A September to Remember!

Phew! This blog has been sadly neglected for quite some time. Over a month at least. I've been busy creating, but have not shared in awhile. For one thing, we had Hurricane Irma blow through this area of Florida. While we did not suffer any property damage or flooding, thankfully, we were without power for a week. That was a very l-o-n-g week. And hot. Did I mention hot? The day power was restored was a happy, happy day.

But I have been working on projects, and even completing some. One is this Pop-Up Fringe Journal, the project from an online class taught by Roben-Marie Smith. It began its colorful new life as a discarded manila file folder.

The inside pages are full of found images and stitching. What's more fun than sewing on paper?

There are colorful tags stitched and tied with sari ribbon. The black tag has a more colorful reverse side seen in the next photo. There are lots of places to write in this fun little journal, and yet I don't seem to write in mine.

It's funny, because I love to write and make lists, and I love pens and markers, and I love making journals. 

 And yet, when it comes to writing in the journal, I find I have nothing to say! The exception is when I make travel journals. I manage to document places and activities then.

The paper I used for most of the elements in the journal is a piece of artwork made in another journaling class with Tiare Smith. I photocopied it, and enlarged it. Some of the pieces are also from Roben-Marie's Art Pops and downloads that come with the class enrollment.

The end. The back cover shows all the pop-ups and fringe that make this journal so appealing! It was a fun class.

And this weekend at our local library, I'll be presenting a lecture and "trunk show" of the many journals I've made in the past few years. Participants will get to make a simple accordion-folded journal of their own, with no sewing so they should be able to complete it in the time allowed. I made two models for the program which I'll share here in an upcoming post.

During September, a collections of my journals have been on display in the glass case at the library to generate some interest in the program. Apparently there has been a good deal of interest, so hopefully we will have a nice turnout. And hopefully I'll remember to take some photos so I can show you what participants come up with for their journals.

When I loaded the journals up in totes to deliver them to the library, I got a sense of how many I have. The saying "anything more than two is a collection" came to mind and I've got way more than two- it's definitely a collection.