One of my favorite media is paper. I used it carte blanche. I can’t envision a collage without it. So, needless to say, I love paper stores. When I can’t make it to our local Indianapolis store, Dolphin Papers, I search the web. Ginko Papers is like walking into a Japanese paper store – virtually, of course!
Take a look for yourself — there’s a lot more than paper going on over there. And if you want to check out my mixed media work, pop on over to Mon Ami Designs.
This mixed media artist loves, loves, loves to travel! And the first thing I grab when in a new city is a map. In fact, I grab as many free maps as I can! I love them. I use the in all my altered books, and in many of my canvases. So when I saw these precious little beauties
at Mau Studio, I knew I’d found a gem. I have several blank journals waiting to altered or used for morning pages, but I believe that a girl can never have too many of them. And they are made from recycled tape cassettes! Parfait!
Sometimes, a mixed media artist needs a little inspiration. On occasion, I’ll dig through the trash, go window shopping (not very hospitable in Indianapolis right now) or root through my boxes of ephemera. Today though, I found Daisy Janie. Her fabric patterns are amazing! I want to break out the sewing machine right now and use this gorgeous stuff. And then my sharpies, and work on a sketch….
Living in Indiana, doesn’t do much for this mixed media artist. This means I travel a lot. In fact, I get the travel bug frequently. And much of my art is inspired by my travels. I love the idea of a passport holder, but the ones I have seen just aren’t me. I think I have finally met my match! Check out this fantastic (and yes, RECYCLED) passport holder! I love it:
Giraffe Passport Holder
To get your very own holder, you can skip on over to Paper N Stitch. Or to see my Paris inspired works, check out Mon Ami Designs.
If you haven’t guessed already, I love birds. And apparently, I’m in good company. I found the “bird nerd” over at ChelseArt. She also loves her birds. Check out these beauties:
Chickadeedeedee
Mod Nuthatch
As always, if you’d like to check out my work, you can see it at Mon Ami Designs.
I am a huge fan of line and color. In fact, I would say that these are the primary forces in my mixed media work. I found this wonderful site recently that really caught my eye. I love the springy-ness of these lovely flowers,
Blossom Bracelet
and the fact that they are recycled is even more appealing to me. You can check out more of these fantastic blossoms and such at Aster + Sage. It’s a great little shop with lots of goodies to offer.
I need my inspiration here in Indianapolis. It’s cold, wet and rainy. So I decided to flip through some of my favorite artists over at Etsy and remembered how much I like Brooke B. Her art uses my favorite color palette. And I just can’t resist the birds. Check out this gorgeous little gem.
As always, you can see my work over at Mon Ami Designs.
One of my favorite things to do is peruse the bookstore. I have my favorite sections. Unfortunately there are not many independent booksellers in Indianapolis, so I have been relegated to Half Price Books or Barnes and Noble. But even there a girl can be inspired.
I recently stumbled upon this little gem:
Can I just say I love all of these ideas?! And check out the blog that goes along with it: Button It Up!
What collage artist would not be drawn to such fun? And what collage artist doesn’t have a jar of buttons sitting around the studio just waiting to be used? I can’t wait to dig into mine. I have to make some magnets soon.
As always, check out Mon Ami Designs for more on my collage work.
As promised, here is an in-depth look at my Paris Altered Book. It is the only finished book in my library of altered books, and I have to say I love it the most. I started it prior to going and wrote in it while in Paris. I collected goo-gobs of “eurotrash” as my dh so kindly put it. I even packed up the phone book from the hotel room! I finished this after we got home.
I created this pop-up using old metro tickets. The background is composed of a metro map and photos I took of my favorite metro stop.
My dh and I standing in the middle of the Champs Elysees! We were convinced by our driver that it was ok. I made the little drawers using matchboxes and vintage buttons. It’s one of my favorite elements in the book.
I also love the interaction of this page. We saw the Louvre in one day – which is incredibly tough! My dh took this lovely photo of the “DaVinci Code Pyramid” as I like to call it. I used it as a flap book. You can see some of the journaling here:
This was possibly one of my most favorite projects to date. I hope to get the opportunity to make several more of these, from several other beautiful cities!
One of my favorite discoveries has to be altered books. I love the freedom and creativity they allow. They were actually my gateway into the art world. I just loved to explore all the different techniques they inspired and the finished form is just breathtaking. No two are ever the same. If you’ve never seen an altered book, you should check out the International Society of Altered Book Artists. There is so much to see there. You won’t be disappointed.
These are a few of my favorite altered book spreads.
This was one of my first ever spreads. I used an old CD to make a spinner and a starbucks sleeve to create the female form.
This one was actually published in the ISABA magazine for use of metal in a book. I love the whimsy here.
And then there’s my pride and joy, my Paris book — created before, during and after a trip to the most captivating city in Europe! I’ll give you a taste of it today, but tune in tomorrow for an in-depth look.
