No Words Wednesday & A Winner !

And now for the WINNER of the fabulous little recycled Journal.  And the winner is .....(drumroll)......

I put all the names into a box and asked my precious Mom to draw one card and the name she drew was:

CONGRATS  Helen Stevens!!!  Your prize will be finding its way to you in the next few days! Enjoy!!!

Thank you to all those who  joined in for your lovely comments- much appreciated.  Keep visiting - there will be plenty more GIVE-AWAYS coming up!

I (heart) Crafts

A symbol I have always loved is the heart .  One can just never have too many hearts!!!
Here are a few examples of  heart crafts that I have created:

 

The fabric for this calico heart was stamped with rubber stamps using Cocoa Bean Brilliance Ink

 

These hearts were made with printed fabric and I stamped the  words on using Stazon ink

 

I made this wreath with Grapevine branches from my yard and cut the hearts from MDF wood.

 

Another calico heart decorated with rubber stamps and ribbon roses + pearls.

 

 

A heart black board I made from 3mm MDF wood and added a little MDF bird and rubber stamp decorations.

 

 

A rag wreath made by creating a heart shape from wire and then tying little scraps of fabric onto the wire

"Wherever you go ... go with ALL your heart"

 Have a happy creative week!!

Junk Mail to Jazzy Journal

Here's a cute and quick recycling project TUTORIAL for you today:

You'll need a piece of Junk Mail which is printed on  nice firm paper like this one:

 

Cut it in half:

 

Then in half again:

  

Open the pages out and Gesso them on both sides:

 

I decorated my dry gesso-ed pages with Acrylic inks but you can use acrylic paint or craft paint or whatever you prefer- do this on both sides:

 When both sides are dry you can add stencils, stamps and others techniques to decorate your pages:

 

on both sides of course:

 

Then fold your dry decorated pages in half and pack them together in a pleasing sequence:

 

Here's where I cheated a bit. I couldnt find any recycled cardboard firm enough for my cover so I used a bought sheet 12x12 and cut it to size, just a few mm bigger than my pages:

 

So you will have your pack of folded pages and your folded cover:

 

Put them all together. Open them up in the middle and make 3 holes with a sharp object in the middle at the spine of your journal:

 

Sew the spine with a strong nylon thread:

 

Tie the thread off at the outside of the spine:

 

So your book will look like this:

 

Tie little bits of fibres, wool, ribbon etc onto the stitches on the outside of the spine- which disguises the stitches and also looks really cute! :

 

                                                          so this is what it will look like:

 

Then the really fun part- decorate your cover.  I used fabric and little bits of  lace & sewed it on with my sewing machine:

I finished this whole project in a morning.  There you have a journal ready for drawing, painting and writing in. Or to give as a very special hand-made gift.
For a chance to win this beautiful little journal leave a comment below.
Comments will close on Tuesday Oct 30th 2012.
The winners name will be posted on Wednesday Oct 31st 2012.
Overseas readers welcome to participate!

No Words Wednesday

Hi all
I am hoping to make this a weekly feature every Wednesday.  It will be just an image/photo of something beautiful, inspirational or touching - with no words. Hope you will enjoy this new feature. Here is today's image

MORE Art Journal Pages......

I have been quite busy art journaling lately.  My creative flow is in full swing.  I am always amazed at how therapeutic the process of art / journaling is.  I find too, that the more simple I keep my pages, the happier I am with them in the end.  It's all about enjoyment, FUN and relaxation . So here are some more of my doodles; scribbles and paintings:

These are done in my bought journal:

These are done in my home-made journal:

Remember my "groovy" journal that I showed you a while ago?  Its a tiny little journal - handmade.  I have made quite a lot of progress with filling it up lately. Not much drawing or painting in this one - I have used a lot of scrapbooking supplies etc (+ tons of my new favourite product: Washi Tape)

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do"
-John Wooden-

New Art Supplies....

I was looking for washi tape so I googled it and happily found Cathy at PaperPeony who keeps a wonderful supply and will mail it to you. YAY!  She also has a full range of bakers twine.  I must admit I have seen bakers twine in card-making and scrapbooking magazines and it never caught my fancy at all.  However, Cathy included a little bit of bakers twine in my parcel and once I started using it in my journals I fell in love with it!!!  Definitely HAVE to get some more!!!  As for the washi tape - I seem to be sticking it on to anything that doesnt move (hee hee).
It is very difficult NOT to use it on everything - love love love this stuff!!!
So if you want to try something new- hop on over to Cathy's blog and have a look.  (She also makes the most gorgeous bespoke stationery).
Here is how she sent my order - it was like receiving a present- all beautifully wrapped:

I also invested in some artists/illustrator's-quality markers.  If you are looking for these or any other good artist's-quality art supplies take a look at Natasha's website :Addicted to Art.  Her service is fast friendly and efficient.

"Use what talents you possess, the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." -Henry van Dyke-

 FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN TRYING TO POST COMMENTS AND FOUND THE PROCESS COMPLICATED - I HAVE CHANGED SOME SETTINGS - SO PLEASE TRY AGAIN AND SEE IF IT WORKS BETTER NOW - MUCH APPRECIATED - WOULD LOVE TO READ YOUR COMMENTS!!!- CLICK on "no comments" below to enter a comment.

This is me . . .

I didnt imagine that this would be such a difficult blog post to do.  But I've taken a deep breath and here we go...

* I was born in... the late 60s
* I had a... difficult but happy childhood
* I was born and have lived in.... the same town for almost my whole life (except for 4 years)
* I've never.... been abroad
* I have... two sons, aged 25 & 20.

 Jordan (on the left) 25 and Daniel (right) 20    


* I have been.... divorced for 8 years (my husband decided he wanted to start a new life with someone else)
*I have suffered from .....Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia for the last 16 years (which is very      debilitating most of the time)
*I ADORE ....dogs
* I am passionate about .....all arts and crafts
*When I was a teenager .....I wanted to be a psychiatrist (now I need one :-) )
*I enjoy reading .....self-development/ motivational books
* I take care of .....my 71 year old Mom who suffers from Chronic Lung Disease

* I like..... learning new skills
* I wish I had ....  a swimming pool
* If I didnt have CFS I would ....... adopt two children
* My greatest goal is....to have a book published
* I am a follower of.... Jesus
* I love.... trees (real tree hugger)
* My wardrobe consists of ...... jeans and t-shirts

* My mentor and best friend was..... my grandmother
* I am..... Neil Diamond's biggest fan ever
* I hoard... scrapbook supplies, stickers and art supplies
* I am a .... coffee-holic
* I spend far too much time.... on the internet
* I havent got a clue about ...... economics, politics or star gossip
* My favourite season is..... Autumn

* I would love  to have been..... a very rich Lady in the 1800s
* I'd love to.... swim with dolphins
* My favourite artist is ..... Vincent van Gogh

* And finally my life motto is:

"If  I can stop one heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain;
If  I can ease one life the aching,
or cool one pain, 
or help one fainting robin
unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain."
(-Emily Dickinson-)