Category : Creativity

612 posts

My style notebook

I am a prolific list maker and idea jotter. I am constantly grabbing a sheet of notebook paper to quickly write my ideas. It gets a bit chaotic with some many pages of half crossed lists laying about. I started thinking that if I could have a smallish notebook with me that I could keep everything in one place.

This idea, like so many others, has been rattling around in my head for a while. Lately I was inspired by an image of a stack of small pamphlet stitched notebooks on Pinterest. That in combination with a Readers Digest Condensed book cover I had in my stash and thinking of the function of a travelers notebook I put the three together to create my own version to better suit my needs.

As I said before, I constantly have papers to jot ideas or work things out visually. Such as this drawing on how I wanted the elastics to work in the spine. Originally I was going to have 3 signatures to my book but after drawing it out I realized that I’d need 4 to have the elastics at the same end of the book.

I used my new book cradle to assist in the binding process. 

Mr. G 3D printed and assembled this very sturdy tool for my bookmaking. In the past I’d used an old phonebook for this process with very mixed results.

This book cradle makes it a breeze to accurately make holes in the spine with an awl. The results are perfect.

I added a but of reinforcement to the spine of my gutted Readers Digest Condensed book.

Then used eyelets to reinforce the holes for the elastic cording.

A bit of lace covered the unsightly bits quite nicely. All that was left was assembly.  And the glamor shots.

Anyone remember Glamor Shots at the mall circa 1990s? Oh yeah… I have some cringe worthy photos from that place. Faux fur stole and white gloves…geesh. Sorry…ADHD squirrel moment!

The glamor shots…

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Junk journal pages from long ago

Technically these aren’t super long ago… but a couple months old. Honestly, with the way this winter is dragging on and on it still feels a bit like January-February. It’s all just a cold white blur.

My wonky junky journal is getting super thick. I’m on the last signature and am trying to be a bit more aware of the thickness of embellishments I am using. 

I hadn’t realized that I never posted any of these pages. Thankfully I was looking through the folders on my laptop and discovered my error.

I love the colors in this one. I was certainly wishing for warmer days when I created this one.

This page has hidden journaling about my baby girl turning 20! What in the world…that just isn’t possible.

Again with this page I am wishing for springtime. How foolish I was to think it was coming anytime soon.

I used a scrap of fabric to make a little fabric flip to hide a bit of journaling.

When I finished this page I realized that my date stamp ended with 2022. I had to improvise. Since then I ordered this new date stamp. My problem is solved until 2032.

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Gnome ornaments

I always like to have a little something to give to friends… usually it’s handmade…what else would you expect from me.

Mini-me brought home a large spool of kitchen twine that she had used in an art installation last year. I wasn’t sure how we were ever going to get through all the yardage until I started making these cute gnome ornaments.

I was inspired by a Pinterest video. https://pin.it/4wRPmea

I wrapped the kitchen string around my hand until it felt thick enough. I tied the middle then slipped off my hand and cut the opposite side from the tie. I then tied a loop of bakers twine to serve as the hanger before beginning work on the hat.

 I made a circle template with a bowl then cut it in half. I used scraps of flannel from my stash for the hats. After rolling my half circle of flannel into a cone shape.  I used a hot glue gun to adhere first the hat together then stick the hat to the gnome body being careful to thread the hanger loop through the top of the hat. I then added a coordinating button or two to the hat and a wooden bead tucked up under the rim of the hat for the perfect gnome nose.

Thankfully I also have a stash of wooden beads to make the noses.

They turned out so cute and I used up the whole spool! Renew, reuse, recycle. ♻️

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Coming up roses

I was thinking about my girl this morning and out came a journal page.

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Feeling the art journal love again

It’s taken a while but I’m getting the urge to create at least in my art journal.

In fact, this was the second page I created on Sunday afternoon.

While searching through my stash I found some watercolor color experiments. The colors spoke to me in that fall sort of feel.

The lined page to the left was a shiny paper from junk mail. I didn’t want to cover the lines but at the same time didn’t like the shine. I used some glimmer mists to knock it back.

Yesterday was a rough day for me. I was very emotional which is not my usual state of being. I’m a very stoic person…I’m Norwegian raised in the mid-west. It takes a lot to crack my shell.

I did what I like to call a mind dump on my page. I like to write very messy and somewhat layer the words. This makes it difficult to read. This is purposeful. I need to get it out but I don’t want to go back and relive it later when I’m paging through my journal.

I saved this label from a beer my neighbor shared. (using as my drink reference as well…it’s a twofer) The beer was really interesting. You could taste a hint of orange and copious amounts of honey. I’m not sure I loved it but I did love the label.

It’s not my favorite page in the journal but it served its purpose.

Today is a work day of course with some grocery shopping on the way home.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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Fall vibes

I do love Fall. The crisp mornings, the rustle of fallen leaves, flannels, jeans, hoodies…all the pumpkin goodies. The warm colors of autumn are also my favorites. You’ll find them all over my house and in my art.

I had so much fun pulling together items to layer. Bits of wallpaper, book spine, scrapbook paper, ephemera postcard just to name a few.

I used some distress oxide to bring the background colors together.

I then dripped water and blotted to make the cool light spots. Love that look. This is my first distress oxide ink pad, and I know it won’t be my last.

I’m nearing the end of this journal. Just a few pages left. It’s been a really fun challenge with all the different types and sizes of papers.

It has gotten quite chunky. Good thing I made the cover with a long wrap around tie to hold the chunkiness in.

When it’s complete I’ll do a recap at least of my favorite pages.

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Small journal love

I was recently inspire to create some new journals. These are single signature journals.

I’ve never thought to create small journals such as these but I realized that these are going to come in very handy.

I used scraps of heavy fabric for the outside of the cover and recycled posters for the inside of the cover.

The denim cover is from a pair of jeans that my now college-aged daughter wore as a preschooler.

Since the embroidery was so cute on it, I saved the leg. Waste not, want not.

I used about 15 pages of various papers for the signature.

I wasn’t worried about them all being exactly the same size, in fact, I prefer that there is some variation.

The rose on the left is a digital creation of mine. I had a group of mine printed at Kinkos to make sure that they would print properly if I were to sell them as digital downloads. I have not taken that step yet but maybe someday. In the meantime, I have some fun and uniquely me pages to play with.

The right side has one of the tags I have created from the masterboards I’ve been creating with scraps. I like to stitch around them both for interest and to secure the edges.

Here’s yet another tag slipped in a side tuck on the page. The tuck is from my stash of mini colleges. Also a scrap busting project.

Both masterboards and mini colleges are things that I tend to do when I’m lacking that creative spark. They are quick, use lots of scraps and are great to have around for later projects.

Here is yet another example of both being used on one page.

Attaching an envelope to the edge of a page then folding it to the back creates a fun flip out that can hold a secret note or photo or whatever you want to tuck away for safe keeping.

I’m really having fun with these journals. They are quick, no pressure of strict theme, multi use and just really darn cute.

 

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