Tuesday 24 May 2011

The skeleton in the cupboard and other tales....

Good morning you all. Just managed to roll myself out of bed and stagger to the coffee machine to get myself in gear. Had strange dreams all night, and feel rather shattered just now, but I think by the third bucket of coffee I should be fine!
Yesterday I started on 2 more books. One is a concertina book, and the other is just an altered note book. The note book has been painted with gesso and then covered with decopatch paper, that has been flying around here for some years. After covering it I gave it 2 coats of mod-podge to make it a bit more finger-print resistant, added some end papers inside made from the beuatiful bags from LaBlanche, my fave crafty supplier, and added a ribbon with some beads as book mark. Now I have a pretty note and sketch book to take with me and jot down all those ideas which invariably occur when I have nothing to write on!
























The second book is a concertina album. The covers are made of wood-board. I covered them first with pages from my antique book, painted them with mod podge, and added the photos when it was quite dry. The photos - of my Mum as a little girl, and my Great Auntie, were both taken in 1918, at the end of the First World War. They have been printed onto trnsfer foil and ironed onto canvas. I frayed the edges a bit before fixing them on, and then added some lace and beads. As the book can be used and opened from both sides, I will have 13 pages to use for phtos, and there are some smaller pages sewn in between, which will be nice for journaling.


I will report on the progress of the album in the next few days.

Then I made something really and truly horrible, ghastly, scary. If you are squeamish, shut your eyes before looking! There's a blog called *Haunted House Designs* where they like ghastly things, a sort of all year Halloween programme. Their challenge this week is to make *necro neckwear*! As the only 2 festivities that get celebrated in my house are halloween and my birthday (both horrible occasions!) I thought it's never to early to start making the decorations, so I'll stop rambling and show you my altered pearl necklace:

It is complete with lots of bones (Alas, poor Yorick!), wobbly eyes, a large red bead to represent gellied blood and a bell to call the dead....And I was wondering why I had bad dreams last night! What did Shakespeare say in *Hamlet* - *I could be bounded in a nutshell, and still think myself king of infinite space, were it not that I had bad dreams!*
(NB - she seems to be awake now if she's using quotes!)
And on this lovely note I will leave you for today. Have a great day, take care and thanks for visiting!

30 comments:

  1. The photograph of your Mom is incredibly beautiful! And your Great Aunty .. also such a lovely lady. You've been busy again Valerie! Your books are great --- however --- your necklace ... well your necklace is absolutely so much MORE. I love it! Such an imagination. You obviously had FUN ... that's my motto ... we must have lots of the "F" word. I was supposed to be lunching with a friend today - however, no water in their neighbourhood so she's home improvising a way to get water for the next few days. .. hmmmmm ... what shall I do today?? Have a good one Valerie.

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  2. Fabulous work again Valerie, beautiful photo's of your Mum and Great Auntie and I love the necklace, off to check out Haunted House Designs. Have a great day.
    xxx Hazel.

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  3. Valerie, I love how you use old photos in your work. I've done a fair bit of research into my family tree and keep meaning to do something with the photos, maybe a mini book is the way to go? Love the necklace, especially the googly eyes. Have a fun day. xx

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  4. Lovely work as always, loving your horror necklace, too, better not let my dd see that one! Hugs, Sarah

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  5. Great books and the necklace made me laugh. I have started a little book with all the beautiful bits you sent me. My first ever altered book! Question. What are end pages?

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  6. The end pages are the pages between the cover and the *proper* pages.

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  7. Hi
    Well I fell in love with the first artwork until I saw the concertina with the family photographs. Oh my word I LOVE these.
    I have some La Blanche stamps from QVC but know of no other UK supplier. Their stamps are such good quality.
    Wishes
    Lynne

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  8. I love the eyes in the necklace, so very spooky! Lovely books too, I love the lace and pearls. ~Diane (Google is playing games again!)

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  9. Blogger is an absolute pain in the ass today! I can't even leave a message on my own blog as I can't sign in, now i'm anonymous!

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  10. Wonderful, creative work, especially the skeleton neckwear. I am sure Halloween lovers would really enjoy wearing this. :-)

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  11. Thanks, I know I will! I always hated that boring pearl necklace, but now....

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  12. that necklace is fabulously odd! I love it! very pretty other projects, too!

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  13. Superb necklace, very creative. Also great work on the notebooks they look excellent x

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  14. Your mini book is going to look lovely, but your spooky necklace is fab! Your imagination and creativity knows no bounds!

    Love your ducks and bride from yesterday too!

    Hugs, Carole xxx

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  15. Hi Valerie, I havent been able to leave a comment on your blog before now, Blogger seems to be playing silly bloggers again and wont let me leave comments on some blogs, grrrr. Am going to try to leave a message as Anonymous.

    oo-er, not surprised you had bad dreams after making that necklace! love the books though, and it's always nice to see that photo of your mum. Have a good day. CoB

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  16. yay! it worked that time. CoB

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  17. Blogger is playing silly buggers today, let's see how it will be tomorrow!

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  18. Wonderfully wicked necklace! LOVE the googly eyes!
    Thanks so much for playing along with us this week at HDH!

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  19. Fabulous works of art, Valerie!

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  20. Wow, Valerie, your work is amazing as always! Would you be my Guest Artist for this coming weekend on my magazine blog? Just let me know...You don't need to do anything...I would post your art!
    XO
    Cindy

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  21. Lovely work again Val! Havea great evening, hugs, Barb

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  22. More amazing work Val. The little notebook is lovely but that concertina book is beautiful - what fabulous pictures of your Mum and Aunt.
    The necklace is "different" -I'm not surprised you had bad dreams!lol
    Hugs xx

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  23. Hi Valerie, Wonderful books and that necklace is so much fun, you are a star! I see you're famous now and being offered a guest artist place, congratulations you talented lady. Have fun :0) xxx

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  24. Hi Valerie, wow what wonderful pieces. I love that notebook so beautifully made. Your necklace is well different. I am not really into that sort of thing but you have put it together with much creativity. LOL
    Watch the mail, your box went out last week for my Giveaway.
    Take care and keep the creativity going.
    Lesley

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  25. More gorgeous fun! Love the books and the old photos are amazing! Love the necklace too..so fun and a bit frightful! :)

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  26. Hi Valerie. I finished that little book. Come and have a peek
    http://www.sesenarts.com/2011/05/my-first-art-book.html

    Julie

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  27. Everything here is so wonderful! I especially love your "bloody" bead! Awesome idea!

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  28. Beautiful books, but OMG!!!! I WANT that necklace!!!! It's absolutely FABULOUS! Thanks for playing along with MM at HDH this week. xxD

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  29. Oh that necklace is glorious, I love the splash of blood red! Thanks very much for playing along with our Necro Neckwear challenge at HDH :D

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