Yay! Skinny Book Pages Done!! 100th Post- Leave a Comment for a Chance for Altered Art Goodies and Ephemera; Surprises Too!

What better way to celebrate a 100th post than to be all done with a major project. After more than two weeks and at least 48 hours of work, I just finished 54 4 x 8 pages (27 when assembled) for ZNE sponsor The Altered Abbey's Skinny Book Swap by owner and fellow ZNE member Chrysti Hydeck here: http://www.alteredabbey.com/shop/ and here http://chysti.wordpress.com/ and here http://www.alteredabbey.com/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/skinnybook.htm. She's a busy thing, that Chrysti.

I was first inspired by her work in issue No. 13 of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine. I barely made the cut-off to sign up for the books. She was hosting four books of 25 pp. each and I was No. 23 of the last book. Yikes! The book I will be in does not have to be all originals, but I did 18 originals and 9 highly-embellished high-quality photo copies. I can't even tell which is which, so I hope all recipients will be pleased.

Crazy Chrysti then decided to host two more books, this time for charity auctions, hence the 27 total pages I am sending (and one for her). Imagine, she will have her own book of more than 100 different pages! How beautiful that will be! It will be hard to wait for the finished project. I will get one of my own pages back. I did not photograph all 27, so some I will never see again.

I started with heavy weight paper for acrylic paint, cut it to size and then painted every page with a variety of solid, gel and fluid acrylics. I tried some of Chrysti's techniques from the CPS article, such as brayering pages together, painting over lace, etc. I then attached pages in sets of fronts and backs and began to embellish with paper ephemera. I did gel medium transfers, collage, added transparencies, rubber stamping, metal charms, eyelets, fibers, beads, word pebbles, gold leaf and silver leaf and then I sealed each page.

Speaking of 100th Post, I can't believe it has only been two and a half months since I started my blog. It is one of the best things I have ever done. It has forced me to learn my equipment: computer, scanner, camera, printer. It has forced me to learn web-based technology, and it has given me a chance, albeit brief, to get back to my writing. Plus it lets me share my art with the masses (even if the masses are few).

So, in honor of my 100th post, I have 3 or more large batches of goodies like those pictured from my recent haul: old bottles, old jewelry, old Bingo parts, collage papers, scrap papers, vintage cards, stickers, and I will be drawing names Monday night from among those who leave me a comment here in my 100th post. So say hello, and watch for an annoucement in two days. That should give people time to visit. I will get the goodies/freebies right out next week.