So, I'm back

Once again I let days get by me without getting on here. Mostly I was too busy reading other blogs to do any posting of my own. And I guess I just didn't have anything much to say and nothing to show. It's the January doldrums but they last until April!!
I do have a couple things to show today! One is just a non-sense play thing and the other a collage bookmark. I think a piece of mail art may arrive at a Fairy house today and then I can show that also.

So here's the fun part. This is one of those little wooden manikins used for posing when learning to draw bodies in motion. You know, one of those things you have to have and then you never use it? This gets moved from shelf to shelf, looks over me and taunts me. It always worried me because it was faceless and up here in the North, you really can't stand around naked for long without freezing or getting frost bite! So I gave that Manikin a face and then found it some clothes;  now it's a LADYKIN and doesn't bother me anymore. I know.....I never said I was a sane person!

Her face was a doodled face done on the art table covering, you know one of those things you do mindlessly while watching TV or something. When I changed the covering I ripped off and saved a tidbit here and there for use in collages.

 I taped this face to the blank head and she's been standing there with just a face, naked, freezing on the shelf right in the window! Last night I decided she really needed some clothes on so I sifted through images and found this suit cut from a sewing pattern. I posed her to fit the suit and taped it in place! Now I have a Ladykin who isn't bugging me any longer! Should I decide I really need to use the ladykin, like I should, the suit just pulls right off.

A while back I picked up a few cheap notebooks and thought I'd use them for journals. They were wire bound and had some pocket pages, too. But they were cheap....like a $1.00 so really had thin paper. I started working in one and right away knew I'd have to glue 3 or 4 pages together to do any art on them. So I did that and decided to fold several pages together and glue as half pages and so forth. I started to do art on the pages and the more I did, the harder it was to turn the pages because all that paint and medium was sticking to the wire. Then one page got so stiff it started to tear away from the wire. So, I had a teensy fit and ripped all the pages away! They will now be used as tip ins in another project someday. I need to learn how to keep the paint and such away from the wire binding if I want my pages to open/turn. I took one of the folded pages and just played with it some more and decided, even though it was a little wide, it would still make a dandy bookmark! So I continued doing layers and collaged both sides. I just kept playing with it and laying it aside, but last night I finally finished it, except for adding some tassels and stuff.

So this is 3 thin sheets of notebook paper glued together, folded over and glued again. Next was layers of torn printed card stock and several metallic paints, some other ephemera bits and pieces, glitter, cheese cloth, a bit of crocheted lace, images and more paper bits and a bit of stamping, covered with glossy Mod Podge and a touch of irridescent gesso.  The red poppy is cut from a napkin, outlined with a white gel pen, the little Fairy girl is from a collage sheet from Lisa's Art. I can't find the little siblings to give any credit but when I do I'll come back and add it. I think the bookmark will be a B'day gift to my Mom who is an avid reader! I think clicking on the pictures will gave a bigger clearer look.