my first journal book

hey I finally got a blog that is closer than months apart....there is hope for me after all. I just finished my first journal book for a swap. it is in the style or genre of 'steampunk'. it is kinda a funny story, I was reading an article in the last 'somerset studio' the may/june 2009 magazine by stampington. the article is called 'collages honor the spirit of steampunk'. when I saw the pictures of the artists pieces and read the article.........I had that feeling of finding my way home. I have always loved to do collage and altered art, I often try to put my own emotion and flavor in all of my work. when asked what style my work is called, I would often respond 'a vintage altered art collage style'. I never really thought my collage art had a 'real' style, but after reading this article I realized there is a name for the style and theme work that I love to do. this article talks about the genre and work called 'steampunk' and it is me! my style really does have a name....woohooo. the altered art collage work that uses vintage photos, old buttons, gears, movable pieces and ephemera that is along the style of the steam engine era. then not even a week after reading this article, I was lucky enough to join a swap with some other artists that is a journal book in the steampunk theme. how cool is that! getting to do my very first journal book and in the theme I love. in the swap each artist makes a cover front and back. you make a sign in page on the first two pages, for the artists to put their personal info. and I did a two page spread at the end of the book that is my artwork. I send the journal off and each of the other artists in the swap do a two page spread in their own steampunk style, then send it to the next artist to do the same. after each artist has done a two page spread in your journal, it is mailed back to you and you have a wonderful finished and one of a kind book. I took a whole lot of pictures to show my cover, sign in pages, and two page spread before mailing it off for the other artists to do their artwork. this project was a blast and I enjoyed it alot. if you would like to see all of the photos, I uploaded them in my flickr page. you can see them at www.flickr.com/photos/artsygemini . I hope you can take a second and look at them, and if you have time tell me what you think!