My New Journal

Hi everyone.

Thought today I would show you some photos of the cover of the new journal I've been working on.

Its still pretty plain because I've been trying to decide whether  I should add anything to it. Its going into my suitcase when I travel to New Mexico, and I am thinking it might be better to wait until I come home to "decorate" it.

(I had decided to stay home for my winter vacation and be fiscally responsible. But my friend Vicky, who I go to visit, really wanted me to come out. And truthfully, I really wanted to go out there too. Vicky kept texting me photos with little notes like "Look where I am" and the sky was always blue and the ground snow free in her photos, and I was sitting home on all these snow days, so last week I finally just decided I might as well go.  I'm excited to have something to break up this winter. And just a little over a week before I go. Yahoo!) 

 I had this big sheet of this cool orange textured paper. I used the cardboard off the back of a pad of paper for as my book boards.

 A little too orange, so I rubbed a brown ink pad over it. I love how the impressions from the red-line tape showed through and gave it a striped effect.

 I thought it needed some sheen, so I rubbed a copper ink pad over it. It gives this light shimmer. You can see where the light hits in the photo below how it has this pretty sheen.

 I decided it would be smart to put an elastic on this so it can be held close. On the front I added this cool metal piece. I needed it to be up off the flat surface of the  cover so I can loop my elastic around it.

 Easy enough by putting a couple of washers between it and cover.

Then I created the spine by using some book mending tape that I ordered off of Amazon.  I like this tape because it a flexible cloth type of tape. It bends really well to make the spine and it comes in lots of colors. I have black and brown and I thought brown would look better than black.

 I used a smaller version top permanently hold the elastic on the back. I did have to wrangle the hair elastic from my daughter.  She tried to get me to use a dark blue or a hot pink  one, but even she agreed this one looked the best. I think she just liked the color on this one and hated to give it up.

But like the good person she is, she agreed it was the best color and let me have it.

You can see my pages inside. They weren't attached at this point, but I have since spent my snowy weekend working to make my plain white watercolor pages a little more interesting. Almost done with that part.

You'll just have to wait to see them until some other day.
Glad you stopped by!

Counting Down

Two weeks from now the hubby and I will be in New Mexico, hopefully having a sunny day and being able to do something fun in Taos. We're going to be staying there with some friends for a few nights, out on the mesa. I went there last year and spent the week without my hubby, and I am so excited to bring him along and show him the sights. Plus I should be able to see some new sights for myself. 

I'm so excited, and I can't wait.
I know I'm not heading to tropical splendor but it should be a little less wintery than here in New Hampshire, I HOPE!

Thought I'd show you a few more views of my almost ready to go BUT NOT COMPLETELY FINISHED travel journal.

Last year while in Taos, I bought this New Mexican flag sticker. Since I never used it, I thought it would be perfect for the back of my title page. Sorry for the flash glare.

If you pop back to my post from last Friday, you can see more of this map page.

http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2014/02/travel-journal.html

Love these 2 pages. I'd love to make more of these in the journal. Images are from Stampa Rosa (left stamped image) and Postmodern Design (2 right stamped squares). The long southwestern image on both pages is a stamp I bought in a little shop in Bisbee, Arizona a few years back. I found some of these small stamps in this antique store-though the stamps were new- and very very affordable. I love how usable this image is. I use it a lot.

The book I am using is a chipboard book from Maya Road. I'm only using a few of the chipboard pages though. Here's what I did to one of these pages. Lots of paint and stencils and some wide Washi tape.

This page is made from some assorted stash pieces. I think they're all made from October Afternoon, except maybe the vacation sticker at the top. Kind of a different way to use a viewfinder image.

And while digging in the stash, I found this circle with a hole punched out of the middle. I thought I might be able to do something fun with this, once I am away and actually recording in the journal.

Got a little scrapbooky here, but though this might be a good back page. Or some place in the journal, will see when I get there.I like the page, and think when I add some travel ephemera or writing the page will be able to stand on its own. I used that same stamp that I bought in Bisbee to decorate the ring piece around the postcard. Little airplane stickers from October Afternoon.

Remember none of these pages are finished- nor are they meant to be. I'll finish most of this while I am away, and then give it some finishing touches once I am back home in March.

You'll be seeing more of this down the road.

Hope you'll be back when I post this project again.

One More View of My Travel Adventure Journal

Just go. My mantra.

Something I learned from having 2 dogs, but has really become true as I've gotten older and release that time is not eternal for me.

That is a bit morbid but I don't mean it that way!

Just means I need to go!

Take advantage of adventures and opportunities life offers.

Love the page above. Used a Prima wooden plane and suitcase and the saying is from River City Rubber Works.  They have the BEST funny sayings.

Love this old stamp from Stampa Rosa. I collages really well.

This saying is from Stampendous. I could live out of a suitcase for a while- as long as I have a house to come home to.

This pagoda is a new die I recently bought from Magnolia. I really like it. The 2 love image stamps are ancient ones from Hero Arts.

Do you remember the slide mount craze from several years ago? I have some left over and decided to use on here. The stamped image is from October Afternoon.

Paper flag, cool ancient little car stamp, quote from the internet, cool little postage stamp sticker and an October Afternoon word tag.

Hope you enjoyed all these views.

To see earlier views you can check out the following links to my blog

http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-travel-adventure-book.html

http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2013/05/more-of-my-travel-adventure-book.html

Make it a great day and stop back soon.

More of My Travel Adventure Book

So I hope all you people who celebrated Memorial Day yesterday had a great day. My long weekend wasn't exactly wild or exciting, but yesterday the sun finally came out and it got into the 60's (compared to the summer like weekend we had last year and the fall like and wet weather of the last 2 days) and it was a great day to garden. Must say I feel refreshed and ready to tackle the last 4 weeks of school. 

Today,  a few more pages from my travel adventure book.

If you missed the first post, you can find it here:

http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-travel-adventure-book.html

I made the base of this book in a class with Dina Wakely.

You can see that post here:

http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2013/05/dina-wakely-classes-part-i.html

The is the back of the cover page. We made the cover using some sticky back canvas and we used that sticky back to make these paper and cloth collages.

I stamped the words on the back of this page using this cool old stamp with all these African places printed on it. Not sure who made the stamp, might be from Limited Edition.

Really happy with the way this came out. I love this sign on the red tag on the left. It is a real sign in Maine. I want to go find it this summer. All those exotic places are also towns in the Maine.

All the stars and hearts are made from a paper and fabric collage that I free hand cut. Really like the freehand look.

That's all for today.

Hope you enjoyed your views.

My Travel Adventure Book

Tuesday I showed you the base of a cool little journal I made in a class with Dina Wakely.

Today I thought I would show you a few glimpses of how I finished up the inside.
Never made it past putting the basic journal together in class so all this finishing I worked on at home.

My theme was travelling.

The stars are free hand cut from a collaged sheet we made. I love how they turned out, looking nothing like the  whole sheet of collaged papers I used.

I wrote this quote in black Sharpie and then used a white pen to outline the letters.

This one of my favorite pages. I drew the clouds onto the page and painted them white. Then I die cut the butterfly, used a Prima little wooden suitcase and some red string.

Here's my cover made with Sticky Back Canvas, I painted the sun on using a Crafter's Workshop stencil (also by Dina Wakely), cut out the words and added another Prima little wooden plane.

One more for today. This is the inside of the cover, collaged with lots of assorted papers, including these travel ones from October Afternoon. The heart is a free hand cut from a similar collaged page that it outlined and doodled on and then added.

Still have a lot to show you from this little journal. Will be back another day with more of this book.

Thanks for visiting.

Mr. Handsome

Mr. Handsome poised for a modeling session the other afternoon.

"Oh what's that moving over there?" The something catching his eye outside look.

The pretending not to care look.

Looks say more than words. Here he is putting on his go away face.

The getting sleepy cat look.With a little bit of aggravation because I am still there clicking away.

The please leave me alone I am getting annoyed look. The not so happy but more ready to fall back to sleep look.

I figured he sat through several clicks of my camera shutter so I gave him his wish, I left him alone.

Modeling session over.

SO

I went and checked out my new book that arrived in the mail.

I am looking for some secrets about travel sketchbooks.

Not that I have mastered travel sketchbooks. 

It is one of those things I think about doing and would like to do and one of these days will do.

Just doesn't seem to be a lot of sitting time when I travel.

At least not out and about to sketch.

But I aspire to travel sketching and know that one of these days I will do some type of sketching on my journeys.

For now I will admire other people's work, read what they have to say, and do my own travel journals.

Mine is all ready for next week.

I know I showed you a while back but here's a few more views.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting.

Thoughts of the future

It has been a VERY VERY cold Sunday here in New Hampshire...in the single digits during the day with wind-brrrr. Dave's been watching football all day, including last night's Pat's game which we missed and recorded and both watched this morning. Last night we went to the Merimac-Maine hockey game at Merrimac College in Massachusetts. Was a good hockey game-went into overtime and except for the goal Maine scored with 27 seconds left that the refs said came after the whistle...and we think came before the whistle...was a fun night out. We went with Dave's older sister and her hubby and then went out to the Alehouse for dinner in Amesbury, MA which was a new place for me. Great beer menu...was fun trying some different brews. FUN.

So back to today...worked on my holiday journal...didn't quite finish and am a bit mad at myself about that but was more in a cleaning mood and I did some picking up in the studio...but wanted to finish...maybe that was an over-reaching goal for the afternoon. Still, kind of works on your psyche... I need get rid of that goal oriented point of view right now. I did spend 2 hours on the phone with my college roomate Lorrie whom I haven't spoken with for ever-which was fantastic...and otherwise I've been kind of lazy and dragging...

So yesterday besides the hockey game we went to Costco and Trader Joe's, but before that I started assembleling my travel journal for our Feb. trip to Tuscon. I am using a different format this time...usually I like a blank board book  but I found this fun mini-notebook & supplies at Staples  so I am going to try them. Why not? I also found a few cardboard bingo pages and some 7Gypsie small paper pages at my fav. craft store...you can see that in my assortment of pages on the table here-

I had to punch everything to fit my little red notebook. But I am so happy with how it worked out.

Here's a few more photos.

Hope you're warm and enjoying your weekend too.

Last DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everybody, today is my last day of school (well work) for the summer. You think the kids get excited about summer vacation? I think the teachers are just as excited.

And it's another dark wet day so it's not the worst day to be in work today...in meetings today, all day! Not looking forward to meetings but am looking forward to the start of vacation. And tonight- is the best time of the summer-right when vacation starts and the whole summer is a big potential to be wonderful ahead of you. Tomorrow Dave is doing closet construction in my studio for me so first plan this summer is to clean up the MESS upstairs and get that closet organized. I am excited about cleaning up the mess and excited about having my studio well organized and more usuable.

So here's a California journal page. LOVE it! On white watercolor paper I started by stamping the scribble writing with a Stamp in the Hand stamp. Had to stamp it several time. Then is used a backgrounder CHF stamp in brownish-orange mango ink on the opposite edge of the paper. I added the white flower photo and covered up most of the CHF backgrounder image but left some on the right as an edge trim. Then I added the white die cut flower, some of the paper has been textured with dots. Then I added some Viva dots around the photo and wrote in the words...I love when pages just work and go together easily.

And pretty soon there'll be a lot more journal trip pages for me...like tomorrow once I get a bit more time on my summer vacation!

Happy Happy Friday everyone.

Thanks for looking.



Counting Down-1 week left

This is it! 5 more days of work until summer break. 2 1/2 days with kids!!!! I am SOOOOOO ready.

Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's out there too.

Today is beautiful, sunny with a bit of a cool breeze. I think we'll be doing the shake down boat cruise today...since its Father's Day and that's what Dave wants to do. I have tons of things to do...mostly grading to get caught up with since I start exams Tuesday.

So yesterday was SOOOOO productive. Started pulling things out of the studio closet so I can get that organized and make it usable. The problem with the closet is that the clothes hang right in the open doorway and then you have to walk in through them to get to anything in the back of the walk in-my only walk in closet in the house. And there's these not really useful shelves on the back wall. So the clothes are out and the rack is going to be changed to a side wall of this closet. The shelves are coming out so I can put storage towers back there to store my fabric, yarn and sewing supplies. Right now there are things in there that haven't seen the light of day since I last cleaned the closet, maybe 3 years ago. Time does fly. So my goal is to get the closet emptied this week so next weekend Dave can come in, take out the shelves and put in more useful clothing poles.

Yesterday I also worked in the veggie garden and got some green beans planted and I gave my screen porch a GOOD cleaning-get rid of the thick yellow pine pollen that was everywhere out there.

It was a busy day, but a good day. I feel satisfied. Plus I had a BIG bowl of steamers for dinner and Episode 4 of Starwars-the original-was on Spike TV and I love the first 3 movies of that series.

So now after all that babbling on to the art.

Travel Journal Pages

Here's a page for Dave for Father's Day. I used a sheet of this star paper and I cut and used a Jenni Bowlin  journaling tag on the far right edge. Some Tim Holtz tape with a Tim Holtz postcard stamp and some red star stamps. Then I finally added some little brass ocean charms. We were in Crescent City, CA in 2009 when I snapped these.

More CA coast in 2009. For this page I took an old sheet of striped caredstock I had laying around. Added the photo which I then outlined. The words are from Stamper's Anonymous. I die cut the dragonfly and used some Mica to make the wings in the hollow part of the die cut. I just colored in the body and added the antennae. The blue loops at the bottome are also a die cut, and then I added some plain cardboard bingo pieces I happened to have.

Lastly, this sign I saw on the CA coast. I made the nautical chart by stamping a B Line stamp. The life guard chair is on some Hot Off the Press ocean sticker sheets, I colored in some of the paces. I punched the wavs and drew in some x's along the bottom. I added a die cut shell and a HOTP sticker sheel which I colored and then finally added a yellow Martha Stewart sticker that matched the danger sign in the photo and had the perfect ocean theme.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Sunday/Father's Day!

What a Day

Yesterday was an insane day. I ended up getting home very late...my car appointment turned into an almost 3 hour job and work was BUSY and it felt like Friday all day but was only Thursday...plus we had snow showers all day...YUK...along with a thousand other small things...and never mind I knew all day how I had to go into the dentist today and get my abcessed tooth worked on some more since a piece broke off the other day...no studio time yesterday...and I really needed studio time because its my release when things get crazy...

But anyhow...

I got LOTS of reading done at the car service center ...I'm trying to finish up a few books that are half done and I've also started this book which I am enjoying a lot...though its not quite as travel centered as I thought but I still like it and would give it high marks for enjoyable light reading. That was a good thing.

And since this book is about travels, I thought I'd show you a couple more photos from our vacation- did it really happen-- it seems so long ago?

This is the Bottle House in Rhyolite, Nevada- a ghost town (my first). This house was made out of beer bottles and adobe...interesting actually. You can see the whole house here-

and then more of a close up of a wall- you can see me snapping in window refection.

Rhyolite is now part of a free stop-- run by the Department of Interior.

As I said, it was my first ghost town.

And I don't think I shared this spread in my travel journal with you either.

Did I mentioned Dave and I are going to North Carolina in July for a week? One of my good friends lives down there and she's celebrating her 50th out on the Outer Banks so we're going for a few days to see her during her special birthday. Then we'll have a few days of sight-seeing/vacation while we're there. I've been to her house in Raleigh, but never out to the Outer Banks. Looking forward to it. The way yesterday went, I wish I was leaving tomorrow.

Happy Friday!