• Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    T Tuesday: salvage edition

    January 21, 2019 - By 

    Over the weekend I finally checked something off my perpetual to-do list that has been on it for far too long….a closet purge. I decided to through my closet with a realistic mind.  I had so many articles of clothing that hadn’t been worn in ages. They fell into several categories; out of style, doesn’t fit, not my style, and why do I even own this?

    I have a tall kitchen bag full of shirts and skirts but several pieces had potential to be reused or re-purposed.

    I decided to cut or tear out the usable crafting pieces. I love adding bits of fabric to my journals, collage cards and mixed media pieces.

    There was a good mix of colors and textures.

    I’m really excited to start piecing these together. The pink plaid is kind of bugging me in this photo if I’m honest. But the rest of it gives a real tropical 1980s feel. Bright, bold colors…totally 80s.  Like, totally!  (in your best Valleygirl impression)

    That roll of lace is calling my name….I cut it from the bottom edge of a shirt that I think I only wore once. It just never fit right. I hate that! I should know better than to buy something just because I really like the look of it and ignore the fact it doesn’t really work. But at least I have some pretty lace now.

    But seriously…so many fun bits of this and that.

    Anyone notice my glass of water in keeping with the T stands for Tuesday rules? She’s there on the corner of the table. Have to keep hydrated in the winter.

    There was a sweater in my original pile but I haven’t decided how I want to use it yet so it remains uncut. I was thinking about Christmas ornaments and decor. Also maybe boot cuffs or mittens. I also thought about trying to refashion it in some way. Since I am totally undecided it will go in with my sewing fabrics until a later date.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    Mini collage time

    January 20, 2019 - By 

    Ok I think I’m a little obsessed again. I’ve been creating tons of mini collage pieces.

    While making embellishments for my December Daily I rediscovered my love of fabric and paper collage at my sewing machine.

    I haven’t made any of these in a very long time. Likely since I made them for the article I wrote for Sew Somerset. Of course my style has changed since then a bit but that’s to be expected. We shouldn’t stagnate in our creativity in my opinion. 

    These blue ones make me want to created a winter theme journal or set of greeting cards.Although these I think are my favorite. I love the pop of orange along with the teal and blue.

    Trust me you haven’t seen the last of these pieces…

  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    A second look: Vintage book journal prep

    January 2, 2019 - By 

    Welcome to the first edition of Second on the 2nd of 2019. It’s fun to look back and re-share posts from the past. Since my focus lately has been journals I thought I’d re-post a tutorial I wrote about one of the ways I prep a vintage book for altering. The altering after this point is completely up to you.

    Second on the 2nd
    Take a look…

    2/8/2015

    Since I was starting a new journal I thought I’d share with you my process for prepping the book.  First find yourself an old book that appeals to you. For me it was the size of this book. Not too small or too big… Just call me Goldilocks.journal prep5

    Look inside to see what kind of binding you have.journal prep1

    This inside cover gave me a really good indication that I had a sewn binding but I had to make sure.journal prep4

    Yep…sewn binding. Perfect! Now we’re ready for the thinning of pages without leaving chunks of torn pages along the inner spine. Removing pages reduces bulk since the altering of a book whether journal style or a themed altered book adds lots of bulk!

    I find the center of each signature (as seen in the above photo) and remove the page from each side.journal prep3Like this. I go back and carefully pick out all of the torn fragments. It will appear as if nothing has changed until you look at the page numbers. You’ll have a definite gap which would make reading the story a real challenge at this point.

    I remove at least one page from each signature, sometimes more. You can always go back and remove more. journal prep7

    Here you can see the gaps along the spine and how the book is more narrow going toward the outer edge. This is exactly what you want. journal prep8

    You have a nice stack of pages for your altering pleasure when you are done.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    So here’s an after photo of the completed Gypsy journal.

    Thanks for stopping by for Second on the 2nd.