Memo Book and Ink

First I need to say WAHOO to Jane whose journal is featured on the upcoming issue of Sew Somerset. I am so psyched for her! Maybe I'll even get an autographed copy! LOL Go check it out and buy it when it comes out next month!
My sister has been sending me good junk from NY since my trip out in Oct. and here is a memo pad I made to thank her. In the last box she sent there was a Scrabble board with a note attached that hinted she would like it used for a book, so here it is! I sewed some of my handpainted canvas to a piece of cereal box, added a transparency and some hand dyed trim for the front. The pages are recycled odds and ends (some she sent me, like menus, calendars, etc.) including some cardstock with hand dyed fabric sewn on.

The back is simply a piece of the Scrabble board with her name in tiles. I used the Letter Distribution section of the game just because I think it's cool! I just mailed it out today, so she should be receiving it early next week:

I'm too cheap to buy straws so I saved my Starbucks straw from yesterday and played with my inks. I have been itching to blow the ink around like I've seen in several tutorials so I grabbed a piece of canvas paper and used black, turquoise, pink, bright orange, burnt umber, and black. I also used transparent yellow, but it was too light and didn't show up as well as the darker colors. Hmm... maybe on some dark cardstock?
I'm loving the effect and am thinking of using some of it in the journal I am working on:

Journal in Progress

I have been working on a journal/book/whatever on and off when the mood strikes for several months now. I used a paint sample booklet for the cover base and sewed hand painted canvas to the two pieces. I used assorted scrapbook type cardstock/paper, fabric, tablecloth, take out bag, barf bag from the airline for the pages. I sewed on many before adding the signatures to the covers. I dyed (of course!) really wide twill tape, doubled it with interfacing in between for the spine. I sewed large beads also to the spine.
Here is a close up of part of the front cover. You can't see the dragonfly transparency at the top which is sewed on over tulle. I added crown tape, Dick and Jane (Look) word for a tab, a Dog playing card wrapped in black tulle and embellished with brads, fabric, and stitches. I connected chain and charms from the spine to the Dog card:

One of the pages is a piece of tablecloth that I used to have on one of those outdated round tables. To the edge I sewed fabric and then stapled a photo of my sisters, my brother, and I from my trip to NY last October. You can see the back of the star flower I sewed on a previous page:

I just love the photo I took in Hawaii a couple of years ago of a sign forbidding rock piles in the Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island with a pile of rocks underneath. I hand sewed the photo to the page and wrote Irony with a Sharpie poster paint pen:

This page just shows random pieces of scrap fabric sewed to the page:

And finally the back cover with a pilfered goodie from Jane's trash (my favorite place to "shop"), the heart of muslin which is sewn on and decorated with another brad:

Yesterday I took the book in to show my seventh graders and today Kaitlyn started her own book (after rooting through our recycle box!) out of "junk" and "stuff." LOVE IT!

Calling all Alisa Burke fans!

If you check out Alisa's blog you will find a link to here and some fab give aways, including a clutch by Alisa.

Unscripted Sketch #4

This is my version of the Unscripted Sketch #4:

I painted a piece(9X12) of canvas paper, stenciled the black "lace" at the bottom center, painted the rectangles with lumiere, stamped them and then outlined both with black sharpie and decorative stitching. I sewed dyed lace and snaps and then bordered the piece with calico fabric. I added rubons.

Orange you glad?

Ok, bad puns aside............. the next Rolodex cards I need to work on for Penney-Jane are orange themed. Everyone is using a different color/shade/tint so when we are finished we have a virtual rainbow in our Rolodex! What fun! Last night I started gathering whatever I had in paper and fabric for orange and since it is not my favorite color (I chose it for a challenge), there wasn't much so I threw it on my table. The burst of orange was so bright I wanted to take a picture of it, but then I thought why not add other items to it first? So, here is orange.....

and orange.........

and a closeup of orange.........

I plan on using these photos for backgrounds. Now I want to see if I can come up with some other color photos! Probably better do the Rolodex cards first since the materials are now all over my table!

Dragonfly (what else?)

I started this ......... piece........for lack of a better description (no, I don't know what I am going to do with it!?) Saturday afternoon after our foray to SAS and Saver's. I am only focusing on the dragonfly that I made last night, because I have been looking for "me" in my art and I love this dragonfly........I will use it quite often in different sizes from now on. The next item I want to attempt is some sort of mixed media fairy......... speaking of fairies, if you know of a good Michael's here in the Phoenix area that has the full collection of their new dollar stamps, fairy princess series, let me or April know............

Wahoo!!!

I passed the Middle School Language Arts AEPA (Arizona Educator Professional Assessment?) which means that I am officially "highly qualified" according to No Child Left Behind. Man, that test was difficult, I didn't study for it and REALLY did not think I passed............
Wahoo!