Completed Journal

10 x 10

For the last few days I have been playing with

 paper, fabric, paint, stamping, glue and stitching.

Did I tell you that already?

Anyway, I had a great time and finally finished the journal.



Journaling

I am not very good at

Journaling.

I am good at making books to journal in, and I always start with good intentions, but I never seen to get very far. But I think I have finally figured out what works for me, thanks to the Duct Tape Journals and moving. First off, the Duct Tape Journals are made from junk mail etc., so it is hard to take them too seriously. Since the pages are removable I am not worried about messing up a page. If I do, I can just replace it. I have at least a dozen of them. And secondly, since I am moving, I am going through all my piles of stuff that I have saved for one reason or another, taking things off of my bulletin boards etc. So, I have just been sticking all that stuff in one or another of my Journals. I am not worried about chronological order; I don't care if there is a recipe next to a picture of a Grandchild; I don't have time to worry about writing anything profound next to a drawing. I always over-explain everything anyway. I have just been having a wonderful time. I suppose I am really making small scrapbooks? I don't actually care what they are called, I am just happy to find a way to use my books and they are fun to "read".

By the way, the one pictured above, is not a duct tape journal, but the heart stamps are in one. That was the other thing I had fun doing this weekend making heart stamps with fun foam. I buy packages of self stick Fun Foam at the dollar store, cut out the shapes and stick them to scraps of foam core.

Be Happy

A new

Duct Tape journal

with fancy decoration on the cover.

 Also a new portfolio I made to hold the materials for more journals!

Progress Update (including a Give-Away!)

If you are reading my blog, you might be curious about what happened to these projects:

I don't think I took a picture of this piece after it was stitched. If I did, I don't know what I did with it!

Water Under the Bridge

15x20

And then there is this:

Remember my "ripple" blanket? I bet you thought I stuffed it in the UFO box. It started out as a project to use up my $2 thrift store bag of yarn (the hot pink) and now I am buying yarn for it every time I turn around! Talk about false economy. It now measures 50" wide x40" long. I guess I will keep going until it is at least 60" long.

Maybe you remember this?

This is the multi-colored pencil roving I bought and then couldn't manage to spin. No matter what I tried, it constantly came apart. Finally I core spun it and the chain plied it. It was such a frustrating process that I am NOT in love with this yarn at the moment. Maybe later....

And then here is the piece that you have seen in the In Work portion of my blog page:

I wasn't happy with the center section, so I cut it out and added a piece of mono printed fabric instead. I am still not sure about it. What do you think?

And finally, for the comedy portion of this posting:

Right, another Milk Bone notebook. So here is what I think. I have never done a

"give-away" and I think it would be fun. So if you would like a Milk-Bone, duct tape notebook, write me a comment telling me why you like it and I will send them out to 3 randomly selected people. There I did it. That wasn't so hard!

Journal Madness

It is grey and messy here and has been for over a week. Everything very dull. It is a good time to stay in and work on something colorful. I have been trying to finish some journals I had started and had spread out all over the place. What a mess. I should have shown you a picture of the work table before I cleaned it up. I don't know how anyone can work like that. No matter how much room I have, I always end up working in a two foot square area. Anyway, I got them mostly finished. The yellow one still needs it's button attached.

Meanwhile, I also put the finishing touches on the sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2011. If you would like to see the pictures, they are on Flicker. There is a link on the right hand side of this page.

Fine 120

Once upon a time, I went to Europe with my daughter Bonnie. We had a wonderful time, but when it was time to come home, we spent several hours waiting around in the airport in Paris. It was there that I ran out of cigarettes and bought a carton of the French ones I had been smoking.  Back at home, when they were all gone, I couldn't bring myself to throw out the carton. It wasn't all that special or anything, it just represented a fun time. It wound up behind the seat in my little pick-up until I traded in my car for another one. Then the box went into a pile of papers in the studio. I almost threw it away a million times. I mean, I am NOT a hoarder! I don't even smoke anymore. But I finally found a use for it. It is my new Duct Tape Notebook, complete with Zebra duct tape.

Obsession

I read this post here, Diana Trout making duct tape journals and I just went nuts. Maybe I have a serious mental disorder? I had these boxes I have been saving (please don't mention hoarding) to make books and this was the perfect way to do it. So easy. I made them until I ran out of boxes. Yesterday, my husband and I were at the grocery store and I found myself picking out products to buy because of the packaging. My husband said I was probably one of those people who selects wine  because of a cool label. Well yes, I confess. I actually do that. Don't tell anybody OK......

Art Journals