Journal work

I've been enjoying working in various journals, the one above is a regular hardback book I altered.  It has the most wonderfully absorbent pages in it and takes paint very well, dries so fast.  It is a book titled Married Love from the 1940's and the text is quite fun to read.  Rather risque for the time.  I cut about a third of the pages out before I began and I use them in other mixed media projects.

Dulcinea and Don Quixote

another from the Married Love book.  I haven't altered the cover yet.

These next ones are from a folded paper book I made with one large sheet of paper.  It makes a book of 16 pages that is about 9" x 6".  A nice size.  I should share the tutorial, you can find it here: folded paper journal.   They call it a Meander Accordion folded book.

Remember the paper buttons I made about a year ago?  I have used some of them here for my flower centers.

One of my favorite colors...

One final spread.  I've been doing a little doodling lately.  I made these hands on a separate sheet of paper while listening to TV, then cut them out and glued them into my book.

I made another Dooleybobber but couldn't show it until it was received by my friend Maggi.  I gifted it to her for her birthday.  I had an old embroidered cloth that I had picked up at a garage sale somewhere.  It was rather stained but it was perfect to incorporate behind the dooleybobber.

Sweet bird embroidery

close up of my hand embroidery

Finally, here is a little baby quilt I made for my newest nephew, Sam.  His mom is a professional photographer so if you like seeing photos of newborns, you should go take a look at Studio 623 blog.  Cuteness factor is very high!!!

close up of the only "baby" fabric I used in the center of each block.  (Linda, note the donkey:-)

Well that is about it for today.  I hope you all are faring well this winter.  Winter is almost my favorite season because I get to spend so much time in my studio.

Be well. 

Little folded books

First of all, I would like to say "Welcome" to my new followers.  I really appreciate your stopping by and signing up to come back.  Followers and comments are always fun to receive and I intend to reply personally to all of them.  If you are a no reply commenter, I will reply in my comments.  Thanks!!

Recently my friend Maggi over at

http://maggi21.wordpress.com/

sent me the little folded book you see above, with the two wooden beads on the cover.  The second photo shows the inside.  She included a couple of tags with photos of two of her pets.  I was so entranced with this tiny little book, I knew I had to make one.  When I showed it to my creativity group, they all wanted to make one also.

So we did.  Above you can see three of the little books.  They're not finished but aren't they delightful?  The books are only 3 inches square, they fit into the palm of my hand.

 I went ahead and made some more.  These are 3 that I made above, they are finished.  Below you can see the inside of one.

 Below, the blue one, with some roving and a bit of bead work on the cover.

More  bead work on the cover of this one below. 

This one with the pink scrim, I used a scrumptious square that I received in a swap.  The square is 1 1/2 inches and was made by Pricilla Schrock.  I found the books store my scrumptious squares perfectly.  They are fun and easy to make.  I will keep them around to give as little gifts, probably.  I'll likely make more when I need a fun little project.

Be well. Happy Summer Solstice to you all.