Altered By Me

I have been busy this week making paper for the 2007 Swatch Swap on the yahoo papermaking group. This will be the third swap that I have taken part in. If your a paper maker or are interested in learning to make your own handmade paper please check out the group. There are alot of very experienced people just waiting to help you learn. All of my handmade paper is made from cotton linters and plant fibers that I have harvested either on our property or near where I live. I live out in the country in Florida and have a vast amount of plant fibers to choose from. Each year I like to try a new plant fiber for my swatches. This year I picked a vine that grows just down the road from my house. The vine is the bright yellow carpet draping down over the ground. I had to contact my local extension service to ID this plant. I was told it is Dodder Vine. It is an invasive plant that after I researched I was skeptical about bringing any of it near our five acres. I was very careful while harvest

Ever since I bought Sally Jean's book "Pretty Little Things" I have been dying to try my hand at soldering. But I am sure like alot of you I don't want to buy more supplies for a another project. I really am trying to curb my spending and avoid running out and buying new supplies for yet another project. Soldered glass charms and other items made with solder are beautiful but I am not sure it is something that I would want to keep doing after experimenting. Recently on one of my yahoo groups someone mentioned that Micheal's craft store was now carrying the Ranger Memory Glass at a reasonable price. Price is another thing I pay close attention to so I ran down to the local Micheal's and snapped up the last pack of the 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 inch container of Ranger Memory Glass. I guess I'm not the only one interested in this type of project around here. I also found some metal tape. I bought it knowing I would need it but not sure how I was going to go about this

My nine year old daughter Audrey is a little artist in the making. She insisted I put a picture of her beautiful art work on my blog for all to see. Just like her Mom. She is so proud of herself because she made this piece all by herself. No help from me. What you can't tell from the picture, is that the cut out snakes she made are from a piece of textured scrapbook paper. The paper is so cool. It feels like the skin of a reptile. She also made a beautiful collage for her teacher before school let out for the summer. I am really proud of her she is very talented and has been drawing and painting since she was old enough to hold a paint brush.