Altered Ancestors

Altered Ancestors book page -- great grandfather "Free bird, yea"

I've been busy like crazy this week finishing my Altered Ancestors book pages for the ATT Altered Ancestors Little Fat Book swap...whew...say that fast.  ATT is the All Things Tim (Holtz) group I joined last year.  I saw this swap posted, and since I had never altered any photos like that before I thought I'd give it a try. 

Also, was the fact that just last year my cousin, Kathy, gave me an awesome pocket watch that belonged to my great-great Grandfather, who passed it down to his son, who passed it down to his son, who passed it down to my cousin...who passed it down to me.  That's a lot of passing around...but I do have a point. 

When my cousin gave it to me, she showed me the picture of my great-great Gpa inside.  It looked like an old postage stamp--but it was SO cool when I got it home and photographed it and found out that it was taken in St. Louis!  Funny, since I live close to STL now--though home is in another state! 

Anyway, I was fiddling around with the pocket watch and noticed a small gap on the other side--and what'd ya know, but it opened to reveal a picture of my great Gpa and my great-great Gpa's name etched inside.  It was my great grandfather's photo I used in my altered design.  I think he might have enjoyed it, as he was a bit of a "free bird" himself.

Here's a bit of trivia--my cousin Kathy, also known as Suzanne Walker (stage name), danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the Oklahoma scene of Baryshnikov on Broadway while I was still in high school.  Click HERE to watch the 4 min. YouTube video, she comes on the scene at 1:21 in the video.  Growing up, I always wanted to be like her.  =)



Back to my book pages...I needed to make 11 pages, so I made them all the same except for a few changes:  the sizes of the keys (rusted grunge--these were fun to make), and adding a bit of color to various facial features using Stormy Sky Distress re-inker.  For the back of the page I used the filmstrip die for my "Credits" and two different stamps: the "Time" quote & "clock" stamp went perfectly for my "back story".  I like having a bit of a story to special projects I make.

I used all Tim Holtz products, except for my fibers.  These were a lot of fun to make, but time consuming...considering I lost three that I had made!  Who does that?  Seriously, I looked all over the house thinking I must've carried them out of my craft room (which I scoured top to bottom)...but they were nowhere to be found.  I had to run out and buy another paper stash to finish the last three.  [sigh]

Off to the mail!

Thanks for stopping by!  Lisa