Challenging Myself

     For the past few months, I’ve tried really hard to get back into the crafting spirit. I’ve tried everything I could think of and nothing has been working. So I signed up for a  calligraphy workshop to practice Italics, hoping that would help. It did - a little bit, but still not enough to work on layouts or cards.  So then I cleaned my craft room, or rather put everything back where it belongs in the hopes of being able to craft with a clean desk.   That got me to finish some thank you cards. But working on layouts still wasn’t happening.

    So, I decided it was time to challenge myself by completing the first challenge I found  on a blog.  The first blog I looked at was Scrapbook and Cards Today which is my favorite magazine.  They had just posted their May Color Suite Challenge  with colors of white, tan, mint green, orange and  a mauvy pink which are not in my usual comfort zone so, grabbing inspiration from a scrapbook sketch on Pinterest by Ronda Palazzari from My Mind’s Eye , I took the challenge and created this fun picture of my great-niece taken just before surgery to have tubes put in her ear.

 

    Pulling some paper scraps from a grab box I picked up at Quick Quotes last fall,  I was able to create this layout of small squares of pale blue, pink, light tan, and a print with all the colors including a soft orange cut to different sizes and placed randomly on the page. I matted the picture  with the navy blue I used as a base for the layout and journaled along the edges in white.  This was a fun layout to do and she is so cute.

     Now that this layout is done, I’m starting to find my mojo again and get back into crafting.  I can’t wait to try something else to share with you next time.  

 

    Oh my goodness - guess now I’ll have to write a 3rd blog, as I just committed myself to sharing my next layout.  Maybe I’m finally getting comfortable with writing........................ nope, not there yet. It’s still terrifying.

    Until we craft again............

                                                                                                    Aunt Dee

 

Products Used: Quick Quotes Powderpuff Chalk Inks; Quick Quotes papers; Alpha Stickers by Recollections;  Xyron Mega Runner

Finally, it begins!

Welcome to my blog, or maybe I should be saying "thanks for sharing my birthday present with me". Yep, this blog was designed for me by a niece & nephew as an outlet for all my crafting fun - so this was my birthday present from them. "A Blog" - do you know how terrifying that is to someone who hasn't written anything but reports for the past 35 years along with an annual Christmas letter. Reports are easy - the Christmas letter takes me 4 weeks to write.

For the last 6 months, I've attempted to write this blog and not been happy, so I had my niece read what I had written and she said "You're not writing a report, Aunt Dee, write like  you talk - tell a story". I haven't had the heart to tell her that everyone tells me "I talk TOO much".

Anyway, I'm a Jill of all crafts. I'm a seamstress and have sewn for close to 50 years, I crotchet (hate knitting), embroidery, crossstitch, needlepoint, make ceramics, create jewelry, bookbinding, calligraphy and papercrafting. In otherwords, I've dabbled in it all.

My latest project has been so much fun and that's what I'm sharing today. My sister-in-law, asked me to create a special dedication (christening) book for her daugher's baby gift that can be passed on through the generations along with the dedication outfits she created from her wedding gown.

Using book board, rice paper, and watercolor paper, I created an 80 page hard-bound 5 X 7 book with gilded pages. Included in the front of the book is a Bible Verse, written in Uncial Calligraphy (Matthew 19:14) and my sister-in-law's wedding picture.

 

The outside of the book is a double layer of blue watercolor paper, overlapped with white rice paper. The spine binding is a blue suede paper. Inside, the same blue water color paper covers the front and back of the book. The inside book blank is made from Arches watercolor paper (off white) It was cut to 5 1/2 X 7, scored at the 1/2 mark for a fold line leaving a 5X7 page. I gilded the edges of each page and added a spacer onto the 1/2 space which allows pictures to be added to the book without increasing the thickness of the book on the open side. The pages were then stacked, pressed and glued and inserted into a cover, creating the book blank and then inserted inside the hardback cover and glued to the spine. ( Note: I layed pictures on every page so that the book was one thickness and placed in the press to allow the book blank to adhere to the binding.) The inside covers were glued in place and the book was completed.

Matching the book was a small wooden box, lined with acid free paper for the book to be housed. I covered the painted box with the rest of the rice paper using modge podge and then sprayed it with a matte sealer.

You can find bookbinding tutorials on line or at your local craft store. Take a chance and step out of your comfort zone and try something new.  Who knows, you might find you like it.

 

Until we craft again!

 

Aunt Dee