One of my all time blog/artist idols is celebrating the release of her new book! How? By giving away a free copy! Stop by Susan's blog to check out the contest today...she's picking the winner on 12/16. But just don't go there for the book...make sure you add her to your feed list...great stuff on her blog.
Friends alerted me to the fact that it was Megan's birthday....
Flustered, I didn't know what I could make for her. She recently mentioned that she had taken a scrapbooking class WAY back when...so I figured the desire to keep some sort of journaling and/or memories might be there.
As often happens, a quick project in my mind soon turns into a 7 hour mega project with blood, sweat and tears.
Lots of the pages will flip over for secret thoughts to be written underneath... all of the pages are sewn..back to back on Fabriano paper..delicious.
I also stitched in ribbons from my collection to add some girly texture.
A little julification here and there too. I always hem and haw over making stuff like this. For some reason it is hard for me to pull it all together. My moons must have been in line this night, I love how this book turned out.
It was also daunting to actually dig around in my paper drawer searching for burried treasure.... once the pages were decorated and sewn, little did I know the pain would come from trying to bind this bad boy together.
It got pretty thick pretty fast. I had completed some Japanese book binding a few years ago and decided this would be the way to go for this project.. but the girth prooved stubborn and Mr. Luggage was called in to help pull the needles through.
Happy birthday, Megan! I hope you enjoy your book for many years to come!
The chalk drawings continue. I decided that instead of writing sentences on the sidewalk, I would continue with writing one word at a time. This way, I won't have to explain myself and pedestrians can think for themselves..."what the?" Today's word: Texas.
in progress
I am not a lady painting artist...but I bought this book anyway. I have to admit...Kelly Rae's paintings are really nice to look at! Flipping quickly through the pages this afternoon, I thought to myself...self? Why did you go out and buy this one...you don't paint ladies or butterflies...you hardly collage with pattern paper anymore either...what gives?
I am happy to report that I am reading through the techniques and remembering things I forgot and learning new things at the same time! There is always something to learn somewhere. Did you know Kelly was a social worker? I was also happy to read that because now I can read the nitty gritty portions of the book and continue my quest to find out why I think I am so crazy. This book performs double duty. Well worth the money.
This book has been out for a long time I think...my BFF Michael suggested I grab a copy. I couldn't find it directly from Amazon, but I was able to snatch it up by doing a little Google search...hardcover. $4.93! What a steal...and a totally interesting read!
There was a lot of "blatter" (my new coined phrase for 'blog chatter'; follows "blurfing", the recognized term for 'blog surfing') recently for this book. Me oh my; I am going to read it tonight, but the illustrations alone are mesmerizing! So happy I ordered it! People who know me well know that I don't normally read books. I recently came across a dilemma that changed everything though....what to buy for treats when you already own everything from every art supply store within a 70 mile radius? Books. I ordered two this month. (Stop laughing....it's a start...and when I told you I did not know how to read, I was only kidding.) The second book I ordered is here. I can't wait for it to show up on the porch!
So, what else....oh- tile, paint and furniture shopping is exhausting. Escrow is exhausting...I need a vacation, but now the work has begun! I'll rest in a couple of months I guess. Thanks for the emails about my back..it's still sore, but no where near as painful as it was at the start of this escapade.
I have been journaling...here's the cover of the new 6x6 book and a recent page:
The onion will make you cry. The Lost Luggage first page without acrylic paint! I like it! Hope you all have a nice weekend; I'll see you again soon!
