Scraps Of Time

apologies accepted, on with the holidays!

i wrote to the editor of somerset studio magazine, who had guided me through the process of getting published, and informed her of the condition of the altered book that they had returned to me in shreds. she was apologetic and informed me that new checkpoints have been  put into place so that the editors will be informed of any mishaps. she also told me that it was she who had put the adhesive on the tags with the manufactures reassurance that it would be safe with paper and that no adhesive whatsoever will be used on any art work from now on. i feel that what they have done to assure that others will not experience what dede and i have, are good positive steps and i do look forward to and feel confident in submitting other books or art pieces to the magazine, in the future! i will just make sure that i am in possession of the piece and not one of my friends, family or customers!

it is time to get on with holiday festivities and good cheer!

but this week in this great northwest of ours, a new weather front is moving in and we are once again, getting slightly nervous. we are expecting extremely high winds (which actually have already started!) and pouring rain, lightening and it is to continue through tomorrow morning! winds sustained at 35 to 45 mph with gusts to 75 mph! and snow on saturday! the last storm caused a 100 foot tree to topple, fortunately, it fell between everyones homes and other trees so no damage except to its poor self! so sad, and scary!

our fingers are crossed! the candles are out, the wood is chopped! have a good night - we will hold on tight -we're in for a bumpy ride! -rebecca

today was not my favorite day!

i will start by explaining that the two books that i had published in the gallery magazine were both bought by dede, who had asked if she could enter them in the juried art show that stampington was hosting, which i was more than excited to do, because i had always loved their legacy publication. she did and they chose both books to be in their gallery magazine. all fine and good, good, good! until... today.

my friend, dede, poor dede, opened her books that i had forwarded to her, after receiving them from stampington at the end of last month, well, actually, i had sent them to her about a week after i had gotten them, because that was the week of our 6" snowfall, then she was out of town for a bit, so she actually had them at her door last week, which was bad timing, because, she was so busy with family visitors, that she never took them out of the box until today, when we were talking on the phone. phew, take a breath. anyway, she removed the little love book first and was quite surprised to see that all the tiny tags with the famous twosomes on them were glued to the pages, what was that all about?! glued? how could they do that? while i was still scratching my head over that, she removed the seaside altered book and what do you think? omg rebecca, omg! geesh, not only were all the tags, but three, glued to the pages, but, the book itself was split down the middle and torn apart on different pages! omg! i cannot believe it! not a note enclosed, NOTHING! what is that all about??!! has this happened to anyone else?

after closer inspection, and me repeating in her ear, i believe we were both in shock, they couldn't glue the books! they wouldn't GLUE the books! she realized, the glue they used was that gooey, rubbery stuff that one finds on products from the stores - you know the stuff? well, she tried to remove the tags, very carefully, some actually tore the pages but all came off eventually. the love book is just okay, she says, but the altered album - well, tags are all stained on the backside, which is a small matter when compared to the book itself as you can see - what a mess!

i am highly disappointed! not even a note of apology! a simple we are sorry, a simple there was a problem, geesh! i only wish now, that i had taken the books out to look at them before i had forwarded them to dede. they were well packaged with bubble wrap and ghost turds, i had decided it would be better if i just sent them on down. what a mistake!

well, so sad, as dede said, "i don't want to think about it anymore!" i will now make some hot cocoa, sit at my work desk and continue with my next christmas album. goodnight all, geesh dede, i don't think this publishing thing was such a good idea after all - huh? sigh. -rebecca

published in somerset studio gallery

want a sneak peek? stampington just sent me their somerset studio gallery magazine that will be out on december 1 with my books in it! woohoo! we were all grabbing it, try to see what it looked like, very exciting! they do a great job of photographing the materials they get - i love the way these turned out! dede, aren't they gorgeous?! huh? these are books that dede bought from me, and she entered them in a juried art show at the art bar in southern california, way back in june. i am thrilled to see them in this magazine! the actual books arrived at my door this last week, poor dede - i will get them out to you in the morning and then you may actually get to fill them with all of the photos that you had in mind for them! the magazine arrived today, unexpected, unassuming; covered with a piece of white paper, with the rest of the mail. jess spotted it first "somerset studio gallery"  written on the white cover paper and all hell broke out after! very fun! 7 page spread too! geesh! gotta go read the rest of the mag. have a great night! -rebecca

 

yippee!

i just recieved the long awaited letter from stampington & company! my books are going to be published in their somerset studio  studio 6 magazine coming out on december 1!

                                            

jenny doh and kellene giloff, editors at stampington, at the artbar juried art show, with my books.

woohoo!

i also posted dede's book on 2-peas and added it to my album located there.

today i'm putzing around getting the house in order for my sisters visit, she'll be coming in tomorrow night from anchorage - so excited! we have lots to talk about and lots she would like to do.

if anything else pops up, i'll add-on. it would be nice to get this book fixed today, it's one of two that needs repair!

            

does this look familiar to anyone? has this happened to you? frustrating huh? when will i ever learn not to "overstuff" my pages??! geesh.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

craziness

well, well, today is tuesday and my very organized and patient daughter, jessica, and i have been working extremely hard at entering photos in the gallery! we have stayed up until 3am for two nights to try and put this together. phew, two albums completed two more to go.

the reason we are going through all this craziness is because, last month, stampington publishers had a juried art show and two of my books were chosen to appear in their magazines! i am so excited! what a thrill! rumor has it that at least one of them is going in the "legacy" magazine, which is my favorite, all time mag!                                     

                                     - sneak peek-

             

this altered book album is called "Seaside Memories". i used real hawaiian sand - woohoo, shells, fishnet, natural fibers, bamboo clips and other fun stuff. anyway, i felt like i could use this blog to showcase my other work, and to, perhaps, share the process of changing direction in my creative endeavors.

i've been selling mini albums in ebay for almost three years now, starting with Halloween accordion albums then progressing to larger mini albums.

       

in the mean time, i was experimenting with altered books. one day or night really, i had made a drawer in a book and when i took it out of press, it stood open and reminded me of one of my mini albums, so the idea was born: create an altered book album! so, i pulled out all of my scrapbooking papers and started to glue and glue and glue some more. my first altered book album i put on ebay was "believe" a fairy album i created using cicely mary barker's beautiful flower fairies