Sketchbook Project - my pages, part 1

As previously mentioned, last year I signed up for Art House's Sketchbook Project.  The project was a lot of fun, if not a bit daunting when I first started.  In flipping through the whole book, you can definitely see where I get more and more comfortable with the challenge, my ideas and finding my flow.  Here's a few shots:

This was actually one of my first ideas for the book, but it appears about a third of the way in.  I inserted this page as it's a series of individually cut houses.  You can see at the bottom of the page where I attached it to the book.  I used double-sided tape and then reinforced the ends with the brads.

 

(Text in above picture) I used to work for a great guy who lived in a city called Alpharetta.  While all of the houses were very pretty, everything was a different shade of brown.  It was boring and I started calling the city Tauparetta.  I don't think his wife appreicated that name very much.

This next page is what you see when you turn the brown house page over:

 

(Text in above image) If I had anything to say about it, all neighborhoods would be filled with color and that way you couldn't help but smile when going past your neighbors house.  I'm sure the people of Alpharetta don't like that idea much, but I think it helps to explain my love of cities like New Orleans and Savannah.

There is a hidden dig in copy there which goes out to Brooklyn.  No one smiles.  No one says hi and no one looks at you when you walk down your own damn street.  One of several things I hated about living in Brooklyn.

The next 3 pictures are all the same page.  I incorporated a turning wheel into this page.  The theme of my book was, "happy thoughts" which should explain this....

This is page 4 or so:

 

Yeah, I like to use words + images.  The final picture for today is actually the first 2 pages in the book:

 

The left side reads:  Yes!  I'm more than half full.

The right side (called 'Family Ties') reads: The ribbon was purchased in 1952 from a Woolsworth for 5 cents.  It was used to wrap a present for Martha.  Rita, Martha's sister, snatched it as soon as the present (a hand mirror) was opened as she thought it matched her eyes perfectly.  She wore it in her hair on special occasions.  It was found in a wooden box upon her death, 35 years later, by her 9-year-old granddaughter, Victoria, who now uses it to tie up the curtains in her playhouse that are made from her brother's old t-shirts.