Fabrics and Beads and Yarns... Oh, My!

I like making journal covers like this one. It's a great project for using up fabric scraps, plus I can practice free-motion machine quilting on them fairly successfully. I used the pattern instructions from Angela McEntyre of Laughing Cat Designs.

The journal is a donation for a local silent auction to benefit juvenile diabetes. The book inside is a standard composition book, so it can be refilled and reused. I like Angela's instructions... they're easy to follow and clearly illustrated. My pet peeve is patterns that don't provide full directions and leave you to figure things out on your own. This one doesn't do that... the pattern is very helpful.

The project also provides a place for couching yarns and adding a small amount of beading, which was fun. Everything is in moderation, so it's a quick project, too. Very satisfying to make. And I especially love combining batiks this way.

No beading on the back so the notebook will lie flat for writing.

Another notebook cover appears in this post and and the first journal made using this pattern is shown here. I think I'll make some more!

Do-it-Yourself Retreat...

What fun we had recently when my friend Joanne flew to Orlando from Pennsylvania, and we met at Disney World for a 3-day retreat. I loaded the car with supplies like paper, paint, stamps, inks, fabrics, glue, stencils, scissors, punches. You name it, it was in there. I had prepared the fabric journal covers, above, and our intention was to create papers and pages to fill them.

So on the first day we did a creative warm-up exercise that included setting a timer to complete each series of tasks in making these papers. We painted, glued, sprayed our way to creating some beautiful background papers to use in journals and other projects. And since there was little to no time to think about what we were doing, the entire process became intuitive. We even composed and glued down a poem, making use of words we'd had 5 minutes to cut from brochures. While the papers dried, we took a boat ride from our Port Orleans Riverside resort to Downtown Disney, where we had a great meal at the Rainforest Cafe. My first visit, so I enjoyed the blaring elephants and the beautiful fish in the aquarium. One poor little girl near us was terrified of the elephants, and unfortunately her family's table was right next to one. She cried through each animated episode. Poor little girl!

I brought a plastic table cloth and we were very careful with our supplies. Plus we tidied up when it was time for the room to be cleaned. We didn't want to cause the housekeeping staff to faint ... but here's a peek at our "studio" at its worst.

The second day we visited Epcot theme park. Even though it was hot, we enjoyed the park immensely. We're big fans of Soarin', and got to go soarin' twice. Had a delicious dinner at Coral Reef, and just relished the day.

The third day was spent working on our journal pages. While the sewing machine was in the car, we decided to glue tack our pages and add the stitching to them at home. I haven't gotten to dress up my journal yet, or sew the pages in, but that's in the "coming attractions." Joanne devoted pages in her journal to the Disney experience, as you can see by the welcoming Mickey image, shown below. Here are a few of our pages, followed by a photo taken from the riverside gazebo on the resort grounds where we read our daily devotionals. Such a refreshing get-away. My small-town newspaper used to report on the activities of the local folks, and always ended with this summary statement... which certainly fits our retreat: "And a fine time was had by all".

Embellishing the Embellishments...

Our online journal class with Carole Brungar at Madness and Mess is lots of fun, and we're making great progress. The journal will have that "shabby yet chic" look. That's why Carole's latest advice to us is to "embellish the embellishments", meaning layers and added bits of lace, buttons, fabric... whatever. So here are a few of my embellishments. They'll soon find a home on the pages of my journal, which is under construction. One of my favorite things about Carole's class is that at last I'm using those necessary items I collected for so long, for "someday". Someday is here!!


These small bits make a good carry-along project. Today while waiting for a doctor's appointment I was stitching away. I even had a very cute audience in the form of a 4-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother. They had loads of questions and seemed quite entranced watching the sewing. And they loved holding the bag of tiny buttons and picking out the colors. It made the short wait go by quickly for all of us. That natural childish curiosity combined with the novelty of the paper, laces, images, and buttons created some strong magnetism. They, unlike some adults, did not even ask why I would do such a thing as to sew buttons and lace onto paper. I appreciated that. It's really hard to explain.

And finally, this little package contains an altered Altoid tin for my swap partner from the Yahoo Group MMArtFriends. We're doing a book study on "Mixed Mania". I'll put a picture here of the tin once my swap partner receives this. Don't want to spoil the suprise should she happen on this post. I made the paper holder for the tin using the Funky Folder Template from Stampington & Company.