Gathering Dust

My Nature's Blessings Journal

I have two shelves of journals in my craft room.  The bottom one has finished journals, the top one has started journals and empty journals. 

My Nature's Blessing journal from Karla's swap last year is getting to be a nice thick book, but I've only filled about half the pages.  Some of the pages were already done- put together by other swappers, but there are also plenty of blank pages.

When I've run across a pretty floral card or a ephemera with a nature theme I've tucked it away to use in the book. 

These pages aren't works of art by any means, but I enjoyed making them and didn't anguish over them being "good enough".  I just had fun, and for me, that's what having journals is about.

Doodling under a Victorian trade card.

Photo folder that opens to....

...a picture I cut from a gift tag.

This is an example of where I wish my journal handwriting was better, but I can work on that.

The coloring page that Karla included with journal.

Some black and white floral motifs from a Dover clip art book.  I used just a touch of blue colored pencil.

This page is a great example of how a page doesn't look the way you want it, but I like the quotes, so there you go...

On the right, a piece cut from a pretty napkin, and underneath, my attempt to copy it.

My favorite part of this page-the check on the top of the page from The Page Seed Company.

A page from an old calendar, more Dover clip art, flowers cut from a new advertising postcard and flowers cut from a vintage greeting card.

I still have quite a few more pages to fill before I can move this to the "finished" shelf.  While I'm working on the pages, I'm going to try and have the same "just have fun" attitude.

 

 

 

Bird Song Matchbook Easel Swap

When you go to an art event, it's always a little bit more fun if you join one of the swaps.  For me, ONE is the key.  If I join more than that I can find myself getting stressed out instead of having fun.

Betti hosted this matchbox and easel swap for Birdsong that looked easy and fun.  The instructions are simple- decorate an easel and attach a decorated matchbox.  Put a few little goodies in the matchbox and prop on an easel.

My canvas is covered in sheet music and transparent toile sandwich wrap paper.  The matchbook has some clip art with a girl and her teddy bear, and that's glued onto a clip art reproduction of an old button card.

Some tiny trinkets are inside the matchbox- some Cracker Jack charms, a locket and some buttons.

I swapped with my long time crafting buddy, Gail Sell.  She used a beautiful floral napkin as the background and then double blinged the edges of the canvas and matchbox.

I love the bird bezel on top of the matchbox.

The matchbox opened by using the crown as a "handle".

And inside, all sorts of fun things to play with.

Her Life in Stitches Comes Home

Way back in 2011, I told you about a round robin I was making pages for called Her Life in Stitches.  The round robin made a detour to the warehouses of Somerset magazines, and some pages are still MIA, but for the most part have made their way home.

made by Sandra Blanks

I know I've shared some of these pages before, but they are so pretty and detailed, I'm guessing you'll enjoy looking at them again as much as I did.

back of the first page by Sandra

made by Karla Nathan

made by Lisa McIlvain

back of Lisa's page

made by Lisa

back of Lisa's page

This is the cover and page I made for my own book.  The next step for me would be to make all these pages into a book except...

...the cover and pages I made are so much smaller than the pages everyone else made.  But with the help of some glue, nails, staples, and maybe a sewing machine, I think I can bind this into one big book.

My Nature's Blessing Journal

On Tuesday, I went to Karla's Cottage for a craft day.  Karla had two tables in her studio just full of pages that people had sent in to be swapped.  Lots of eye candy.

Earlier, I had made sample pages for Karla to show on her blog  to give swappers some ideas for pages.

(Karla doesn't really need anyone to make extra art projects for her, she's pretty prolific on her own).

Anyway, Karla added those pages to my swapped pages, so I got an extra thick book.

Karla helped me pick out some pages from piles in her studio, and then put them together in my journal.  I was just amazed at how well all the pages flowed together. 

The way Karla bound the journal, pages made by two different people just blended together for a really cohesive look. 

I wouldn't have minded if the pages were very random looking, that's what a book page swap is about, but this surprised me.

This is my partially colored doodle page that Karla includes with every journal.  I gotta tell you coloring is fun, and very relaxing!

I decided that instead of using this as an "everyday journal", where I just paste or doodle whatever tickles my fancy on a given day; I'm going to use it keep special cards, notes, & clippings with a nature theme.  Like the card on the left that I got from Heidi with my Vintage Darlings snippet roll.  I'll show you pictures of that sweet piece of art tomorrow.

Vintage Darlings Snippet Swap

Do you know what a snippet roll is? 

I'm not sure if there is a definition in Webster's, but here's my explanation:

A long narrow roll of fabric embellished with charms, beads, pictures, jewelry or anything else, rolled around a wooden spool.

The first time I saw a snippet roll was when Laurie gave one to me at Birdsong.  I opened it when I got home and thought what a cute way to wrap up charms and beads and buttons.  I thought it was like a yarn ball, where you unrolled it and used the attached bits and pieces in other projects.  

Duh, I didn't realize the snippet roll was a piece of art all by itself.  I even remember thinking "this is really too pretty to cut up", as I snipped off a charm.

I'm sorry Laurie, I guess I need gifts with instructions.

Since then, I found out what they were, but had never made one, so I was tickled when Heidi asked me to be in a snippet swap with a theme of "Vintage Darlings"- vintage pictures of children.

Of course, one of my favorite parts of any projects is gathering the supplies.  Then my second favorite part- getting the dog hair off of them. 

Instead of using a strip of fabric for my foundation, I sewed two pieces of lace to  a piece of seam binding.

Then the fun starts- adding those little bits and pieces.

I used a combination of images printed on fabric, real black and white photos and clip art from a Dover book.

"Believe" is an Anna Griffith stamp on twill tape.

As you unroll the spool, these little bits and pieces are revealed.

When you get it all unwrapped, the spool is at the top, with seam binding threaded through it. 

I can think of all sorts of fun things to do with these...door prizes, souvenirs from a trip, keepsakes from a family reunion, or a wedding or baby shower.  Or how about a collaborate snippet where a everyone in a group makes a snippet and then they are all sewn together and wrapped around a giant spool- like the kind that telephone wire comes on, and then the spool could be tipped over and used as a table....wait, I think I've gotten a little carried away.

Crafting Downton Style: Journal Swap

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to California for An Affaire at Downton for a lot of crafting, shopping, and the chance to stay in a fantastic historic hotel.

(For any other architectural detail nerds like me, I'll have a whole post about the hotel later).

One of my favorite parts was before the event even started.  Michelle Geller hosted a journal swap.  I've posted before about  Michelle's journal swaps, and what a great hostess she is.  The collaborative journals she creates are beyond fabulous.

The inspiration for the swap was the many scenes in Downton Abbey episodes where the servants deliver letters and calling cards to the family on silver trays. 

The "pages" in the journal swap are envelopes, either true vintage envelopes or envelopes made to look old. 

To make my envelopes I sewed vintage postcards on envelopes I'd made from toile wallpaper.  I added some bits of lace and aged them with lots of distress ink.

Each book is made from one envelope from each artist, for a total of 14 envelopes (plus a few extra made by Michelle) per book.  They were then bound and wrapped with  this incredible cover. 

I asked Michelle how she put together such a great looking, sturdy, flexible cover.  The process involved fusing, sanding, staining, gluing, sewing and then more sanding and varnishing. 

Just looking at the cover you can tell Michelle put in an incredible amount of time and artistry.  But there are even more special details inside.

A title page tag listing the participating artists.

Inside the back cover is a thank you note  with a tape measure "handle".

And, if that wasn't enough- everybody filled their envelopes with ephemera.

I've already spent several hours with my journal, pulling out the bits and pieces of pretty old paper, pretending I'm the Dowager Countess and I'm paging through my scrapbook.  (Of course, as I'm reading, I'm also making witty and snide comments as fits the Countess).

I'll treasure my journal but the craft classes at the actual event were keepers, too and I'll show you more when I've finished.

A Valentine's Swap Art Quilt and Why We Make Stuff

In January, Laurie organized a Valentine swap. Everyone sent six 3" embellished squares to Laurie, and Laurie swapped them out and sent everyone six different squares.

When I got my squares from Laurie, I couldn't wait to make them into a little quilt.  I sewed them onto a piece of felted wool, and started playing with stitching and embellishing.

I got the squares on a Saturday, had them sewed onto my backing by Sunday, and spent the rest of the week stitching, sewing and playing, and I had finished my quilt by the next Sunday.

I know, I pretty much stitched this into the ground- I just kept adding. If you want to see what the squares looked like before I embellished and surrounded them, Laurie has pictures of all the squares made for the swap here.  (There were 13 of us in the swap, so you'll see more squares that I show here.)

(These are my squares, and somehow I missed getting one on my quilt.)

It was a really fast and fun project- especially since I had talented friends who did most of the "heavy lifting"- making the squares.

As much as I enjoyed playing with my quilt, I think I was even more touched by the emails that my fellow swappers exchanged after everyone had received their swap boxes.

One of the gals Laurie had invited to play passed because of a medical issue.  A couple of other swappers had the idea that if we each made a square for her, we could let her know we were thinking about her.

Laurie shared an email from her, and the Valentine surprise did cheer up our friend.  I'm so glad for that, but I was also really touched by some of the responses from some of the other swappers.

I am so happy to have been a part of this gift... and am so glad we all did it together.

It was a blessing to me to be able to contribute.

It is wonderful when we can do such a small thing that makes someone feel special through our art.

These emails led into another related subject-  how important it is to all of us to be able to create, make things, and how lucky we are to be able to share this passion with other people that "get it".

This isn't the first time I've posted about this, and many people have written about it more eloquently than me, but I think it bears repeating.  Being creative and making things, whether stamping, doodling, sewing, knitting, stitching or painting or any other pursuit that engages us, makes us feel good.  Scientific studies have shown that those "feel good" chemicals in our brains are released while we are "doing art".

It doesn't matter if we're making our 70th necklace that we might never get around to wearing, doodling in a journal no one but us will see, or casting on and knitting stitches we know we'll pull out tomorrow; it's the process of making art that engages, encourages and enlightens us and brings us happiness. 

(Jenny Doh has written a wonderful blog post about "the process".)

Swaps like this remind me of how lucky I am to have art in my life and friends that I can share it with.  Thanks to Laurie for organizing the swap, and to everyone who played along and added to the email conversation.

Birdsong: Wreaths and Rosettes

I don't do swaps nearly as much as I used to, but if I'm going to an art event, I always feel a little bit left out if I'm not part of a least one swap.  For Birdsong, I was in the Rosette swap hosted by  Mercedes Scott.  I was inspired to join when I saw her Handmade Blooms Pinterest board.

Everyone made a rosette with a bird pin in the center. When it came time for the swap Mercedes had such a fun way of distributing the packages. 

She had sewn one of a kind fabric bird tags, and each tag had a matching paper tag.  Mercedes gave each wrapped rosette package a sewn tag, and each swapper drew a paper tag. The package with the tag that matched the tag you drew was your rosette.

Here's Karla's sister, Sis, with her rosette.

This is my rosette, made by Hope Ellington. I love all the layers, and the singed edges.

I added it to the wreath I made in Lori Oles class.

Actually, I didn't made the wreath in class, I made it a couple of days later.

I added my Bird Song name tag, some goodies that I got as presents from other BirdSongers and a beautiful cuff made by Tami Hacker.

The cuff has such a clever design, it's actually a cuff cut from a man's shirt and embellished.  I don't think it's going to stay on the wreath, it's to pretty to not show off and wear.

Back to School Collaborative Journal Part II

I've got more pages from Back to School Journal project.

On the left is the back of  Michelle Geller's page, the page on the right was made by Jan LaFollette.

These were tucked into the pocket of Jan's page. 

Did you notice that this project is called a "journal" and not just a "book"?  The idea of a journal is that you would also use it to write in.  That's why many of the pages have blank tags, cards etc- places to write.

I just don't think I can bring myself to write on any of these pages, I'm just too afraid I'd screw them up!

The front of Michelle's page- love the colors and the Washi tape.

This is the back of my page and the front of Rachel McGough's page.  The class picture on Rachel's page is actually a pocket.

The back of Rachel's page just tickled me- it's one of her real schoolwork pages,  complete with her grade school picture.  I've met Rachel, and knew that was her right away- she's changed her hairstyle, but still looks like her school picture- I love that personal touch.

Mollie Morrison's page is a mini file folder- see the red label on the right side? 

Inside the file folder- a class picture.

The back of Mollie's page- this cool alphabet collection.  This isn't a photocopy- Mollie actually made all of those squares and glued them together. 

That gets about half way through the book.  I have pics of all of the pages, so I'll post more next week.

 

Back to School Collaborative Journal

Earlier this summer I showed you my pages for Michelle Geller's Back to School swap.  The finished book came in the mail last week, and it is just fun and fabulous, and all the little details are amazing.  I've looked through my book ten or twelve times, but I keep finding new things.

Michelle made the covers, assembled the books and added little surprises through out.

Like the packaging.  The books were wrapped in old fashioned tablet paper with the pale blue lines, ruled numbered tape and personalized flash cards.

The artist list was inside the front cover, library card style.

This is the first page, made by Jan Clem.  It's mechanical!  Pull the yellow ruler tab and the page opens TWICE!

Sheila Earhart's page- all about the Grand March, complete with medal.

The back of Sheila's page and the front of Cynthia Fawcett's page.

Another cute detail- the back of Cynthia's page uses a clear triangular ruler as a pocket- and folds out to reveal a tag underneath.

There were 14 swappers, so I've got a lot more idea filled pages I could share on my blog...let me know if you like to see more.