Journaling your life.

Yep, still journaling and sketching and collaging. (and gardening and reading and...) well, you get the point.
 Here is where I am spending time with a fantastic group of awesome Artzy sistahs!! Hosted by her greatness Effy Wild,who is amazing. The talent and energy here is contagious! Stop by and see what you are missing.
Oh, and here is my very first face. Who is she? No idea, but I think I might name her Esme.

Journals N' Stuff

So, it came down to the doing instead of the looking. The creating, the mess, the lost sleep, the paper everywhere. Torn between the clean surface and no visual clutter and the need (no, the compulsion) to cover that surface with creative flotsam & jetsam. And many days that's what appears on my craft table. I find things and stuff and bits that catch my eye. "I can use that", "that's pretty" or "I'll eat one more chocolate because I need the foil for my project!"
The drawers are full and I pull out the little pieces and touch them and fold them, or smooth them-like we did as children with the foil on the big Easter eggs. Carefully pushing the wrinkles out to the edge. Smooth.
When I was growing up in the UK, we saved all the finds in a scrapbook: not the carefully planned and color colo rcordinated scrapbooks of today but construction paper books, big and ready for little hands to Sellotape(Scotch Tape) the treasures in. Chunky, bulgy pages. Today it's called a Smash Book. The same thing, just a new "go-round". Or is it a Junque Journal? Either way, anything goes.  I have been inspired by Jennibellie, love her use of materials and her tutorials are great. She inspires and the rest of us follow! So...here is what I have been working on. A journal that will evolve.
I began by gathering card stock from my stash. Nice and heavy and lovely pictures. Some will remain as backgrounds, some will be covered, painted, collaged etc.

I scored and folded. Added some water color paper to create signatures. Added greeting cards that I could not part with. And poked holes (carefully)

to bind.

I don't have a binding maching so have 3 hole punched the hand bound signatures. They will all fit on loose leaf rings and my thought is that I can add more as I wish.

Jennibellie loves to add dangles and beads to her journals and you will notice these when you watch (and listen) to her tutorials. Tactile. So..... I added a few trinkets of my own.

and then, I was on the internet again (!) and found this tutorial and just had to make some of these too!

Hope you like what you see and perhaps it has given you ideas to create your own junque journal or scrapbook or smash book. I'll show you how the pages evolve.

Christmas in...August?

Yep! Another swap, this time at Maryjanes Farmgirl Forum, August one on one ornament swap. I just finished mine and will be mailing it to Beth, hope she likes it. I have not made one of these in close to 20 years but I still have the Leisure Arts pamphlet with the directions. So, here goes....Victorian Kissing Ball Ornament.

1) Cut out approx (60) 3 1/2" squares. Fold in half/iron

2) Fold into triangles/iron

3) Start pinning around styrofoam ball using sequin pins.

4) Stop when you get halfway

5) Do the same on the opposite side of the ball until both sides meet.

6) Cover the open edge with ribbon (I useda strip of one of the fabrics)

7) And your ornament is ready.

ATC's, Apples & Shrinky Dink

I'm participating in an ATC sawp on Splitcoast .Even though we rae in the middle of a July heatwave, we are thinking ahead to Fall and the Apple harvest. Here is my finished ATC.

The little apple "charm" on the right is made from Shrinky Dink. Remember that from the 70's! Well, it's back and so much fun to use. Check out the before & after size on the apples. The stamped images are SU Tart & Tangy stamp set. I colored with SU markers being careful not to touch the colored image as it does rub off easily. I hole punched (remember, the hole will shrink too) and then cut out the shapes. Just a minute in the oven and lots of cute little charms.

Crafty Catch up

Just wanted to share some lovely yo-yo flowers that my sister sent me. How pretty are these? She repurposes all kinds of fabric (old curtains, lace tablecloth) when she makes these yo-yo flowers which are 3 or 4 inches across. They are embelished with trims and buttons and attached to dowels as "stalks"
Can you imagine these all clustered in a big Mason jar?

Eat, Pray, Create.

Loved the book and it's so interesting to hear from the author herself on this subject. Did you read the book? What was your favorite country?

My first attempt at bookbinding

After watching oodles of tutorials I finally created my first hand bound art journal. I purchased a spiral bound watercolor pad and of course, there it sat. For weeks. And then I realized that it was just the wrong size and shape for me. It didn't make me want to fill it's pages. So....I cut the wire spiral binding and took apart the book. I scored and folded the pages in half and grouped them into "bundles" of 4 to create the signatures. I then distressed the edges of the pages and punched holes along the folds. The back of the original book was nice heavy card stock so that, cut in half,  became the front & back. The "spine" is actually a piece of black felt that was then glued to the inside front & back covers after I hand bound it and the signatures. This worked well, flexible enough to be a spine but had some body to it also. The covers have a thin layer of batting and some of my favorite fabric. And so we have it-my first hand crafted art journal.

By His Grace

Just wanted to share about an awesome event I attended this weekend at Elim Gospel Church in Lima, NY
It was this year's spring conference presented by byGrace Ministries. What a blessing of teaching, fellowship & worship. Please do check out the byGrace web-site to see what Sherrie and the team have in store and sign up to receive their e-mail updates-you won't be dissapointed. I have attended several of her events and am always impressed with how well organized they are and how relevant the teaching is.
Many of you know that I love to see women together, whether it be crafting, going to conferences, whatever. I believe that the comunity of women is what binds our cultures and societies together. Isn't it awesome that we are able to take time out of our lives to spend time in the Word and to be encouraged by one another. So many times this weekend I heard.."yes, that's exactly what i was thinking" or "I'm so glad we talked about this". What a blessing we can be to each other! This weekend's theme was "Revive" and how we all, women, church, nation & world need to be revived. How we need the very breath of life so that we can be resusitated! Ezekiel 37:1-11 was Sherrie's inroduction to our weekend.
My bones were dry when I arrived, but not when I left!

I have been praying on some issues over the last few weeks, some are new, some long standing, but the Lord gave me a scripture that I have taken to heart. I would like to share it with you.
Jeremiah 17: 7-8
7 But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out it's roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes: it's leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
There will be times of drought, of dry bones, but if we stay close to the source of life, can draw from that and continue to florish. I think the optimal word here is IF.

Dolly Make Over

I'm still making the Comfort Dolls but have been trying different styles of body, dress & hair. Here is new one that I just finished. Her dress is actually closed at the bottom and lightly stuffed. I'm think about adding a little Lavender to these. Also, her hair was trimmed and "styled" although once in a while I imagine I will create one of my original "wild girls" These dolls do not have legs which to be honest makes them much easier to stuff/turn and I believe are finshed better. The original ones had a slit cut in the back to turn them right side out and once stuffed you would sew up the slit but it looked like they'd had major back surgery.! And perhaps I will add a little buton where her dress gathers at the front.
Hope you like her.

Crafty Update (lots to talk about!)

Lots of things to share with you! I have been busy.
I particpated in 3 swaps over the winter. I try not to over schedule the swaps and typically do not sign up for one until the previous one is done and mailed out.
Here is a picture of some of the Scripture rolodex cards that I received. These are fun to make because of their size and I invested in the "address card" die from Stampin' Up. Made it much easier.
These are pictures of the altered dominos that I made into pins for another swap. These took me about 2 months to make and although I love altered dominoes, they were a real challenge. Not sure if I will do that one again!

Back at the end of November I participated in an Advent Journaling challenge. Each day we had an advent devotional and "thoughts to ponder" I was able to keep up with the devotional but am still embellishing the pages! I created my journal using manila folders. The devotional/study is on the left page and then my notes, prayers etc are on the right page that is embellished.

Here is the Advent cover

My latest (and greatest!) craze is Junque Journals. Google that one and tell me you can't get addicted! Crunchy, chunky, touchy, feely journals. This one is made from a composition notebook and what fun these are. I have used junk mail, envelopes, postcards, gift wrap, candy wrappers (not mine of course!) Water color crayons, stamps, stickers, you name it.

And I made a "trinket" out of found items.
And here is my first piece of mail art. No reason why mail has to be boring.....

This piece has a tea bag holder, calendar page, old sheet music, stickers,and a Suzi Blu stamp.


Hm, let's see..... Oh, books read this year so far:

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo-Steig Larrson very good story, just a bit "gritty"
Tried to read the second one but found it again too rough.

Shadows on the Coast Of Maine. Lea Wait. Easy mystery with an "antique hunting" theme

Labyrinth-Kate Mosse. Interesting twist on the Grail theme.

Fall Of Giants-Ken Follett. His first book in a trilogy. Cannot wait for books 2 & 3!


The Help-Kathryn Stockett- Gotta read it! Couldn't put it down!

So, now you know why you haven't seen me in a while!
Happy Crafting!