Journal Class: Part Two

Alert readers may remember when I purchased this fun fabric back in August. I decided to use one of the "fruit ladies" fabrics for the cover of my second journal in Sue Bleiweiss's online class. This one is a sketchbook with watercolor and drawing paper. The velcro closure is covered by a piece of fabric with a giant pear bead from one of my old necklaces. After all, I do identify most with the "pear-shaped" lady!

The inside cover has a wild peach and orange fabric that almost looks like bookbinding paper, plus a colorful, juicy faux patchwork in red, pink, orange, yellow, peach, and purple. The pocket on this one goes all the way across the bottom of the journal from front to back. I was able to sew along the lines of the print to create some of the pockets for art supplies.

Instead of sewn-in signatures, this journal features hammered-in eyelets and removable hole-punched paper. I had no problem with the eyelets until the bottom two, when I was also going through the two layers of pocket fabric. Loose-leaf binder rings are used to hold the pages, and are decorated with strips of fabric and fiber along the spine.

The first page and several other divider pages feature painted watercolor paper.I used Setacolor sprayed or painted on, and then either used plastic wrap or paper towels to create mottling. I also added some metallic Lumiere paint to give it a gleam.

The cool text on the first page arrived at my house serendipitously when my husband picked up his annual box of wildlife calendars from the N. C. Wildlife Association. Included was a fabulous poster encouraging children to enter a wildlife art contest.

Here is the inside back cover, loaded with bookmarks, sketching pencils, and some colorful gel pens.

And here is my first page of doodled feathers, created while DH was trying out his new surround-sound speakers on the VERY loud movie Iron Man.

And a couple of doodled bookmarks, made from leftover pieces of the painted divider pages.

I have some coordinating Fruit Ladies fabric that might have to become a tote bag to carry additional art supplies like watercolor pencils and a water jar.

Fun (?) With Paper

After my first attempt at Journal-Making, I realized that I had an insufficient supply of specialty paper. Fabric by the ton, but not much paper. Of course, I had ordered some from Cheap Joe's made of silk, but can't find it. Too much moving stuff around lately.

So, off I went yesterday with my coupons from the Sunday newspaper to the local crafts shops. Browsing the scrapbooking section was an eye-opener. Wow! Lots of papers and embellishments in a beautiful array of colors. And so many ready-made decorations. You could spend a fortune on just a few pages. I used to make scrapbooks by cutting up wrapping paper and old greeting cards. Much more economical. I purchased a large and a small pack of card stock in various colors, and then some of the large album-sized scrapbook paper. Aren't they pretty!I really like this one with the smudgy stripes.

And before I left Michael's, look what I decided to get with my 50% off coupon: a paper-making kit. With some dried flowers included.

Now, I have been intending to try paper-making for some time now. In fact, when the grand-babies were here last week, they showed how to make it on Sesame Street. Looked messy but fun!

So on my morning walk, I came back armed with a grocery bag full of leaves, petals, and berries. Wouldn't these look grand with my new specialty paper?

But, they were not dried yet, so I started laying some out on paper towels, and drying them in the microwave with a plate over them to keep the leaves from curling. Here are some marigold and pansy petals before "nuking".

And after. Whoa! Shrinkage!

I used to dry and press flowers and herbs all the time. I had them dried and hanging in bunches all over the house. Once a friend asked DH why I had all these dried weeds hanging in my kitchen. I overheard him reply, "She's a witch!"

Anyway, after making a grand mess, sloshing stuff through my blender and sopping the frame and screen with pulp, I had this wet mess to show.

Then I dried it with the iron between sheets of muslin. This took some time. And look at the results.

After a morning's work, only four and a half sheets of this gray, cardboard-feeling stuff that looks like I used it wipe up the leftover sweepings from the kitchen floor!

Enough fun for one day!

Journey into Journal-Making

It has been a few days since my last post. Instead of meeting my daughter-in-law halfway to return my grandchildren, I had to drive them all the way home. Her car's brakes went out on her on the way to work, but fortunately she did not have an accident. Anyway, I spent the night down there, and drove home on Thursday. It was a gorgeous day, finally, after all the rain and cold weather when the children were here.

So, on to my online class with Sue Bleiweiss, "Journal Making for the Fiber Artist." The first lesson was available October 31, but as you can imagine, I did not even begin until after I got back from South Carolina.

Here is the journal with a velcro closure under the pink flower.

The outside cover is a pretty water-color looking fabric with gold lines imprinted in curvy branch-like patterns. I fused it to a stiff interfacing, then couched on some fibers in gold and pastels.The inner lining is a coordinating solid fabric with tiny gold dots. I added a pocket of pretty fabric. Uh-oh, mistake number one. I stitched the velcro closure on to the front and right through the pocket.

For my journal pages, I used paper cut to size from a large sketchbook. I kept the edge where it was connected to the pad, because it looked kind of deckled. I may add some gold paint to the edges. Some of the pages have a pale wash of Lumiere paint and some accent squiggles. Here's another little boo-boo: a gap of about a quarter inch between the signatures, or sets of pages. I had the hardest time figuring out how to sew these in. Apparently no one else in the class had a problem, so I studied their pics and got the idea.

One of the suggestions for the lesson was to "wrap" each of the three signatures with an enclosure of colored card stock. All I had was manila- way boring. I decided to use an old quilting calendar page as my signature wraps. OOPS- what to do about the old calendar and writing on the other side? I could have used it as is, but decided to paint with Lumiere paints. That did not quite cover up the calendar blocks, so I started collaging some painted paper towels left over from another project, and some strips of the calendar quilt picture. I had to let these dry about two days because of all the clear gel I used to apply them.

So, then I decided I liked the collaged side better than the quilt pic side. This one was used to wrap one of my signatures.

But I do love that quilt with all the polka dot circles. Here it is with a pocket attached.

So, I proceeded to cut my calendar picture into three strips of various widths to make my signature wraps. Then, when I lined them up with the signature pages, I realized that two of them were too narrow to use, because the holes I poked in the paper were wider apart. So, I left two signatures unwrapped, and made the extra collaged pics into pockets and bookmarks. I guess these are supposed to be bookmarks? I still don't quite get the whole journaling thing. Probably these are supposed to be something else you write on.

This is a pocket made of one of the collaged pieces.

I made a couple other pockets out of gusseted paper with decorative scrapbook paper glued on it. (Yes, I have some scrapbook paper.)

I cut out the letters for LOVE and added them to this pretty scrapbook paper.

So, I am already behind on Lesson 2, but I am eager to get going on that one. It will be a sketchbook. Wish me luck!

Journal-Making for the Fiber Artist class

Taking a break from picking out counters and tiles and painting...I am mad at myself because I went all the way to Raleigh to pick out tile for the backsplash this morning, and then spent about an hour at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get a new paper towel holder, door hook, and some other stuff. First I was mad because I have about ten coupons for 20% off at that store, and did not bring any of them. Then, I got to the check-out, and there was no wallet in my purse! After the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was lost or stolen, I realized I had been looking in it for stamps this morning and left it out on the counter. They would not let me write a check without my drivers license, even though the license is printed on the checks. So, back home with nothing to show for my trip except for the number of the tile I selected.


New topic: I am signed up to take another online class, this time with Sue Bleiwess, Journal-Making for the Fiber Artist. I have to say that even though I am an English Major and like to write, I have never gotten into the whole journal-making/scrap booking craze. Some of them are gorgeous, but seem to have so much embellishment with paint and doo-dads. How would you ever write anything on a page that has paint and stamping all over it?


Then I realized that you can attach things, like letters and mementos, to the journal pages. What sold me was a journal Sue posted on her August 18 blog post with love letters from 1881 to 1883. Sue preserved the letters so you can read them by inserting them in pockets. I started thinking: my father's love letters to my mother during World War II would be perfect for a project like this! The paper is not too lovely, since it is the V-mail paper used by the Army, but each letter had lots of illustrations and little cartoons that my father drew. Some day I want to get hold of these and some other family archives, and make them into a book.


I am finding out that journal-making requires almost as many supplies and fun things as quilt making. I hope I enjoy this process after investing in all this new stuff!


I have actually only kept a journal twice: once on a trip to Germany and Austria in 1976, and again in 1981 when I was a young mother with a new baby and a four-year old. Blank journals were not exactly prevalent back then.

The European trip is recorded in the long, spiral-bound books with the monkeys and the dachshund. One of them has no back, and both have rusting around the spiral binding. Strange-looking cover art, but , the dachshund is German, right? I actually bought these in Munich, and the price is marked 1.25. That would be marks, or about 75 cents back then, I think. The baby days journal is in a nicer, corduroy-bound journal. It was $1.98. There seems to be a theme to most of those entries: sleep deprivation! Ha- this should be required reading for anyone who thinks they are ready to have a baby. But it is fun to flip through and see some of the funny things Bryson was saying at age four. He called elevators "alligators," and called every bridge "undone bridges" from the "London bridges" childhood game. I had forgotten that!



My new journals will be much prettier, and more interesting with more than just my hand-writing to see as you browse through. And I see that several of my blog friends are also signed up: Fannie and Lynn! And I am so impressed with our instructor, Sue. I wrote an e-mail with a question about the supplies, and had a reply with links and product photo within five minutes!

Got another customer coming in with three quilts in a few minutes. I begged her to ignore the toilet in the driveway and also the one now residing in our living room. Ain't remodeling fun???