Altered Books are my current craft-drug of choice

I remember seeing Altered art a few years ago and wondering why anyone would even consider doing something so non-sensical. It all seemed so pointless. You'd think that someone who thrives on self-expression would understand the whole concept behind it, but it took me a while to catch on. Once I DID catch on, though, a whole new world opened up to me.

Altered books are my favorite type of altered art to work on. I have always loved books, but there have been times when I've wanted to "modify" them. The rules our parents gave us is that we're NOT supposed to write in books, tear out the pages, etc. Paper, to me, is a canvas waiting to be filled. The best thing about being a grown-up and world of altered books is that there ARE NO RULES!!! I can do whatever I want to my book. It's an open canvas, waiting for me to pounce on it!

I can unleash my creative and expressive self on my altered projects. I can use paints, stamps, glue, my X-acto knife, scissors......bascially, ANYTHING goes.

Here's a couple pages from a book I completed at the beginning of the year for a friend:

Click here to see the rest of the pages in this book....

Comments

[Nicole]

This rocks. I've been thinking of trying something like that with a kids book of Katie's. Turn a creepy book into a work of art! ;)

[Donna]

You rock! I'm fairly new to paper-crafting and am constantly shown yet ANOTHER avenue to venture down! I need to start looking at things differently and using the wild imagination I know I had as a kid. Your work is (and this is a compliment) like a childs, but with experience, knowledge and technique! Your imagination is limitless and that's WONDERFUL!