• Art - Blog - Creativity

    A second look: pondering art journal

    February 2, 2019 - By 

    Today for Second on the 2nd I’d like to share an art journal page from 2015. I decided to re-share this page as the journaling I wrote I still think about to this day. Alternate time lines, time travel, all that mind twisting sci-fi sort of business. It really intrigues me.

    Take a look…

    10/29/2015

    art journal snippet

    I started this page at craft club next door. I wasn’t feeling like making cards this time. I prepped the pages with tape down the spine and a thin coat of gesso at home so I’d be ready to play. I brought my gelatos, some pens and baby wipes for my fingers. The baby wipes work really well for both clean up and to get a little moisture on your fingers so the gelato moves more freely.

    pondering art journal page |Halle's Hobbies

    The next evening I sat watching TV with the unfinished page on my lap. Something came up about pondering and questioning…or perhaps something else triggered that in my mind. I just started free writing my thoughts. I have always been intrigued with the idea of time travel and parallel universe theories. What if there were an alternate timeline some how…some way?

    pondering art journal page |Halle's Hobbies

    If you could take a peek at your life in that time line the branched from a choice you made…would you look? Or would you be afraid to look?

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    Thanks for stopping by for Second on the 2nd.

    Second on the 2nd
  • 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.

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

    Thanks for stopping by for Second on the 2nd.

  • Blog

    T Tuesday: posts collide edition

    October 1, 2018 - By 

    Last week the cold won…it got me…although I didn’t miss any work. Wished I had but I made it there each and every day. Wasn’t good for much else though. I never made it around to any T Tuesday posts. Sorry about that. I’ll do better this week.

    Today I’m doing a twofer with my posts. One because they fall on the same day and two because I’m ill-prepared to post anything else. How’s that for brutal honesty. Besides…I really like the graphic I created for the twofer post way back when…

    Take a look….

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    Two posts are colliding this week as T stands for Tuesday and Second on the 2nd fall on the same day.

    collage

    Thankfully Elizabeth gave a little heads up at the end of her post that reminded me before I finished writing up my post. Time to switch gears.

    We’ll start with the fun packages in my mailbox from two fellow T stands for Tuesday bloggers.  So fun to get mail…friend mail, not so much on the bills or junk mail. A little while back I had commented on Krisha’s blog about the winery she had visited. She was so kind to offer me some extra wine labels they picked up as collage fodder. I was so delighted to see an envelope in my PO Box the other day. Look at the great craft fodder and lovely card. Really love that card!

    happy mail day

    This package helped inspire this journal page.

    beginning to blossom

    Thank you Krisha!

    I also received a box of goodies along with a 3rd anniversary ATC for T stands for Tuesday from Patty @ Magpie’s Nest.

    happy mail day

    She knows my love of bottle caps.

    happy mail day

    So many fun bottle caps and a bunch I’ve never seen. Too fun. Patty also included some bits of collage fodder as well. Can you see the beautiful ATC that precipitated the package in the first place?

    happy mail day- patty's atc

    Isn’t she lovely?!?  So many tiny details. I keep noticing more and more little things that I didn’t see the first time around.  Thank you Patty!

    And now for the Second on the 2nd portion of today’s post.

    Three years ago I took a quick photo of a hostess gift I was bringing to our annual Independence Day gathering. Little did I know this post would eventually become the most visited post on my blog. (More on the at the end.)

    Take a look…eyes

    July 5, 2013

    We spent Independence Day, as we have the past several years, at a friend’s house along the parade route in town. It’s always a great time.

    I wanted to do a little something extra for our hostess who puts so much time and effort into making sure everyone has a good time. She’s a big fan of Rum and Coke. It ended up being a centerpiece on the buffet table.

    Rum and coke

    “““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`

    I’ve seen over the years that the re-pins of this image on Pinterest have multiplying but it wasn’t until an update in their software did I notice that all of the re-pins now count up on the original. Check out this screen shot I took last night.

    run and coke cake

    Amazing! When I look at my blog analytics it definitely shows that people are visiting from that pin as well.  Not 24,000 pages loads but a significant amount especially given the fact that this is a 3 year old post.

    For today I’m going to try and stay cool while running an errand or two. I really need to do some baking and canning but…ugh…not in this heat!

    What are you doing today?