There's been a bit of a lull in my sewing room lately. A big quilt is in the works, but not ready for viewing just yet. So I like to fill in the time between sewing projects with my dabbling attempts at art journaling. Fun resources for that include classes by artist Alisa Burke. I gave her 30-day technique class "Earth Inspired" a try. I previously enjoyed her class on hand-drawn mandalas, so I jumped right into this project that incorporates one as part of the activity.
It gave me a chance to work with acrylic paints and to try my hand at hand-lettering. What I found that I really liked though, was the idea of using flaps and fold-outs to hide or reveal parts of the journal spread. On this one, the mandala opens out to show a solar system and to reveal some written thoughts about the sun.
So in the same vein, I loved making this project. Again, the big shade tree opens up to show more of the forest.
And it, too, has some space for journal writing. I do like the "more" aspect of using folds and flaps in journals. Lots of fun to do.
Meanwhile, I used some scraps to dress up some plain lined journals. Adding snippets of fabric and stitching them down adds a color accent and makes me want to use these journals.
I've developed the good habit of taking notes on a variety of topics, but a bad habit of writing them on post-it notes, scraps of paper, or whatever is handy. So my notes are pretty disorganized which makes it hard to go back to find information. Maybe with these colorful journals I'll grow into a better practice of keeping notes in one place! I found the idea for these in a book titled "Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson.
I set aside the scraps trimmed from the big quilt I'm working on by stuffing them into the empty tissue box seen in the upper right. Then I sewed an old t-shirt into a pillow shape, stuffed it with the scraps, and added a fabric cover to make a pet beds- actually there were enough scraps for two of them. The soft beds go to the local humane society via our quilt guild's community service coordinator. I have a few other small projects going on, so I'll be back soon with more!
