Painted Paper Journals

Last week I was busy with some secret projects.  I decided to make some journals for birthday presents. I had a lot of paper that I painted some time ago when experimenting with printing and my Gelli plate.

Here are the two journals that I made.

The first two pictures are Maribeth's journal, front and back.

The next two are front and back of Emily's journal.

The covers are paper, not fabric, but I have added some texture with circles of silk and wool roving stitched on to the paper with my sewing machine.

I did not make a separate lining, but painted both sides of the cover paper.  Where the stitching showed on the inside cover, I used decorative tape to cover it.  I added lots of pockets, bookmarks, tags, and painted papers of all sizes.

 Emily's inside pocket contained a gift card.  We are so excited that she will be having another little girl in September!

That abstract paper with glitter paint is some of granddaughter Charlotte's artwork!

We celebrated both of their birthdays, along with son Bryson and his son Avery's birthdays at the beach last weekend.  Emily's mother Maribeth and her fiance John invited us all to their house at Carolina Beach, North Carolina, right on the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway.

We went to the beach on Saturday, and were blessed with a beautiful afternoon.  The water was a little cold, but we all had a great time.

Painted Papers

After I finished the last two watercolor paintings, I just wanted to have some fun in the studio and do some easy splashing around of color.  I am working on pages for a watercolor paper journal and a Trash-to-Treasure journal.  The last is inspired by the book Stash and Smash by Cindy Shepherd.

It is really fun to take magazine pages and junk mail and turn them into colorful journal pages.

Mostly I use watered-down acrylic paints and just spread it on the page to cover any parts I don't want.  Sometimes I like to leave some of the pictures or text visible. 

It's also fun to collage some napkins or tissue paper on top of the painted papers.

We had a big family gathering last weekend.  All of our kids and grandkids came to visit.  It was the first time Bryson and Melissa's children had met their new cousin Charlotte.  Here are my two granddaughters.

And here is the whole family (including our dogs) gathered on our front porch.

For some reason, it seems very quiet around the house today!