Fun Fabric Binder for Kim

I have been neglectful of my blog, again. It's summer and I have been busy about the house. We painted the porch steps, had garage sales, cleaned off porches, and various yard work projects.

I have also been busy trying some new things. I was looking for a project to work on while sitting on the front porch, or watching the new series Pillars of the Earth. I had seen the video by Teesha Moore where she had made these wonderful fabric journals, and fell in love with the idea.

Gathering up some fabric, I started making the little "pillows" as Teesha calls them. They were each stuffed and sewn, then carefully edged with cotton thread. Making the stitches small, varying thread colors and patterns to make each one different. Like Teesha said, I was not all "matchy poo". It did not matter that some were a bit smaller, not quite straight, or that the tread colors changed randomly. The result is a fun and funky folder.

I made this for our youngest daughter Kim. She is a bit of a free spirit and I know she will love the bright colors. She loves Teeshas' work and I thought it would be a nice surprise for her as she starts college in Kalamazoo next week.

It's finished and ready for her, decorated with some vintage buttons and colorful fibers.

Here is the inside. I found these bright colored rings for the binder. You can see all the "quilting". I tried to vary and make patterns for each piece. It was all bound with a pretty blue thread.

She can use it for a journal by adding sketch paper to it, or some watercolor paper. She can use it for school, either way she will have something from me with her and remind her that we are thinking of her while she is away at school.

Tempting Tags

I am a member of a small group of ladies who gather every now and then to exchange our Artwork, share information, and enjoy a meal together. We will discuss what's new in our lives and some new project we would like to try.

Last month we did pages for a Glamorous "Star" book. We each picked a Movie Star form the vintage movies who for us portrayed true Glamour and Style. We had a lot of fun and the pages were outstanding. Then we decided this month to do a tag exchange. We did not designate a subject, just one challenge. We had to use the newspaper put out by Donna Salazar somewhere on the tag. Donna Salazar is known for making flowers with this particular paper. So she put out a "Artist's newsletter" on the paper she uses to make her paper flowers. We each bought one and had two months to figure out where or how to use it on our tags.

Kim used it on the lovely flowers she made for her Ginger Rogers tag, as did Vicki on her vintage lady tag. Nancy used it on the background of her masculine tag, and Terri her butterfly wings. I used it for the leaves on my tag (The bottom tag, but you cannot see them in the picture)which was the simplest one of the group this time. It was a lot of fun, and these ladies are just so creative and talented.

Having been in a few exchange groups and clubs in the past, I had been left a bit discouraged. People did not follow thru, or applied very little time or effort to their projects. I almost gave up, but then decided to find "like minded" people to start our own group. It has been fun and never a disappointment. I feel so lucky to be a part of this and know these talented ladies.

We are going to take a small break for summer, as vacations, graduations, and the nice weather make us all long to be outside. Our next meeting we will be exchanging cards, for now though I have these lovely tags to admire and inspire me. Thanks ladies!

Where Bloggers Create

Here is my post showing my "new" and improved Craft Studio. I now have much more room, and my dear Husband made me a table where I and my friends can gather and create! I hope you enjoy the little video. Hope you enjoyed seeing my creative space, please leave a comment and be sure to visit all the other (I think there are over 500!) creative people listed at "My Desert Cottage". Thank You Karen for hostess-ing this event again, and for letting me participate!

Scraps of My Life Mini Swap

Finished this mini for Scraps of My Life swap. The theme was "Butterflies, Buttons, and Bows". Joyce, the lady I was chosen to make it for likes "purple, or red and black" and gave me shabby chic, or grunge as the style she liked. I had a lot of fun. finding that I had a beautiful black velvet butterfly I went with the grunge, black and red. She also shared that she really (like myself) does not scrapbook but prefers to journal in them.

It's on it's way to her, and I hope she likes it. Now off to finish another for my Friend overseas (it's almost ready to send Sarah!)

Where Bloggers Create II

Yeah! It's that time again. I participated in this last year after I had just re-decorated and re-organized my small craft room. This year I have just moved to a larger room (to accommodate my ever-increasing "stuff"). I cannot wait to share where I create, and to visit other Blogs to see theirs! Please join me on Saturday June 19th for a tour of some very creative and inspirational places where very talented people create their art. It is a feast for the eyes, and will inspire you with ideas for your own personal creative area. You can find the list of participants "here" at the site of our Hostess for the event. Have fun, hope to "see" you there, and hopefully here where I will have pictures of my new space!

A Giveaway to Enter!

A Sweet lady is having her first giveaway! Check out http://bochscreations.blogspot.com/ for a chance to win a gift certificate.

Still moving....

I am still "moving" the craft room. Taking this time to sort and put together things that I am ready to part with. So much I will never have the time to use. I have decided to make up little gatherings of items to sell off. Perhaps there are some bits you have been looking for? Like old photo frames, bits of fabric, jewelry or lace? I have a small, but steadily growing pile to sort and move along. I am also participating in a mini - album swap. I will be making a mini scrapbook/journal for someone. This swap, hosted by Julie (scraps of my life), has a ning group too. She wanted some things for a giveaway for her first swap. I decided to donate two small "mini-bit kit" as I called them. They have some nice chipboard shapes for the cover/pages, some shapes, one of my handmade flowers, some fibers, coin envies, bling, chipboard flourishes, and a tag. Not a complete mini kit but a good start.

This move is taking a while, and these stops to cut chipboard, working, and such are making it seem longer. I am almost there though. Most of the large pieces have been moved. Steve is making me a work table this weekend, it's coming together, just seems to be taking a lot longer than the time it took last February when I did the other room.

Still I am excited because I will now not only have room to create, but one that will also allow me to have friends over too. My other room was nice but too small for more than one person to comfortably work in. Hopefully I won't outgrow this new room as quickly (or at all!) as I did the other. I cannot wait to take photos and show it to all of you.

Well back to work, I have a mess to clean up, a room to finish, and a mini to work on. I had better get busy.