The basketball weekend: an ATC book

I've had a fun three day weekend. My head has been in the clouds because I love basketball. Since this was a week I wasn't teaching my Altered Book class (see my right sidebar if you have missed any of these lessons), I decided to make other art, instead. Now I knew I would be watching TV most of the weekend, so I wasn't about to stand and watch it in my craft room (where I have one of two TVs, the other being in my office) all weekend. So I needed a small project.

It seems like I've gotten inspiration from several of my friends this week. This time it came from Dianne at Art Beneath the Cottonwoods. The project was the perfect size for TV watching.

I first printed out some photos and cropped them to ATC size. Of course, that made a few of the photos stretch a bit in one direction or another. Also, I think my color is gone in my printer, because I printed them on "best image" setting.

Here is one of the photos I took from the NBA All-Stars web site, and you can see how much color I lost.

Let me walk you through my weekend, as I describe it and the book made from ATC sized pages (2.5 X 3.5 inches).

On Thursday, I watched the Wheelchair Challenge. I was quite impressed with the men (yep, all men) who used their basketball skills while negotiating their wheelchairs. Says something for and about the disabled!

On Friday, I started with the All-Star Celebrity Game, which had no time outs, except for quarters and commercials. The time clock continued even when free throws were shot. It just goes to show, "Celebs" get preferential treatment.


Continuing on Friday night, I watched the All-Star Rising Star Challenge. I admit, I love the fast break, and this game was full of them. It was non-stop and very fast paced from beginning to end, so none of this standing around, passing the ball around the perimeter for 24 seconds like in many boring basketball games!

I really messed up the front, even after I scanned it the first time. I had forgotten the phrase "Got Game" I found that I made years ago using embossing powder heated on a transparency. When I went to add it to the cover, I accidentally scraped the embossed powder off. I tried to repair it using a gold ink pen, but I believe I only made it worse.

Throughout the week, there were lots of jam sessions and workshops. Here, Pau Gasol, the Lakers (yep, I'm a dyed in the wool Lakers fan) center and power forward, signs a lucky boy's jersey. I think you can read the sentiment, which I put on the left side of each page.

I began this book while watching All-STARS Saturday night. It featured Shooting Stars, the Skills Challenge, the Three-Point contest, and the Slam Dunk contest. It was fun watching the young players who will soon be famous, as they dunked the basketball. And one of the long time players, Tony Parker of the Spurs, won the Skills Challenge. It was his third appearance in this event. The first time in 2003, he took last place. Third time really IS a charm!

The left page has the only 3-D element in the book, a small puzzle piece. I didn't want this book to be too thick, although I did quite a bit of collage fodder layering. Now I'm not sure what the Lakers mascot looks like, but I can surmise it isn't one that looks like these guys on the right page. However, they were both so cute, I couldn't resist the photo, especially of the "guy" on the left with the basketball nose that looked more like a tennis ball to me.

For the women's page, even though I don't think of women basketball players as overly feminine, I wanted a page representing a softer side. Therefore, I used a bit of my leftover "love" deli paper and a sticker rose from Mrs. Grossman, along with other bits of collage fodder.

The left page of this two page spread represents the colors of the Lakers, yellow and purple. The boy is wearing Kobe Bryant's number on his shirt.  I found the star ticket that seemed perfect for an ALL-STAR weekend. Speaking of ALL-STAR weekend, I was watching the ALL-STAR game this (Sunday) evening when I finally finished this book and had to get it uploaded before it was too late.

Now you know why I don't like to write by hand anymore. I used to have lovely handwriting, but it has deteriorated since my mid-20s. I simply can't write small! The message reads "Magic Johnson (in background) coaches an ALL-STAR jam session on Friday, Feb. 24, 2012.

I used all my "E's" on the front and had to turn an extra "F" into an "E" on the back. I also used all my "2s." And even though they don't look it, the stars on both the front and back are shiny gold.

Lessons Learned:

1. The next ATC sized book I make will not have rounded corners. The corners and the outside binding were not compatible.

2. As many books as I've put together, you would think I would KNOW to leave an undecorated space for connecting the pages together. It seems I managed to cover several important bits and bobs when I added the stickers made from address labels and painted using Twinkling H20s.

3. I've often said I don't like using printed images in my ABs because I really prefer using magazine images or rubber/acrylic stamps. The color is NEVER as good as the original. I suspect some people who use their printers a lot, have fabulous printers with multiple color cartridges, or they print line art images in black, then color them in.

4. Never, never, EVER use a fine tip gold leafing pen to outline around my book pages. Larger tips will create a groove that will keep the pen from slipping, while the fine tip doesn't want to work properly. Even worse, if it did create a groove, the tip would soon be worthless.

Also, I want to thank Dianne again for the inspiration to make this small memory book of my basketball weekend. I suspect there will be more of these small books in the offing.