Unexpected Connections pages

Here are photos of all the pages that were in this aubergine collaboration. Enjoy!

Millie Wagoner... Sue McPherson....

My page .....

Ada's little book attached to the back of my page .....

Debbi's page with the glass doors closed ......

Debbi's page with the glass doors open .....

A mention in the newest Somerset Studio

The latest issue of Somerset Studio is out. I just received mine. On the cover is the fat book collaboration I participated in with Dede Warren, Sue McPherson, Milli Wagoner and Debbi Greenlee earlier this year. It was decided to go with the "aubergine" call that Somerset Studio had put out. The article "Unexpected Connections" (pgs. 34-36) was written by Dede and tells all about the collaboration. We were all mentioned in the article but not all the pages were photographed. I will, however, correct that omission and feature all the inside pages of the collaboration on my blog. Dede assembled the fat books once our pages were sent to her and then she submitted a copy to Somerset Studio. AND, they picked it up for publication! Dede did a lot of work: writing the article, the assembly and submitting it. Thank you, Dede!

Here is the cover of my finished fat book. It came with the picture, one white feather, the pink spray and the white roses. I finished the rest once the completed book was returned to me.

I added a lot of things to complete my cover. I especially like the heavy fringe trim on the bottom of the book. It was a piece I had that just went perfectly with the aubergine theme. You can also see some pink rhinestones that I put on the trim under the picture. Just added a bit of sparkle to the cover.

I'm glad I did this because it was fun! My first collaboration.Thanks again to Dede Warren, Sue McPherson, Milli Wagoner, Debbi Greenlee and Ada Pringle. I will feature all the pages from my book in a few days. Stay tuned!

You can check out their blogs or photos here:

Dede Warren http://dreamcreateshare.blogspot.com/

Debbi Greenlee http://thewickerpatio.blogspot.com/

Millie Wagoner http://www.flickr.com/photos/22911187@N08/
Sue McPherson
Ada Pringle -- the last two do not have blogs or Flickr accounts

I really hope to do this again, and soon!

Books to alter

While doing some thrift store shopping late last week, I came across these old books. They were not priced. I had to wait until earlier this week to find out how much they wanted for either individual books or the whole set. They are all printed in German -- that lovely German font. They date from the late 1860's through the late 1890's. As you can see, they are in very poor shape. Most of the covers are loose or not attached to the spine anymore.This picture shows the covers as well as the inside. The book on the bottom right is the only one that has the mottled cover. The rest all have the same cover as the one on the bottom left. I think they are connected to the Lutheran church -- missals or some kind of teaching tool. I don't know. Can't read German and the thrift shop employees didn't know either.

Most look like this one with the browned edges and spots. A couple of the books are still in their original condition -- white pages with no stains or foxing.

This is the inside of the book with the mottled cover. As you can see, it is not in very good condition. Due their age and condition, they are not worth anything. I see altered book projects.

I see a reliquary of some kind. I have wanted to do an altered book that has a niche cut out of the pages where sacred artifacts/relics could be placed. That is a reliquary. Look it up. And, check out Judy Wilkenfeld's blog, Visual Anthologies. I am sorry now that I didn't have the money to attend one of her workshops earlier this year that Dede Warren hosted. Should have gone. Won't miss that again if Judy returns to the US.

Look what I found yesterday!

These were tucked in a box in the cabinet here in my den. I was looking for a place to put all the extra cords and mouse from the new computer. I spied a box and in that box were dozens of cut outs and these were among them. I had totally forgotten about the box and the cut outs!And these are just a few of the cut outs I found in the box. A long time ago I found (at an estate sale) a big plastic box full of images cut out of vintage greeting cards -- a big box! Someone had spent hours and hours carefully cutting out the pictures from the cards! It took me a long time to sort through them all and pick out the ones I wanted to keep. This is just a sample of the Valentine's I found. I have sandwich bags full of flowers, roses, Valentines, etc.It pays to go through the cupboards, boxes and shelves in my house! I need to do that more often!! I had totally forgotten about these cut outs!

After I saw Dede Warren's post of January 16th I was enchanted with the vintage Valentine's she is using in a Vintage Valentine's fat book! I even checked out all the links she posted to see what the others were doing for their fat books. I am so wanting to participate in a swap like that! That may even be a goal for me this year -- to participate in a swap like that. Got to figure out how to find one!

BTW! I figured out how to get to the scanner from the desktop and not the scanner itself! Told you I wasn't going to let this new computer and Windows Vista get me! No way!!