Progress on my first junk journal...

Good morning and happy Monday! I hope that your week is getting off to a good start.

I have had very little time for crafting as I have been working a lot in the gardens, but as I mentioned recently, I am working on a junk journal. It is with a nature-inspired theme (prompted perhaps by all the yard work I have been doing!), and I've been picking away at it bit by bit, working one page at a time. It's much more labor intensive than working on greeting cards, but I'm enjoying using "stuff" that has been kicking around a while. I have not yet worked on the cover, but rather, I am just working on trying to plan my pages in some integrated manner.

Nothing I touch makes the cut without at least

a few vintage photos,

this one incorporated with words from

some vintage sheet music...

Sorry the next photo is sideways,

but I don't have time to fix it.

The ties holding the feather are on the back of the page...

...of the layout on left below.

Some scrapbook papers and a use for

an old rubber stamp that I hadn't used

in years.

Crinkled seam binding tied up in the corner...

...which shows on the next page below.

In the glassine envelope is a vintage Bridge

tally card purchased on eBay.

Some of these have lovely graphics,

especially the nature-themed ones,

and those from the art deco period of the 20s.

On the right is vintage ledger paper

along with the egg, which was from a

piece of scrapbook paper...

Some more ledger paper on left, with a page from an old

book covered with tulle and a paper flower,

with more scrapbook paper on the right...

Pretty young sisters from their First Communion or

Confirmation photo, and I gave them some paper daisies

to hold to match those in their hair,

a page from a vintage book,

and a rubber stamped quote and words on the

envelope...

As with all collage, assembling items to work with

that will result in a cohesive theme is the hardest part,

but here are some things that I hope to work with next.

More sheet music, printouts from garden books,

vintage photos, and some lovely digital downloads

purchased on Etsy...

I am not one to keep journals myself, so the hardest part for me has been allowing room for someone else to journal and to not get overly carried away on the collaging of everything else that I love. I guess I'll see where this takes me!

I won't likely post for a bit now, as we are getting ready to open the place in the mountains and resume the work that we began last year before Bob's surgery. Until then,

Happy Creating!!

Glimpses: Completing some art projects!

Hello to all! I hope that you're having a great day.

This year we will be having a very quiet Christmas, so I decided to take advantage of that with minimal decorating, and spent these last couple of days completing a few art projects that I had started last month. Here are a few glimpses of what I worked on, though I can't yet share more than this.

I actually worked on four related seasonal collage canvases.

I used some of the stuff I've been collecting for a while,

ribbon, fibers, a vintage key and label holder, and

some old sheet music...

...not to mention the usual vintage photo thrown in.

I love the mom and baby in her coat and hat sitting

on the porch on this cold winter day.

B-r-r-r-r...

More pretty fibers, old glass buttons,

and a glimpse of another old photo and

a vintage typed letter...

Here are some vintage postage stamps

on top of old ledger paper,

with yet another photo barely peeking

out...

 Yet another photo, this one on top

of a vintage love letter and its envelope.

This letter was actually sent many years ago

to someone one town over from where I live.

And of course, some velvet ribbon and lace...

At some point I will show you the completed versions of these.

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Maybe I would be better off creating some Christmas cards this week.

Oops!

The Start of a New Project and New Photo Fabric

Hello there. I hope that your July has gotten off to a good start.

Having finished the collages that I was working on, 

I put together some things to begin a new one.

An old and stained piece of a cutter quilt...

Some goat cart photos printed onto photo fabric,

along with some wide burlap ribbon...

Sari ribbon, laces, trims, and an array

of buttons...

...along with some pretty fabrics...

Can you tell what my color scheme is going to be?...

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By the way, I was reading one of my books about crazy

quilting, and the author recommended this photo fabric...

Have you tried it yet? 

It seems to take the ink very nicely,

and the paper backing is quite easy to pull off.

It comes on a roll, so you can just cut off what you need.

The only thing that I do not like about it is that the texture

is a little rough, and you tend to see that on your printout.

I did use it for my patriotic collages that I featured here and here.

If you look closely, you may be able to see the texture on the photos.

But it doesn't bother me enough to hold me back from using this product.

I purchased it on Amazon.

Have you tried any new products lately?

Finding Great Silky Fabrics

Hello and happy Wednesday!

We are still pretty busy with "spring chores" around the old homestead, so I have only had time to put a few fabrics together hoping that I will soon have some real creative time.

I have been wanting to do some "fancy cowgirl"

art for quite some time now,

so decided to use some silky pretties...

...with these rugged-looking cowgirls, 

mostly because you wouldn't normally

picture them together...

I especially love the piece of organza

with the fancy cowgirl boot on it...

The source for this,

and the sage green silk with the leaves on it

is an eBay shop, Prism Silks, found here.

I have ordered many different fabrics and buttons

from this shop and it is great to deal with.

And, as long as we are on the subject of fabric

sources,

here are some other fabrics that I recently ordered...

...from this shop on Etsy, Fabrics and Trims,

and you can find her here.

She is in India and I don't have to tell you 

what gorgeous silks come from there

(think sari silk, my friends!).

Also, the shipping is pretty quick considering

the distance the goods have to travel!

Both of these shops charge

very reasonable prices for nice fat quarters

and the selection is so much better that what

you see in a fabric store.

Oh, and the best part?

No waiting on line to have several small pieces 

of fabrics cut!

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I hope that you are having a great week!

Making some room and purple...

Good morning friends! I mentioned recently that I have been cleaning out our attic and tagging things for our community yard sale in the spring. Cleaning out attics is never fun, at least not in my book, but as with everything else, there is always a bright side.

I determined the other day that if I live to be 100, I will never again need to buy gift wrap, other than perhaps for Christmas. Because I am (almost!) a hoarder of all things on sale that I think I will have a future use for, we had so many rolls of wrapping paper stored in so many plastic totes that I decided to price all of the ones that I didn't think I would ever really use and away they will go. Well, as you can imagine, the attic-cleaning is not confined to just the attic, because we are also getting rid of quilts, throw pillows, and various other household items that are not only sitting in the attic. So along the way, I have cleaned out bedroom closets, kitchen cabinets, and even my studio. That's right. My studio!!

As I was tagging the gift wrap, I decided to clean out the bottom drawer of my chippy white old dresser in my studio, where I kept papers that were for occasions other than Christmas. Not to mention, a long and low tote that housed more of the same is stored under the bed in the upstairs guestroom. Result?

All wrappings are now consolidated into the

tote that is under the guest room bed,

and this dresser drawer in the studio

was emptied out and cleaned...

All the stuff that was sorted for projects-to-soon-

be-in-the-works that were sitting on the bed...

...are now in zip-locks in the drawer...

,,,and you can now see the bed ,

which anyone rarely sleeps in,

for what it really is...

As I said before,

there is a bright side to everything.

And after working most of the day Saturday

on the "attic project",

I treated myself to a little creative time.

Since my fabrics are now so nicely organized,

I pulled out the purples...

...and put some things together

for a fabric collage, 

hopefully to be completed soon...

Goodness,

I love it when a plan comes together!