The latest Book Arts class projects

The recent book arts session ended before Christmas and I am finally posting photos now. I will be taking a break from the class for a bit but hope to visit or register again in the future.

We made a needle case which turned out quite well. I went to class without planning out the design or color combination - and yet it turned out perfect. The class has helped me loosen up in my arts and let it flow. I am slowing letting go of my planning /anal tendencies.

The spine is bookcloth and the covers are scrapbook paper that happened to match well. The closure is binding thread with beads wrapped around two buttons.

The cloth inside is an old blanket cut up. The end sheets are wallpaper samples.

A view of the spine and the case open. The back cover has a flat bead where the strings come out.

The last class day we did a folded altered book. Some people made angels or trees out of the design.

I used mine to hold all those photo Christmas cards I receive that won't stand up on their own.

Christmas 2010

Yes, Christmas is over but I finally have time to post some photos. This year I actually did some baking! A tin of cookies and bottle of wine appeared on our doorstep one evening with no note. Since we are in a new neighborhood, I decided to start the tradition of giving my immediate neighbors gifts (I had debated a while about starting such a thing since I will have to continue it each year). We still don't know who left the goodies.

I made cornflake wreaths (in the background) and two kinds of ginger snaps.

I also bought and decorated glass ornaments with alcohol inks (spread inside the ornaments). They were all supposed to be gifts but I gave just a few out and put the rest on our tree. I really liked how they turned out.
We drove to my parents house in Valparaiso, Indiana to spend several days there. My sister and her family took the Amtrak train from the DC area to Indiana.
One day we had lunch at Industrial Revolution. The restaurant had construction worker figures on the roof like they were eating lunch (but their lunchboxes look like laptops) while building a skyscraper. Inside were a few other figures, TVs with documentaries and old comedies (like the Three Stooges), and a train track going around the perimeter of the ceiling.

On the 24th we drove to Lafayette to meet my brother and his kids ("halfway" between Valpo and Indy) for a few hours. Along I-65, there are fields of wind turbines now. I hadn't been that way for quite a while and was amazed at how many were there. We went bowling and had lunch. The cousins got to spend some time together and the adults got to use the gutter bumpers in bowling [it sure helped my score!].

On the 25th we went sledding! I hadn't gone for years. Above is a photo of John and Hannah going down backwards. One of the sleds always turned around part way down the hill - didn't know which way was forward.
This is my sister and her husband getting ready to race down the hill with some pushing from their daughters, Claire and Hannah. I hadn't planned on actually getting on a sled but I did. It was fun although the sleds were not really steerable (my brother-in-law did get a photo of me in mid wipe out).
My husband LOVES popcorn and eats it daily when possible. Last year, we stopped by a farm storefront near Delphos, Ohio on the way home for him to buy a 50 lb bag fresh from the farm. This year that couple had retired so he found another place in the same area. No storefront this time! The farm was busy with corn activity (loading trailers and packaging). He bought another 50 lb bag (and no, the other bag is not finished yet). The poor GPS (see in photo above) was a bit confused and wanted us to drive through the fields a couple miles to the highway.

Marbleized Paper

Last night in Book Arts class we made marbleized paper. It was fun to try various color combinations and designs. The above photo shows a color combination I used without stirring or "design" on brown craft paper. Below are photos of the steps I took and the resulting paper - still quite wet. We filled half the drying racks in the classroom. I look forward to seeing the dry papers next week.

Note: the dark "blob dots" of color are on the bottom of the tray and will not transfer to the paper.

Birds

The nuts and berries from our trees are attracting the area birds. At least, I assume that is what is drawing them to our yard. As they land and take off in large groups, I can't help but think of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds.

Autumn Leaves LTCs

I received a much awaited package of Letterboxing Trading Cards (LTCs) from a swap I did through the Atlas Quest website. The LTC I made for the swap is shown in this post. Since I made 30 cards, I have about 3 extra. If anyone is interested in trading for one, leave a comment below.

Decorated Matchboxes

I am a member on swap-bot which is a website where people swap hand-made items, things they collect, writings, etc. There are groups for specific areas such as knitting, postcards, and ATCs. In the forum of Zines, Mail Art & other cool stuff, I won a WTA (Winner Take All) for Advent Matchboxes. Less than 25 people signed up so I hope to eventually do the rest myself eventually. I am sharing photos of the decorated, filled matchboxes I have received. Thanks to crescendo, starrgazer, sunnyblueskies, suessstoff, and TangleCrafts for their wonderful matchboxes.

Postcards

Doing a quick entry since I do want to post more often. One of the things I collect is postcards. I especially enjoy receiving postcards from family and friends when they are traveling so I can read about and see a glimpse of their trip. I also like receiving postcards from other states and countries and learning about life elsewhere. Recently I have gotten into making postcards and receiving mailart which can take the form of postcards too. The postcard shown above is one I received earlier this year through PostCrossing. It is a great way to send and receive postcards around the world.

Zines and Books

I have ventured into the world of zines - mini zines at the moment. Zines are self-published magazines. They can vary in size and length. Mini zines are made from one piece of 8.5" x 11" piece of paper. I have done three zines so far with topics of Mail Art, Embossing Powders, and Quotes.
As seen in the photo below, the one piece of paper for a mini zine is folded and then cut in the middle. Pretty easy! Getting the text facing opposite directions is the challenge.
This is a shelf of my hand-made books. A couple missed out on the photo opportunity and you can a see a few without covers yet. Actually the tallest, thinnest book in the middle is a book I wrote and illustrated in 3rd grade and it was bound by my teacher (I went to the Young Author's conference in Indiana with it). I really love taking the Book Arts class offered through the local Parks & Rec Department!

A Day at the Columbus Zoo

Since the November weather has been so nice with high 60's to low 70's degrees and sunny skies, I decided to spend a few hours at the zoo. The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium is rated one of the best in the country.

A new bonobo (the smallest and rarest of the great apes) was born in March - the 11th born at the zoo. I saw the baby mostly hang on her mother and then swing from the lowest bars. Momma bonobo stayed close at hand since the teenager bonobos like to run around and "tag" or grab the baby before running away.


Several young flamingos were on exhibit. They stand out since their feathers are not pink yet (the pink color comes from their food source - shrimp).


I like the penguins but rarely see them in the water in their habitat. Just hanging around.

[I took many more pictures of various animals but want to save space for the videos below.]

The newest and most popular attraction is the polar bear habitat that has above water and underwater viewing areas. The bears are very entertaining to watch and seem to enjoy putting on a show for their audience. In the underwater video when the bear is standing on hind legs, s/he is standing in front of the above water viewing windows.

LTCs & ATCs

Since it was football Saturday (I watched college football ALL day), I set up a card table in front of the TV and made some ATCs and LTCs for upcoming swaps I am in. Below are some of the results.

This LTC is for a swap on AtlasQuest.com. I hand carved the Buckeye leaf stamp. On shiny paper I stamped the image with Versamark ink and let dry. Then I used a brayer to roll on ink from a multi-colored ink pad. I stamped the leaf in the middle again with Versamark and poured on embossing powder. I heated the powder to melt it. It is hard to see in the photo but the middle image is raised and shiny. I used a copper paint pen to draw the border around the card. I made 30 of these. Unfortunately the original embossing powder I used did not look good so I "wasted" a few card in figuring out the right combination.

The following 2 ATCs are for a Punch ATC (using a paper punch) swap on swap-bot.com. I made 4 total with different shades of brown for the owl parts. I used Stampin' Up [SU] Woodgrain stamp for the background tree look. I punched the owl parts with the SU extra-large owl punch. The tree hole is a SU oval punch. Again the border is drawn with a copper paint pen.

OSU vs Marshall football game

The scoreboard during the game.

Thursday was the start of college football season and I attended the Ohio State University game against Marshall. It was a hot, sunny 95 degrees (F) and not feeling like football weather at all. John and I left the house at 3pm to meet family and set up the tailgate. John and his family go to every home game and tailgate with an RV that has a grill and big screen TVs besides the tables loaded with food. John is the grill master and grills the hot dogs and hamburgers to feed the hungry fans. After several hours of tailgating, we walked the mile to the football stadium known as the (Horse)Shoe.

The view of the stadium from across the river.

The view inside the stadium from our seats (near the 20 yd line).

About 105,040 fans attended the game.

The Best Damn Band In The Land (TBDBITL) - OSU Marching Band and a view of the tunnel where the team come out to the field.

It was Alumni Band Day and they had their own section.

I took a video of the half time show where TBDBITL and the Alumni Band did Script Ohio (4 times simultaneously) on the field. I hope to add it here at some point - I keep getting errors uploading it.

Final score was OSU: 45 and Marshall: 7
We missed the last score (a field goal) since we were hobnobbing with a local celebrity.

A special treat was to talk with Archie Griffin (#42 and 2-time Heisman Trophy winner) and get his autograph on my ticket.

The Lane Avenue bridge and its reflection in the river.

We walked the mile back to the RV and helped tear down the tailgate. We got home by 12:30am. Yep, we were gone 9.5 hours - around here football games are all day/night events.