Recycled/Collage page and a mini notebook

Hello

I've another piece using a recycled Cheese crackers box for Alison aka Craftytrog theme this month  Recycle and Collage at AJJ and I must admit I really enjoyed making this particular one, probably as it was on one of the days we had recently that was more like summer than spring and that seemed to fire up my mojo too.

I covered my cracker box with some glossy pages from a wine magazine and gessoed over that.

Then I scribbled over the page with water soluble pastels and then gessoed over that to blend colours.

I found some left over flower diecuts and tore up a scrap of pinky/mauve craft paper and wrote the words - Summer in Spring seemed quite appropriate to describe the weather.

Finished with lots of doodling and shading and addition watercolour splashes.

And at last the Tulips are blooming

And the good weather is bringing the birds back to the garden

 The Goldfinch seems to be a regular visitor at present and hopefully nesting somewhere nearby

And do you remember the grey faux leather I was going to make another Traveller's Notebook with?
Well, for several weeks I had been putting off cutting it up in case I messed it up - and then Dave pointed out to me that if I did happen to mess it up - so what, it's not the end of the world I could get some more fabric and start again :)   duh - silly me! 

And so I (carefully) measured and cut the fabric to make a mini book to fit my handbag

I love the traveller's notebook style as it is easy to add and change pages which are held in by elastic cords.

Next project is to make an A5 size one as there is plenty of material left to use up.

OK that's all for now.

Thank you so very much 

for stopping here today

 and for any comments left.

Gill x

Spring and other things

My last piece for AJJ 'Spring' theme   this month  hosted by Rosie
Once again I used a mix of various types of crayons (wax crayons, oil pastels, Neocolours) and a white Posca pen.

The bulbs - especially the Daffodils and Crocuses are flowering more and  it is starting to feel more Springlike - even though snow may be possible in some some parts of UK over Easter apparently.

And it was nice seeing a large Bee enjoying the flowers too

I've been busy making a few Easter cards and other Greeting cards

..here is a few of them.

As usual I have several things on the go at once - and I've not forgotten about the fauxleather for the traveller's notebook which hopefully I will show soon when its finished...

I recycled some cheese cracker boxes and started to make into Junk journal type of thing to try out some different glues - including Berol Marvin medium which I've never used as it had got tucked over the back of a cupboard and forgotten.

Then trying out glues to make 'book cloth' for a cover of a mini book

 And I found some MDF blanks and some ornate foam(?) embellishments that I've had for several years which need to be used - so I painted the heart shaped box first with gesso then painted that and the heart shaped daisy wreath with Paperartsy chalk paints.

  

 and this is the next batch of the MDF/chipboard pieces to work on

All for now.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Friday, Have a great weekend

and  a Happy Easter to all that celebrate.

Gill x

Book making

And now for something different today...
One of the things on my New Years resolution list was to learn a new craft but I had no idea that it would turn out to be book making/binding after nearly 20 years of wanting to do this.

from left to right: 

Coptic stitched book, White textured cover, Green casebound book

 and a cover made to repair an address book.

I have 3 books on this subject and over the years I have made a few mini album type of things and always wanted to learn about book binding but never followed it up in a serious way. 
More recently I had seen a few of Beate's wonderful books and intended once again to have a go but never did. And then out of the blue dear Beate kindly sent me a 'text block' to inspire me further to actually do it - and of course I had to didn't I? 
And so with Beates help, advice and tips and watching some good videos from Jennifer aka Sea Lemon  and Sage Reynolds this is what happened next...

In case you didn't know a 'text block' (or Book block - I hope that's correct as I'm still trying to understand all the terminology) is where the folded papers are grouped into 'signatures' and cleverly sewn together to make the inside of your book.  
All* I needed to do was finish that off with some 'end papers' and make a cover and glue it altogether. *It will get easier - I know!

 You can just about see the verticle lines of the stitching that Beate did to sew it together. 
 The 'text block' needed to be clamped and glued along the spine.
Beate showed me a photo of how she did hers and I was able to do exactly the same using some pieces from a Silk Painting frame.

While that was drying I made a cover and at that point could only find a plain piece of A3 white paper that was large enough to cover it all.
The corners I folded over like making a bed but that was slightly bulky so next time I would cut a triangle off the corner instead for a neater fit.

But the cover was fractionally too small when I tried the pages inside so I have saved that for another project. 

 And then I panicked assuming I would mess it up further, so I decided to practise on some other things first.

 I cut up some paper to make some new pages, cut some board for covers and made a different style cover and totally different style of book instead.

 

This is a Coptic style book with open spine - and when open it lays really nice and flat.

 

Then I found an old address book where the cover had fallen off and been lost so made a new one for it. I believe its also known as 'case bound' book. This was good practise for sticking on all the additional reinforcing bits and papers on the book to stick to the cover.

And next, finally I made the cover to finish Beates book.

This one was covered in 2 pieces of patterned paper

 with a thick textured paper for the spine.

Then a further piece of patterned paper glued along the inside spine 

to reinforce it.

Next I chose bright green papers for the end papers, folded them and stuck them in at each end and added the white paper along spine to reinforce that too (all as suggested in books and videos)

The hard part at present for me is sticking the finished textblock to the covers so that the papers don't wrinkle and are in the right position but hopefully that will get better as I make more and learn more.

This is the finished book .. a simple, traditional looking book ..

Thank you Beate for kickstarting me into doing this :)

And now I know a bit more, next time I won't feel so apprehensive

 and can experiment and decorate the covers.

 

And still talking of books (sorry) you may remember I had a go at making a Traveller's notebook recently too which at present is just being used as diary/planner. The cover was made from felt and probably not ideal so I found some lovely Grey faux leather material to make another one and couldn't resist some pretty floral cotton offcuts for book covers maybe.
So this is now on my list of things to do next :)

I love the pattern/texture of this faux leather

I was pleased when the snow went the other other week and the postman could then safely deliver my order of beeswax, thread, bookcloth and yet another (better) book on bookbinding - I'm addicted!

Thanks for stopping by today

and listening to my ramblings.

Hope you're having a great day.

Gill x

An adventure for AJJ and 2nd travelers notebook

I'm starting to get fed up with the cold grey (and often very windy) days here in the UK as they are making me feel less motivated to do much. I'm not sure I achieved so much this week and the woman in the piece I made for AJJ looks like she might be about to doze off too - maybe she needs to go somewhere sunny and warm on some adventure to change that.

Linking up to AJJ New Year, New Adventures  theme where the lovely Erika from BioArtGal is hosting ths month.
I used a white Neocolour 1 wax crayon as a resist on background then added water soluble Neocolours 2 and watercolours - added drawing and words  then finished with some some digital additions from my own made (previously )digital kits.

Below is the original piece before digital alterations.

 

This year I am hoping to finish half started things from previous years

like this male portrait.

Although I've done a few soft pastel pieces in the last couple of years, I'm fairly new to using pastels and still trying to grasp how to do things.. i.e when using soft pastels, when to use the pastel pencils or 'hard pastels' and understanding paper types and how many layers of pastels they might take and if I need a fixative, how to store them so they don't smudge etc  argghhhh!!  hopefully by the end year I might have a little more idea on how to do this!

And I'd like to do some bookbinding/making this year. This is the second attempt at a 'Travelers notebook' and bigger one than the previous one.. the pages inside are about 7" x 5".

The cover is a sandwich of 2 layers of green felt with a sheet of craft foam in the middle. I hand sewed around the edges and across the middle and should have used my machine instead as the sewing is awful - don't look too closely!

I'll probably decorate the outside some more later but for now I just want to see how I get on using it.
I added threes sections of pages inside - some plain paper and some lined.
I hope a third attempt on one of these style books (as soon as I can find some nice material and/or vinyl) will be better.

Have a great weekend

and thanks for stopping by

Gill x

New Year adventures week one

Hello.... A week gone from 2018 already - and I know it's early days but I did quite well doing some of the things that  I hope to achieve this year.  My digital page is a list of what I think would be achievable  and as the theme over at    AJJ  this month is 'New Year, New Adventures'  (hosted by Erika from BioArtGal ) I am linking to there.

 

The photography course book I have started to read is for 20 weeks

 but as long as I have completed it by the end of the year I will be happy.

I hope I learn some skills to improve the quality of taking photos indoors as I had 

awful trouble trying to photograph my white Steampunk tree and its coloured lights.

I was sad to take down all the Christmas trees and other bits as the lights

 were lovely and cheerful and made me forget the grey wintry days outside.

I have been playing my keyboards again - but not this one,

this is the one I started decorating last year which needed more doing to it.

I used a mix of alcohol inks, black and white Posca paint pens and alcohol pens.

I always say I have a bit more confidence sewing after a little drink

 but I'm not sure it works with painting ha ha.

First go painting people using that Hazel Soan book I had for Christmas.

And as for learning to sew (its on my list too)...I altered a waistband on my PJs - taking out elastic and machined it up with a cord instead. And for more sewing next, I hope to make one of those 'Travelers style journals' with a fabric cover, which may also come under learning a 'new craft'... My first attempt yesterday with a mini one of those was using craft foam and laminated paper but I don't think its very sturdy.

And finally..because the weather in the UK has been cold and grey and what with the dreadful flu virus going around, it makes me feel that I just want to stay inside and hibernate. 

So for exercise - with the aid of some on line videos I have been learning to .. no laughing please!..... 'line dance' .... yes really!  ... something called 'the electric slide'. 

Hope your new year and any new adventures are going well..

thanks for stopping by

Gill x