When I first started to make altered books, I had no idea how to do it. The Altered Books Yahoo Group was a big help, as were certain individual artists who shared their work online.

When I first decided to learn how to make an altered book, the first one I created was The Motor Girls on Crystal Bay.

In order to remember what I had done, after finishing a page, I would record the process and post it on my web site. This was before blogging became popular. I was really talking to other people who were interested in trying this art form. I shared my successes, and flub-ups, and all the things I learned along the way.

As I was updating these pages with CSS, I found that they still look good to me. They have a fresh, energetic style because although I contemplated every move, I wasn’t worried too much about how things looked. I knew people were waiting and watching for each new page, but I never really thought about that while I was working.

Everytime I uploaded a new page to my altered books page and announced it to the group, I was thrilled with the positive responses and encouragement I received.

There was a time when the only thing on my web site was Motor Girls; now it’s one of many altered books on Karen’s Whimsy. And I know there will be many more altered books to come.