friend and I made this book last summer. We each made 10 pairs of pages... 5 with an agreed upon theme and 5 free choice. We were learning about the process and this was a fun way to play and practice techniques, construction and embellishments.

Lisa Vollrath

After playing around Go Make Something mentioned in the previous post, visit Lisa Vollrath's site and view her work, especially her 4 x 4 images
and her archive of altered books.

Go Make Something!

Go Make Something is an archive of printables and projects by Lisa Vollrath. So many things to look at - and so many great things that she shares. Images to download, instructions, projects, how-to's.... spend some time there and learn something new - and then

Go Make Something!

The Graphics Fairy

Looking for some vintage images - you have to visit The Graphics Fairy. Browse around to find over 1,200 FREE Clip Art images, that you can use for craft projects, collage, DIY, scrapbooking etc! Karen has been adding vintage image downloads every day since 2007.