Altered Books

An altered book in it's simplest definition is taking an existing book and turning it into something else. My first altered book is called The Traveler's Tree. This was a magnificent way to encompass all of my formal design training from the University of Michigan and the papercrafting techniques I've learned over the past few years.

I love trees, so I kept the book's original title and used images and quotes I gathered over the years. The themes I chose were Life, Growth, Strength, and Change.

Some of the quotes I used for The Traveler's Tree were from books I read during my remission from Hodgkin's Disease (cancer of the lymph nodes). Making that book inspired me to create a new one based on my experiences with Hodgkin's, and my mother's recent battles with breast cancer. The name of this book is Fighting, Winning, & Living: A Battle with Cancer. The themes I chose were: Diagnosis, Treatment, Support, Remission, and Cure. This has been an emotional journey, to say the least, but I have also been able to introduce new techniques and materials. This is a work in progress, so I will add pages as I finish them. If you have any feedback or questions, I'd love to hear from you.

I do not consider myself to be a scrapbooker, but I do enjoy paper crafting. I love making cards for my friends and family and have dabbled a bit with decoupage. Here are samples of my latest work.

Handmade Cards

Decoupage