Ideas in the air.......

When I started blogging I was very much "into" altering books (hence the title of the blog....)then as I entered further into the blogging world I was drawn into other delights and didn't do much altering. There seems to be a plot afoot to get me back into it. When I spent the day with Jessie Chorley she spent some of the time preparing a book and that sent me home thinking I haven't done that for ages. Then Maggie posted the requirements for lesson 2 and it was an altered book. Finally I was contacted by someone from the Yahoo group Altered Books that I belonged to but hadn't visited for an age.

I rummaged around and found a book which I had half prepared. i.e the boring bit was done and I have tuned it into a journal. The book is blank pages ready for those meaningful thoughts but this is the first page, something I have wanted to make for ages.


Anyone who gets hooked by Maggies lesson will find the group very useful as there are loads of tips and experiences and some great pictures.

One of my big problems with altering books is that I think I have found the perfect book to alter and then when I get it home I find it is just to interesting or charming to alter and they are added to the other books I can't bear to part with. This happened when I was looking for a small book for Maggie's lesson. But more of that another day.

Narcissi in November.......

still a few Sweet Peas left too....
Just behind these early birds you can see the dreaded catalogues....this is what they look like in their full glory.

I see Maggie has suggested that it is time to bring them in, I would like the one on the left to have one more wetting. I will miss them out there, perhaps I will put another in their place.
Time to catch up with my other experiments from Maggie Grey's online tutorial which accompany her book Textile Translations
The outside

The inside in progress, I liked this effect so just enhanced it a little.

And here is the finished article


It has taken days but it was great fun and hopefully I wuill take up Maggie's challenge to use the technique on a shape of my own devising.
This is what I made out of one of my other Maggie experiments


and finally when I went to tweak one of the photographs of the teepee in PSP the Brightness/Contrast was on still on the setting from my last play and this is what it gave me.

Click on picture for full glory.

Couldn't wait.......

to get to grips with Maggie Grey's latest book Textile Translations. This is my interpretation of first "lesson"(it is step by step so easy to follow)


I was also impatient to try out one of the new spray colours I bought from Crafty Notions at Ally Pally(this one is Midnight Blueberry, more turquoise than I was hoping. Why are true blues so hard to find?)


Now I have to add a layer of sealant, so I'll think about that for a while. I am stopping myself from reading too far ahead, it is about time there was some discipline around here!!

I am also looking forward to taking part in the Fibre in-Form classes at the end of the month. Almost too much excitment.

Just for fun while I was scanning the sample I had a little play with a distortion layer in PSP.

The lettering is from a great blog called The Graphics Fairy