Sunday, January 18, 2009

Oddities and Trees

More altered book pictures! I completed two more pages. Yay! 

This one is titled "Whims and Oddities," and it's supposed to be a collection of odds and ends... and a vain dude admiring his reflection in the little mirror. (The vain dude is actually a picture of Lord Byron that was already in the old history book I altered). I used gold thread to stitch around the mirror to add some elegance to the page. I put in a gold leaf, and the gold squares are pieces of a credit card. :) I also put in a photocopy of a skeleton key. This page didn't turn
 out as good as how I imagined it, but I'm just having fun and learning. This is my first altered book project, after all!


Enter the Forest! This is the very last page of my altered book. I wanted to do more pages, but I'm afraid the binding is going to fall apart if I do any more. I painted the trees on the pages, fleshed them out a little with colored pencil, attached a paper butterfly and some leaves, and finished it off with some larger gold and
 green leaves (they didn't show up very well in the picture). I might do a repeat of this theme in other books, because nature is one of my favorite themes.


On to new altered books! I have ideas for about 8 different themes I could expand on, but I haven't come to a final decision yet. I'll let you know what I decide.  I got some cool papers and inks with my Christmas money, and I can't wait to try them out on a new project!


Saturday, January 10, 2009

Big, Fun, Scary...


What are Big, Fun, Scary Adventures? It's basically the same thing as New Year's Resolutions, but it sounds more exciting. It got started on the NaNoWriMo forums, where hundreds of people post their big, fun, and scary goals for the year, support each other, and share helpful resources. I participated last year, and the adventures I accomplished were starting this blog, getting my driver's permit, and finishing biology. 

So what are my adventures for this year? I was only going to have 3 things, but others came along and the list just had to get longer. Anyway, here they are:

1. READ THE ENCYCLOPEDIA
I plan to read the entire World Book encyclopedia over 4 years. That's 22 volumes, so I should read half a volume every month! I'm at "Adjective" right now. (More on this later)

2. BUILD A TREEHOUSE
I've always wanted a treehouse, and this year I'm going to build one, even if it has to be a simple platform. I've never built anything before, so I'll probably make some mistakes... but that's what makes it Big, Fun, and Scary!

3. EDIT MY NOVEL
I plan to get going on this one after I finish reading the book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, one of my Christmas presents. 

4. MEMORIZE FIGHTER VERSES

5. FINISH GEOMETRY
This one is awfully scary for me... *shudder* But I AM going to do it. I just need to get it over with!

6. GET MY DRIVER'S LICENSE
Even scarier! I just don't like driving, but I need to do it.

7. START A CARD-MAKING or ALTERED BOOK BUSINESS
This is a pretty recent development. I'll probably post more on this one, too.


That's it! 2009, here I come!