House and Home Accordion Book

I didn't have this ready for Kate's birthday in May but that was OK since she came for 10 days of pure play in June and it was finished by then. Plus I got to see her reaction which was great. We had the book stretched out on the buffet so that the "House" side was facing out and the "Home" side showed in the mirror. She saw the first side and told me how much she liked my new house book. Then I pointed out the images of her new home and of her and Bill in the mirror and told her it was her house book.

I had read about a new technique in "Flavor for Mixed Media" by Mary Beth Shaw of filling a background with patches of color with pastels and then painting over those with a layer of gesso. I used it for most of the backgrounds for the pages. It gave incredibly subtle colors. The bookform itself was a diecut kit of lightweight chipboard house shaped pieces. After the "House" side was done, I felt as if my brainpower was down to one bar or less so my friend Pam got me back in shape to work on the nine "home" collages with a few suggestions.