I've finished Abby's album and another LAC piece

I finished my pages for Abby's album today. The theme of this album is The Blues and I have to admit I did not know a lot about this. Abby had included a music CD in her album to give us some idea of what the music was like and I listened to this several times after the album arrived. I had also read an article in the newspaper about the death of James Brown and saved a quotation by him. Then I checked out musical fabrics on www.equilter.com and found several really beautiful ones, which also fitted in nicely with Abby's chosen colour scheme. Finally I made a fabric collage with blues pictures, music napkins and the text of Singing the Blues incorporated in it. For my first spread I layered up several of the musical fabrics with batting and added blues pictures I had printed out on fabric. The one of the quartet playing I printed out at a larger size than the pixels really allowed to get a hazy image as I imagine the places where the blues were played must have been seen through a haze of cigarette smoke. I used this picture twice and beaded around the edges. I added the James Brown quote, again printed on fabric, this time in label form so I could stick it straight on. I found a charm of a guitar and added this, glueing it but also holding it down with a bead.

On the second page, I choose the piano fabric as my background, added a strip of a different musical fabric and added a square of my fabric collage featuring the word Blues. I added pictures of one blues player, one larger one and 3 smaller ones for balance. I cut a smaller piece from the collage with the text of Singing the Blues and added it to the right hand corner. I think this page is my favourite as I was really pleased with my collage and also because the piece reads like a smoky, hazy athmosphere. I hope I did Abby's Blues justice!



Now it will be time to start thinking about August, my theme for Deann's album. I choose August as that's when my birthday is and also I love the summer months! I've already made the fabric collage which will serve as its starting point!



Finally I had quite a bit of the Blues collage left over and decided to make a Lost Art Creations ATC with this, which is also ATC no. 48 of my 100 ATC project. This is it, called Reverse of Fortune. The boy image is from LAC Boys to Men inkjet vellum sheet, the ribbon from one of the vintage trim packs, the bingo charm from LAC Artbit pack 0236 and the cigar band came from one of Terrie's gifts she sends out with your order. I love cigar bands and they always make me feel nostalgic as my grandfather (opa) had a large collection. No idea where it is now but seeing one brings the memories flying back. I love the story I thought up, with the men lounging about in the background and the innocent boy in front but I leave you to think up your own tale!