BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS

   I love to read, always have. As a child, books gave me a chance to experience a world larger than the small town I grew up in. As a teenager and young adult, I favored popular fiction that I could discuss with my friends. In 2000 I realized I new very little about great literature aside from the required reading in school and printed a list of the Best 100 Books of the last century. I read about 40 books from this list and discovered a few things...

1. Like anything else reading and comprehension takes practice.

2. I don't like ALL great literature.

3. Many of the GREAT books are considered great for a reason...it's like the difference between gourmet and fast food.

   Today I an an eclectic and voracious reader. Current economics necessitate buying my reading material from Goodwill and Salvation Army. I thrilled to say this has expanded my reading horizons even further. Here are my last months finds.

OBVIOUSLY I'm a classic movie and true crime fan :)

AND I decided I needed something special and handy to complement my reading.

 Any other readers out there??

   

Thrift Haul and new Projects completed

    I LOVE LOVE thrift store shopping! It started when I was in my 20's and loved Vintage clothes. While shopping for vintage clothes I noticed SO many other amazing things priced so reasonably! I've always had an eclectic personal style and been artsy-craftsy so the 2 just came together.

    Today I shop thrift stores for the same and many other reasons... environmentally and economically it just makes GOOD sense. AND the Goodwill & Salvation Army are Non- profit so your $$ go towards helping those in need!

    HOW AWESOME is this!! The Tombow adhesives and rubber stamps were 99 cents each and the Pebbles chalk set 2.99! AND a Cuttlebug die cutting and embosser for $5.00!!!

I OFTEN find brand new craft supplies!!

New Projects completed

     Cigar box re-Do using ONLY supplies I already had...

This is for a male friend. When I alter things I often like to retain some of the original character... the wood lining and edging that says "handmade".

Martha's Crayon technique and other experiments

The UBER talented Martha, aka Seekingforart on Ustream and Youtube, graciously shared her technique using smooth Bristol paper and melted wax crayons. Here I stamped and image and colored it with Prismacolor colored pencils 1st, then applied the melted crayons. AMAZING! Thank you Martha! Tip: Red seems to be the only color that bleeds slightly.

 Here are some experiments using the wrinkle-free distress ink background, stamping an image, painting the image with Picket Fence Distress stain, then applying colored pencil. I LOVE this look!

And finally, here I used the same wrinkle-free Distress ink background technique, stamped an image and colored with Prismacolor colored pencils. The Prismacolor pencils are so rich they show up nicely on the background.
Hope you enjoy my experiments and let me know what you've tried :)

Some NEW completed projects

My WONDERFUL son surprised me with a Kindle Fire! No store bought cover for me...heck no! My son and I share a LOVE of science... and I am totally crazy for Vintage school books so... Voila!

I didn't want the cover to squash flat so I cut out all the pages with an Exacto knife flush. I sanded the page remainders smooth. I cut 2 pieces of chipboard to fit the inside covers. Cut a piece of felt the same size as the chipboard , glued it together and then wrapped it with fabric, gluing it with a glue gun on back. I cut 4 pieces of elastic and unsuccessfully tried to dye it green with Colorwash. (Synthetics don't dye well). I wanted the elastic to be secure so I sewed it by hand to the fabric on the back before using my glue gun to afix both pieces to the book covers. I LOVE it!!

Being on a STRICT budget sometimes requires imagination. Made my own baker's twine with Pearl Cotton crochet thread and permanent markers, wound them onto old spools and strung the spools on a piece of jute to hang next to my desk.
I like the Tim Holtz paper reinforcers for tags soooo I painted some from the dollar store and added some stamping with Archival Ink. Be sure NOT to get the plastic reinforcers, doubt they'd accept the paint.

I LOVE the cute little patterned paper bags that seem to be popular now. I found a template online and used the 180 page paper stacks and some old thin maps...the thinner paper is more to my liking. Cut them out with pinking shears.

Hope you find these ideas inspiring!! 

Happy Mail in The House !!

I am absolutely OVERWHELMED with the talent and generosity of my dear friend Laurel!

( AKA: Laurel DeViney on youtube, LaurelfromNJ on Ustream and her blog Paper and Scissors Rock)

It's one thing to watch her create on a video or stream and yet another to hold one of her creations in your hand!! The detail and care she puts into her work is AMAZING. Click on pic for detail.

This GORGEOUS Valentine box is filled with buttons :)

I am CRAZY for fountain pens and this magnetic closure box is filled with embellishments :)

This mini is FILLED with pockets sized to hold cards. Perfect as Laurel taught me how to make cards and I am ADDICTED! Like little mini works of art.

A pop open book, vintage Bingo cards, trims and a Vintage song book! I've NEVER had flat back pearls before YIPPEE!

AND if this weren't enough.......

LOOK at all this Ranger GOODNESS OMG!!!!!
 I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest woman in the world to have Laurel as a friend! THANK YOU so much my sweet friend!!
 

Finished Art Journal and EASY Junk-y Journal

YIPPEE! I've finished my re-purposed Ikea catalogue Journal. It held up pretty well and I loved working in this smaller format.(click on pics for larger view)
** A personal rant about paint chips*** I was lucky enough to find a huge bound stack(provided to a store by the paint company) at the Salvation Army for 2.00. Otherwise, I personally would NOT take paint chips from stores that sell paint unless I was buying paint. It just doesn't seem honest to me to go empty out the rack of chips intended for paint customers. Just my opinion.

Here are some of my favorite pages.

LOTS of layers on this page and used spray inks thru shapes cut from Plastic needlepoint canvas.
 

I'm a miserable draw-er. This woman is cut from a magazine, covered with a thin coat of gesso and recolored using watercolor.

I LOVE using images from old books.

 
I have always struggled with journaling in my Art Journals. I'm an AVID reader and decided to journal about books I've read and I LOVE it! It helps me pause and think about a book and what I liked/didn't like about it.

Junk-y Journal

Here's my version of the Smash-Junk-Daily Journals so popular right now. I found a cool shaped Childeren's Board book at the Salvation Army for .50 cents, cut the pages apart with and exacto knife, glued 2 together for extra strength with Scotch Quick Dry glue. Then I covered it with Scrapbook paper, punched holes and used binder rings. For the pager I used old magazine ads, maps, index cards and scrapbook paper. I will embellish the pager as I journal.

Thanks SO much for looking. I LOVE comments and /or links to similar things you have tried.

 

Some New Cards

I continue to work in my Art Journal and will post some pics soon.  But I wanted to post a pic of a card I'm entering in my 1st challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

It's a chevron design I paper pieced along with book text. Wish me luck :)

I am definitely a Clean and Simple card maker and like a sort of eclectic style.

This is a La Blanche stamp. If you haven't tried them, you should. I really love how well they stamp and their old world designs. I used my Prismacolor Colored pencils and really love how they resist the Distress Inks.