Good Material in Old Places - Finding an Art Journal

Once upon a time, somebody wrote a book about making housework simple. I love it! This book was eventually available in the public library. A lot of people wanted some help in how to make their housework simple...so for years and years, this precious housekeeping book was checked out over and over and over. Eventually, the poor thing was just worn out and tired of helping people make their housework simple. Because, after all, housework is housework--it is what it is! So, the worn-out book threw itself in a stack of outcycled library books set to go to the semi-annual Friends of the Library sale. It was looking for a new life.

Later, at the sale, this precious, worn-out housekeeping book saw me wandering around the many tables of beautiful outcycled library books. It called out to me, "Hey Lady! Over here! I like your embroidered shorts and butterfly flipflops! You seem creative! Look at me, I'm a cool old housekeeping book...take me! Make me into something beautiful! Look! I have a hard cover and I'm spiral bound! Paint me! Color me! Glue things on me! I'm only 50 cents!"

So, here I am with the perfect ready-to-repurpose art journal. Since I actually love homemaking, I think this art journal already has its theme in place. I have collected a few very old Homemec Textbooks--starting with my own from eighth grade. Our homec textbooks were so old that year, they decided to outcycle them, and let us buy them for a quarter at the end of the year. After finding my old textbook 20 years later in my mom's attic, I started noticing old homec textbooks at flea markets. I have a precious one from the 1940's! 

Now, I can't really bring myself to repurpose my old homec book--as I just want to keep it the way it is. I like to look at it! But I'm thinking with this old library sale book, I can write my own homec book, my own way, art journal style! I'm kind of excited, and full of ideas. I think I'll get started, one page at a time. Maybe over the next year it will be completed...no rush. I also found this Plantcraft book at the sale.

It has some great pages and illustrations to use in my art journal project!

Here's another little precious book I found--an old "reader" from 1901! I don't quite know what to do with it! I guess I could put it away somewhere, but what's the point? I'm so tempted, instead, to use the pages somehow since it's already falling apart.

Missing its front cover--it's in bad shape.

Love this page in the old reader.

Somebody colored the back cover! What year were crayons invented?

Don't you love library sales? The best place to find your future old art journal! A great way to contribute to the prosperity of your local library! I can't wait to color, create and write in my new old housekeeping book.

 I'm having an Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch theme week! Tomorrow I'll be dreaming.

Summer Dreamin' and Schemin'

 So here we are...approaching mid-August..and what have we done? Every fiber of my being is completely rejecting the back-to-school promotions right now! I've still got summer plans to carry out! While my official summer break is over, and I'm back to the office 40 hours a week--I'm not giving up on my summer dreams and schemes! I actually love my work--and that includes all my work--but I do love and appreciate the actual work I get paid regularly for. I have a lovely office, and work with the most wonderful people. I'm pretty organized, and I get a lot done. Sure, I'd love to be able to just write all the time and create my stuff--but a paycheck and health insurance are true blessings! I live close to my work, so I have several hours even after I get home to get creative, and I have the weekends and a lot of holidays and vacation. Am I ever tired? Sometimes I think I'm always tired! But it's not a sin to be tired. I even walk two miles every morning when I get up, first thing. So I know how to push through tiredness--and even a pinched nerve in my back. I'm pretty good at just acting like I feel wonderful! And sometimes, when I act like that long enough, I do!

So back to my summer dreams and schemes...I'm working on a few things...designing...sketching out plans...finishing up a big writing project...and having fun in the middle of all of it. My little idea book and creative journals are hopping with creative madness and mess. I've simply got more cutting, coloring, gluing, stitching, cooking, gardening, writing and socializing to do before we call it a summer kids!

I'm warning you--it might be late September before I call it another summer-past. If it stays warm, and I'm still picking tomatoes...it's summer!

In the meantime, I think what I like about having plenty of summer dreams and schemes is knowing that I'm cooking up a lot of projects that won't even be through until the middle of winter. When I move in for the winter, and I'm not sitting in the sun and out in the garden, I will need plenty to keep me busy and happy in the house!

Sadly, my big writing project actually involves Christmas--they are Christmas scripts and I need to get them to my publisher by September! The other Christmas item I want to do way ahead of time is make my own cards this year--I think that's a fab idea. Along with that, here are the other schemes I've got going and things I just want to do. I'm sort of rewinding and fast forwarding at the same time.

I want to make more cards--like this one for my daughter's birthday this summer. I love adding tags to cards--and I'm working on acquiring more of those lovely stamps. I think stamping is a lot like when I was little and had a coloring book in my hand all the time. Because you're not drawing--the stamp does that--you're kind of decorating...and that is so fun and relaxing.

Here we go--I had to have an excuse to show my doodle-embroidered cutoffs again! Doodle embroidering is at the top of my list and I have two more pairs of cutoffs to do. I don't know where to fit them in with all of the other things I want to do--and timing is critical so that it's still warm enough to wear them for heaven's sakes! One pair is green, like these, and the other is white--talk about a blank slate with doodle embroidering on white shorts...the possibilities are endless!

I keep wearing these all the time because they make me feel crazy creative!

Okay, do you see this tree? This pitiful little dead cherry tree? It is in the very back of my property, past the garden. It used to be the most gorgeous cherry tree--we enjoyed its harvest, year after year. So did the birds if we didn't pick the cherries soon enough! But sadly, one winter, a horrible ice storm hit, and our sweet little tree didn't recover. I can't bear to have it completely cut down...soooo...I'm going to yarn bomb it! I can't wait! I think it will be really cute. So stay tuned for that--I'm saying no more!

 In other news--I'm going to keep eating more veggies! Fresh, steamed, whatever...I'm going to keep doing this. I had an excellent checkup at the doctor--my bloodwork, blood pressure...all that blood stuff...was EXCELLENT! At my age, I'm very happy and proud of that. (51, by the way). So veggies, let's do this thingie!

Speaking of veggies--I'm going to keep picking and eating cherry tomatoes, every day, until there are no more. I'm not tired of it...no really...I'm thankful. Love these thingies! They are expensive at the store, so glad to have them for free right in my own backyard.

And speaking of tomatoes in my own backyard--I've got tons, including yellow ones. So I've decided to fresh-preserve the yellow ones too! I think they are pretty and unique--you probably can't buy canned yellow tomatoes at the store. Right?

 I'm going to keep planting seeds--especially basil--it goes with my tomatoes and I LOVE fresh pesto.

SAD! But not for long.

We are beautifying this sad little alcove by our outdoor workshop building. It is going to be ahhmazing--we're talking lots of paint...furniture...creative flooring...even beads, hanging things and painted rocks--so fun. I'll share all about it when it's done with all the before and after pics--this will go well with the yarn bombing. Can't wait! (Can you tell I've been watching Worlds Most Extreme Homes?) Of course, my hubby is in on this, doing the heavy lifting. He's the best.

Here's my hubby with some friends--we've had some fun times this summer, and I want to meet up with more friends and have more fun!

I will let sleeping cats lay...even if they're laying in a basket of my fabric!

Reorganize my sewing niche...

Buy more notions...

Open my Etsy store...Teacup & Pebble...

Bake more rosemary and tomato bread...

Glitter more and create more papercrafts...(this project was so fun!)

Work on my mixed-media projects so dear to me...(yay bowls o buttons!)

And one more thing...go to more ballgames! That's me on the left, peeking out from behind our mascot when I sang the National Anthem with a group earlier this summer. I love going to the ballgame with my hubby--having a bratz...sitting outside in a nice breeze. It has been horribly hot this summer--so I'm ready for some nicer evenings and simply more fun. We also go to my little nephew's ballgames...very fun. Family time is important, most of all. And I think my creative life just makes me a better mom, worker, family member and friend.

Keep scheming and dreaming!

No Trashing--Just Smashing

I have never really kept a traditional diary. All this time I have been smashing...and I didn't even know it! I found out, or had this epiphany, when I received a Michaels store email with a Smash book video tutorial. It caught my attention initially because of one thing: the handy dandy combination pen-and-glue-stick with its own loop on the side of the book. (why didn't I think of that!) Then I watched the video, and in turn, other Smash book videos, and realized that scrapbooking has come full circle, back to the casual, laidback activity it once was.

I've never had a pen and gluestick all in one!

Now, I actually love scrapbooking. I have five or six very fat and fancy scrapbooks to prove it. But, my problem is, I want all my scrapbook pages and layouts to be beautiful, and that means really devoting huge blocks of time to it when I'm ready to sit down and have all my photos together, and my hord of scrapbooking supplies and options spread out. So, in the meantime, I've always kept little journals that I write things in, draw in, glue things into, and also jot down my creative ideas and favorite quotes. I'm a big-time quote collector, but also picky about my quotes. 

My box of journal smashing goodies that's always handy.

Anyway, my other problem is, I may be somewhere with my journal, but nowhere near a gluestick. Or, I might have some things laying around that are not necessarily worthy of their own scrapbook layout, but I still want to keep them. Example: a very old Pandora bracelet ad that I gave to my husband as a hint, and two years later, got my Pandora bracelet for Valentines day, at which time he gave back the torn-out magazine ad to me (he had kept in his wallet, cute!), and yet I couldn't throw it away. (one woman's trash is another woman's treasure!) It was then stuck in a ribbon board, but not anymore. When I saw those Smash books, I knew they were for me, and went right down and got a book, a really cute stamper that has a date stamp and different little sayings, and I got an extra combo pen-and-glue-stick, cause I just love that!

Took a half-hour to smash a few things yesterday!

And by the way, (Michaels should be paying me for this) that glue stick is a very smooth glue and I really like it. I also love that everything is archival quality--perhaps unlike some of the other journals I have. So it's all good now! However, I went back to get more Smash goodies, and they had run a sale on that brand and pretty much ran out of everything! I really wanted a pink Smash book, but I like my red one. I have no idea if they're going to keep selling this stuff, but I have enough for now. And really, smashing, as I said, is what I've been doing all along. And I could attach an elastic loop to any journal and always have a pen and glue stick at the ready!

Inside cover of my Smash book

Here are the pages I decided to smash in yesterday.

The actual Smash books have different designs on their pages. You might be just writing in some of those pages--and then there will be others where you are smashing in so much memorabilia and junk, you don't see the original page--and that is perfectly fine. Anything goes when you're smashing! It's all about whatyou like, what inspires you, what you are feeling, and what you want to remind yourself about. Life is good. Breathe. Remember every moment. Love each other. Appreciate your blessings and be thankful.

 

I smashed a few of my favorite things!

It is easy to tuck this journal into your bag, and away you go, ready to jot down a thought or idea. I'm really enjoying this kind of old-fashioned ultra casual journal/scrapbooking. Next time I see one of my dream bags in Vogue, it's going to be smashed!

I never Smash alone. Minnie loves anything having to do with paper or yarn.

I'm sure I'll find some great excerpts to journal from my daily devotional book.

Eat, write, dream, stitch--and then smash it!