She painstakingly wrote her name on the back of each one
detail 10,000 lire note
The mustard is blooming, the sun is chasing away the fog, and the ocean cliffs beckon - I'm off for a walk along Moonstone Beach in Cambria. Enjoy your weekend!
The RED! journal was the first one I received in the mail in the 13 Journals Group round-robin.
I was especially happy with the copper metallic pen on the embossed background paper that picked up the copper foil along the page edges.
This is a delightful romp with eye candy galore. Over-sized and outrageously colourful. A myriad of ideas and jumping off points for not only interior decorating, but wearable art, mixed media art and the art of living. Carolyn Quartermaine Revealed was published in 1997, but holds up well. I found a used copy in 2005 for around $15.00. Used prices on Amazon are up to $72.00 now! But try your library or local used book shops - always a chance of a bargain.
And here, a print that I made,
Well, the nuts and bolts of the matter are - nuts and bolts. 
When you really need to "hold that assemblage together"!
You can imagine that 2 artistic types would always find more exciting things to do than clean the house - and we do. But it does reach that point when something must be done! So, we have bitten the bullet and every Monday (mutual day off) for two months we are tackling an area of the house and doing the massive Spring cleaning thing. So far, upstairs we've done the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and hall. Next week is the great room, a big chuck of which I use as part of my studio. We're still not crazy about cleaning - but we are very happy with the results. Next month - the downstairs! If we could just get Hazel to come over and help!
If you're ever in Philadelphia don't miss the Magic Garden of Mosaics on South Street. This creation of artist Isaiah Zagar began in 1994 and through community support became a non-profit organization in 2002.
Not only mosaics, but lots of found objects decorate the walls, gates and pathways.
Open every day - an artful and truly inspiring experience. Read Lynne Perrella's story of her wonderful time spent in the Magic Garden.
Welcome to spring! And a beautiful Great Blue Heron gliding with great elegance and grace along the harbour shore.
Autumn, my favourite time of year, so it was an added pleasure working on this one of the 13 Journals when it came. I had been collecting leaves for a few months prior to be ready, and loved the pewter twig I found.
An oldie, but goodie. I never tire of delving into this timeless volume. 12 months of a year in the English countryside are chronicled; handwritten text and lovely watercolours and sketches of nature in all her abundant glory. Edith Holden penned this delightful diary over 100 years ago and yet it remains as fresh and lovely as a budding daffodil or the spring song of the thrush on the green.
My friend Joen is the master enabler! She has found me more wonderful old rusty stuff than the rest of my friends put together. But I think she may have topped herself this time.
It's a tin can, still sealed, top and bottom both intact. What ever was inside has vanished, reduced to a few grains that you can hear if you shake it. It is marvelously rusty and mangled.
View from Hwy 46 between Cambria and Paso Robles, early evening - love that green! And yes that is the ocean in the distant upper left.
When I found out the colours for this one of the 13 Journals, my mind went directly to Mexico - I mean, pink and yellow? Gotta be! I had a huge stash of ephemera that would work for this project, including loteria cards, papel picado banners and vintage photos.
As I remember it's the one that I finished in record time. Usually the journals would sit on my art table for 3 weeks and than I'd finally get them done in the last few days, but this one almost made itself!
Haven't we all been waiting with bated breath for Michael Demeng's new book? Well, it's here! Copies are now available, mine has just arrived from Amazon. More wonder and madness from the King of Assemblage (accent on the final syllable and a long a please!). Lots of great pictures and projects all with a south of the border flavour. Waiting for the weekend to have time to sit down and take my time enjoying every last page.
We all know about this - getting very anxious to start in a new journal as we get close to finishing the old one. I've been in the current one since mid-July. It's a bit bigger than usual and I'm looking forward to working smaller again for awhile.
This new one is a vintage Dickens with marvelous marbled endpapers and page edges.
The eyelets have the added advantage of providing perfect places to attach ribbons, charms and other embellishments. 
Milk bottle tops - I can just barely remember these cardboard disks being used in my childhood, before they were replaced with ones covered with coloured foil that crimped down over the tops of the bottles.
Gathered at antique street fairs and shops, they add a bright spot to a journal page or altered book, and interesting designs can be formed using a dozen or more at once.
Two bird cages: an ornate green one I've had for a couple of years - a great score at a hole in the wall antique/junk shop in Castroville , and the small wire and wood French Market one that was a birthday gift last month. This weekend they both had new tenants move in. A vintage ceramic bird that belonged to my aunt, arising from a broken ostrich egg now calls the one above home.
Absolutely Alice 
My timing, for once, was superb, as the new movie was announced about 6 months after I finished the piece. All it's missing is a photo of Johnny Depp!
photo courtesy Frances West
This was the white journal from the 13 Journals Group. The substrata was a vintage stamp album. So everyone got to pick a country to do their spreads on. I was very happy when the book came in the mail to me and no one had chosen the England pages yet. With white and England to fuel my creativity I decided on an Edwardian shopping spree. Vintage sewing notions, advertisements, postcards, a long kidskin glove and a bow rescued from a bridesmaid dress all added to the fashion fun.
I was especially pleased with the glove. I attached the top to the back page with long brads and then flipped the finger section over the front of the page. It could be lifted to see the contents of the front page.
