Last call y'all...

I feel icky today, and it seems to be getting worse as the morning moves on. Sitting at my desk at work thinking I really should just take the rest of the day off and go home to sleep I looked at the calendar. Do y'all realize today is November 30th? HOW did that happen?

You know that means full on panic mode realizing that various holidays are within days now?

I'm going to completely ignore that issue for the moment and take a second here to remind everyone that, since it is the last day in November, it's the last day to get your comments in to be in the drawing for the repurposed book turned journal.

Let me also remind everyone of the rules...

This is a way for me to thank folks who follow my blog, so you must be a follower of the blog to win. (Just so everyone knows, the only way that I can confirm you follow is if you are in the followers list on the right sidebar... if you follow via google reader, I can't confirm.)

You must have left a comment on the blog to a post I wrote during the month. You get one entry per post you leave a comment on. In other words, if I do 12 posts in a month, and you leave one comment per post, you have 12 entries. If you leave three comments per post, you still have 12 entries.

If you win the give away, I post it here on the blog. It's up to you to email me with where you want the item sent. I reserve the right to give it to someone else if I am not contacted in what I deem a reasonable amount of time.

So... like the title says... last call y'all... be sure to get your comments in!

Who knew...

That the little pile of stuff that was stored in this room would be such a big project to get rid of? Four days later though... I have my craft space. It is going to require a bit more organization, but at least it's all there.

Was a great time to go through all of the stuff that had been stored, toss lots of stuff (there are great big trash bags all over half of the basement waiting to be put out for trash) and even more stuff ready to be set out to be recycled.

I do need to get another shelving unit, I want to store some things right outside of the room, within easy reach, but not taking up space. The table you see over there is one of two we built for the needlepoint shop years ago. It's half of a solid core wooden door, a couple of 2 x 4s and a book shelf. Heavy as heck, but sturdy... and the top is painted in a white enamel that wipes off easily, and the bookcase keeps supplies close at hand.

There's a chair by the door, and even a tv in the corner for entertainment... and, while the dog has his very own bed by the table, he prefers the futon out under the stairs of the basement, or the chair. I've also noticed he tends to sneak up and lie on the edge of my bed while I am not watching of late... bad habit that must be broken.

I spent some time hunting down drafts that I felt down there so I could get rid of them. It is that old house, and there were several of them... I am very impressed with a product that I used called "Good Stuff". It's amazing... it's the stuff that you spray out of a can that expands... cuts off all drafts... so it's really nice and cozy down there now, a small space heater should do the trick when it gets colder... so, for now... a cup of tea, and a relaxing sigh... four days of manual labor, stiff muscles, and lots of cobwebs swept away, and now it's a place just waiting for creativity to invade it... like maybe something red for the Creativity Prompt...a doodle or two... maybe some Christmas gifts...

It's a start...

In the unfinished basement of this old duplex I live in is a room... it's strange, since the rest of the basement is wide open (except for the furnace that is down there)... and when I moved in here it had a box or two of junk in it, so for some reason, that's where I stored things. For some reason I realized the other day that, if I cleaned that out, added a coat of paint to the walls, and but a small heater in the room it would be an ideal creative space for me. I could begin a project and not have to clean it up until I'd finished it... what a thought!

So, over the course of this long weekend I have been doing just that. I'm using only what I already have on hand, heaven knows I already have plenty on hand... so it's going to be a hodgepodge of assorted stuff which is just fine by me... I'm hoping to finish it up today, so I am back to it... in the mean time, I want to share the ArtsyBlogger links for this week... y'all wish me luck while you go see what these amazingly creative folks have been doing... and hopefully, I'll have photos of my finished space for you tomorrow!!! (Cross your fingers everyone!)

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Have you heard about Crafters’ Anonymous? We’re tackling our stash, one step at a time!

Beading Arts
Don't miss the beautiful Murano glass pendants that Cyndi will be giving away now and all through next month!

Embroidered Napkins
Cherie is personalizing some napkins to give away during the holidays.

Well, this is a shocking turn of events...

When I went to bed last night night it was 69 degrees... this morning... well, that changed while I was sleeping...

... brrrrrrrr... I was so not ready for this.

Well, it won't last long. The sun is already out and it is already gone from the magnolia leaves. Ah, well, I guess there isn't much one can do about it... other than move closer to the equator... anyway, I have the day off, so I am going to make great use of it. I'm working on creating a space for myself that is exclusively for creating... that way I can leave my projects out until I get them finished rather than put them away at the end of the weekend... should allow my creativity to grow I hope. I'll share pictures tomorrow. In the mean time... everyone stay warm, and safe, especially if you're out there fighting that shopping crowd.

Blessings and being thankful...

Life is such an adventure, isn't it? You never know what is around the next curve. Mine has taken an entirely different path than I expected it to way back when I was standing on the threshold of this thing called adulthood. There are things I wish I had done differently along the way, but there are no regrets. I have been blessed, there is no doubt about that. And, today, as we here in America set aside a day to be thoughtful of those blessings, I am thankful... For my children...




... for each day that I am given a new dawn... a new opportunity to learn and to maybe make a difference...









... for paths not yet taken... and for those wandered already...














... and a place to rest from time to time along the way...













... for the occasional day away...









...for the simple pleasures in life...









... and the beauty that surrounds me...










... my friends who keep me sane (or at least give it their best shot)... and the "old boy" who often reminds me what is important...






... all of the possibilities of the future...

..and for all of you, my dearest readers... thank you, thank you, thank you, for being a part of this grand adventure.

My Thanksgiving cactus...

I just wanted to share a photo of my Thanksgiving cactus. Yes, I realize that most people call this a Christmas cactus... but this thing blooms for me at Thanksgiving... so it's my Thanksgiving cactus. My Grandmother had one of these.... it was her Easter cactus. It isn't as full as it was last year. Quite honestly, I am shocked that it is blooming at all. It has survived in the 3" pot I purchased it in for about 3 years now... maybe 4, and it has bloomed profusely every season.

This year it absolutely had to be transplanted into a larger pot, there was no choice... so, just before Halloween I put it into an 8" pot and resigned myself to not having blooms this year while it was stretching its roots. But... when I posted the photo on the right on November 6, it looked like there were going to be a few blooms. I was shocked, and thrilled. The blooms always reminds me of my Grandmother, and I love having her memory around this time of the year.

It's spectacular, isn't it? I think this summer I am going to start some new plants from it. Funny isn't it, until the last couple of years I had such a brown thumb... everything I tried to grow died a slow and sad death... now it looks like a jungle in here in the winter. Go figure.

Eileen from The Artful Crafter is doing a series of interviews she's calling "What Makes Crafty Bloggers Tick?" Today, she featured me! Eileen has been one of the most supportive and biggest fans of this blog from soon after I began writing it. She's one of those wonderfully encouraging people you are lucky enough to run across every so often out here in this great big old blog-o-sphere, and I count myself very, very lucky indeed to have found her sharing this path with me for a while. Thanks for inviting me to participate Eileen... and thanks so much for all your wonderful support!

Beauty...

I am a huge fan of the theory that beauty is in the eye of the beholder... and I think that, very often, when we see something every day, our eyes get used to that beauty and we don't see it. Yesterday was one of those amazingly beautiful, late fall... darn near winter... days here. I thought I'd share some of the beauty that it held for me.

.... the streets of my neighborhood on my morning drive to work...





...still wearing some of their finest fall colors as the dawn breaks over their beauty...











... the moon setting in the west... as it is driven out of the morning sky by the sun...











... the same sun that is lighting the sky on fire in the east as it begins its trek across the morning sky...







...washing the normal sights with its golden hue...









...the early morning shadows stretching across the quad just outside my office window...








... the clouds blowing in that afternoon getting ready for the storm that's predicted overnight...







... the waning sun spreading some of the last warm rays of the day on those same streets of my neighborhood on my way home...






... and, at the end of the day, the glow of the huge full moon as it begins its ascent across the dark and ever more cloud filled sky...


Beauty, regardless of the eye beholding...

Speaking of mail art...

Limar, who blogs at On a Separate Note, is one of the creative folks who participates in our Creativity Invitation.

She sent me her mail art after I got the others posted, so I'm sharing it with everyone today. It's beautiful, isn't it? If you haven't visited her blog, you are missing out on some absolutely gorgeous creations, she's very talented.

Since I seem to have lots and lots of new readers of late (woo hoo!!!), I thought I'd remind everyone about the Creativity Invitation.

I started this group in June, and I have to admit, I have some pretty high standards about who can be involved... you can be an artist, or not. You can be creative... or not. You can be young, or not. You can have a blog of your own... or not. This group is open to EVERYONE, because the more who participate the more fun it is!

Now, I know, I can hear a whole bunch of you out there saying "but I can't participate, I can't even draw a straight line". Well, the good news is, there is no requirement that you draw a straight line, in fact, I highly encourage you not to, straight lines are so boring. So now you have no excuse not to participate.

To further remind everyone, because the rules are pretty daunting too... I thought I'd revisit them:

• Anyone who would like to participate is welcome to join in, just send me an email and let me know you want to participate. I'll be listing all of the participants (and links to their blogs if they have one) on this page on my blog. You can sign up any time, and if you ever want to be taken off the list, all you have to do is let me know. If you want to be reminded of the prompt in an email, be sure to let me know, I won't email anyone who doesn't request it. Addendum: If you prefer not to sign up, but just want to participate, you can do that too. signing up just means you will get a.) an email with the monthly prompt, and b.) your name, and blog link, on the participants page.

• The first Monday of each month (more or less) I will post a topic... a word, or a quote... a color...something, anything...it will be the prompt to (hopefully) inspire. Everyone who wants to participate can take the prompt and interpret it whatever way you want...paint something, write something, create an ATC, do a good deed involving it...whatever YOU choose to do.

Note: Really, it can be anything... just take a picture (or two, or twelve) to share.

• On the first Monday of the next month (more or less) you post what you did with the prompt for the month on your blog. Email me a link to that post, and on the first Friday of each month I'll create a post on my blog with all of the links that everyone has sent.Note: Or, when you get a chance... I'm obviously not a stickler with that particular rule, heaven knows I've broken it a few times myself.
  

The most important rule, the one that I require everyone to follow, no allowances:

• Don't stress about it. If you aren't enjoying it, you're here for the wrong reasons.
  

What about people who read blogs, but don't have their own blog? Not a problem... play along with us anyway! You are welcome to upload pictures of what you do to our Flickr account, or email them to me so that I can share them on this blog.

And, one final note I want add... I know, when I go out there in the great big old blog-o-sphere and I see all the groups that are doing very creative things I am very, very intimidated. VERY intimidated. The term "Artist" is a tough one to attain it seems, and even more difficult to wear. This group is not intimidating, but it is very encouraging.

I am not an artist, but there are several who are in the group. There are young persons, and retired persons, and everything in between. We all have our own styles, and we all try to branch out to try new things. While you are not likely to find any mean critiques here, you are likely to find a bunch of great people who are creative, warm, and very, very encouraging... so, join in whenever you wish, have fun... don't stress, but enjoy!

November's prompt is above... just in case you want to play... it's "Red".

Well... another quandary...

So, another quandary... Yesterday, since I hadn't heard from Deborah over at Art and Soul by Deborah about her mail art win I opted to open it up to anyone who commented on yesterday's post... if y'all look in the comments, you see one from Deborah that she didn't know she had won.

My monthly give-aways are geared to the followers of this blog with the presumption that, if you follow, you read the blog often, and therefore know if you won. Looks like a bad presumption on my part doesn't it?

So now, what to do... Only one possibility I guess... give away two. And then clarify about how the win works...

So, Deborah, email me with your address and I will mail your package.

And, Random.org chose comment number 9...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

9

Timestamp: 2010-11-20 18:22:35 UTC

Robbie... that's you. (One comment per person was counted.) Email me with your address, and I will put a piece of mail art in the mail to you as well...

Now, to clarify...just to make sure we are all on the same page so to speak...
As the monthly give-aways are open only to my blog followers, and considering if you follow the blog I presume you keep current with the blog. I announce the winner here... with the presumption that you will email me with your address if you win. I'll reserve the right to offer the win to someone else if you don't email me in a reasonable amount of time.

Now, business accomplished... let's move to something really fun... the ArtsyBlogger links for this week. These very creative people have been very busy, go check them out!

Teen Lingo
The TopTen Words I heard from my teen daughter and their meanings

Beading Arts
Cyndi currently has TWO fabulous giveaways going on: Acculon beading wire and a Murano glass pendant!

Pine Cone Peacock Ornament
A fun Christmas craft you can make with the kids, then hang on the tree as a keepsake ornament.

Craftpaper Turkey Card
A quick and easy homemade Thanksgiving card that uses up your leftover craft paper.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Here’s a cute tote idea incorporating a sticker embellishment made of cardboard and coated with epoxy. Yes, just plain cardboard!

Well, this is a quandary...

Well, it must be going around.... Cyndi's recent winner hasn't been in touch with her, and neither has my most recent mail art winner been in touch with me. So, here's what we are going to do...

Tomorrow, when I post the ArtsyBlogger links, I will choose a new winner from the comments left on this post. Because this wasn't claimed, just this once, this will be opened to ALL comments, not just comments left by followers...

Good luck!

More of those amazing blogs I've found...

But before I share those great blogs I have found for the month... just one more nail in the coffin of the burden of proof for my eventual commitment to the looney bin... I've watched so many of my amazing blogging friends participate in creating gorgeous beaded projects, in a weak moment where I believed I could create them too... I succumbed... and I have joined the Bead Journal Project 2011.

I blame this on Cyndi, and Sue, and Carol... and... and... and now... on to this month's ten interesting blogs I fell across in my blog wanderings...

In case you don't remember how this goes... around the middle of the month (more or less) I put up links to ten random blogs I found interesting over the course of my wandering through the blog-o-sphere. There is no particular rhyme or reason to them usually, they could be about anything... I just found them interesting in some form or fashion. I post them here, and I put them on the BlogWatch page. In no particular order...

Blog Links for November - December 2010

• Alisa Burke
• Miriam Badyrka is the Doodler
• Sprinkle Bakes
• Mary Corbert's Needle and Thread
• Cake Journal
• Bake at 350
• Urban Farmhouse
• Donna's Inky Corner
• Green Cilantro
• Pringle Hill Studio

Another repurposed book... part 4... the finish

Now... all that is left is to add our pages. This is going to be a very simple binding, my intent, since the book was really thin originally, is to just make one basic signature. Of course, with a twist... 'cause what's the fun of doing anything without at least a little twist?

The paper is going to be 90 pound cold press watercolor, I like it because it is easy to fold, but it's thick enough to really be able to add paint or marker to without bleed through. I'm also going to use some pages from a book. The paper is much thinner, and has the typed word on it. Almost everything that would be used on it could bleed through, so those sheets will be coated with gesso before anything is done with them, but that's down the line... so on with this.

Measure the front cover of your book. This one happens to be 6.5" tall by 5.5" wide. Since I don't want the papers to extend completely to the outside edges of the book I am going to cut my papers 6" tall, and 10.5" wide. I just subtracted half an inch from both measurements, but remember, since I am folding the pages in half, I have to double the width to get my true length.


Now, this creates a problem with the pages I am going to use from the book. They can be cut to the 6" tall, but they are only 9" wide. How do I deal with that? I don't. I don't mind in the least that the pages are different sizes, I think it adds interest.

Four sheets of the watercolor paper are cut 6" x 10.25", and eight sheets are cut from the book pages. They measure 6" x 9". Each sheet is carefully folded in half. Then I set it up so that there are two of the folded watercolor sheets followed by four of the book pages, then two more watercolor sheets, and the other four book pages.

Remember that pattern we made from the scrap piece of paper that we used to mark the spine of the book with? Now we use that to mark the same placement down the center of the signature. Use an awl, or a very thick needle (I use a large tapestry needle), and laying your folded signature into another book (as in the photo) push that awl or pin through all sheets to make a hole.




I use the second book to hold the signature because it lays perfectly inside it, and it allows me to push that needle through and into the book rather than my thigh. Once you have your holes poked through the papers, it's just a matter of "sewing" them into the spine.





I'm using the same black embroidery floss to stitch in the signature as I did to sew the spine back onto the book. As I said, this is a very simple method of binding. Begin by threading a blunt tip tapestry needle with your thread and tie a knot in the other end. Open the signature and thread your needle through all of the pages at the top hole, then through the corresponding hole on the spine.



This takes your thread to the outside of the spine. Simply take your needle to the next hole, and repeat the same step, in reverse, from the outside of the book to the inside of the book. Think of it as doing a ladder stitch.



Once you're back inside the book, just go down to the next hole, go through the paper and out the spine... and repeat until you get to the bottom.


And, once you are at the bottom, work your way back up to the top. The thread will "share" holes with the stitches you have already made, and you will finish with what looks like a solid line of thread all the way up the inside of the signature.






And the outside of the spine as well. Knot it off... I always add a drop of glue to the knot so that it isn't likely to come undone...











...and viola... you have a re-purposed book.










So now we have gone from start to finish of how I create an altered book. Including how I dealt with the spine coming off... something totally unexpected... but, things happen and you have to improvise.

If anyone has any questions, just let me know... and if you create your own altered book, be sure to share... I'd love to feature what you do here!

P.S. for Michelle

Thanks for requesting a tutorial for this, I hope you do find it helpful! And.... if you want to try something a bit more complicated I did a couple of posts on coptic binding... check here.

Another repurposed book... part 3

The front and back covers are painted, decorated and gessoed, and now should be completely dry. That spine that came apart while I was sanding has to be dealt with now, we can't have a book without a spine. I considered a few ways that I could deal with the issue, and finally decided that I'd like to use cloth. I really like the effect that sewing had on the mail art, actually, I really think that is what I liked about it the most, and using cloth will let me add some of that to the book. As in most of the things I do, I added a wee touch of lime green when I was layering the paint on the book, so I am going to use a lime green fabric to reconstruct the spine.

This is a tiny little spine, and there is only so much I can add to it as far as width goes, but since I am not entirely sure how wide I will want it, I am going to leave plenty of fabric on both sides to play with. Of course, since I want both the inside and outside covered, I cut two pieces of fabric. I am going to be drilling holes through this spine to attach the new guts of the book, so it has to be adhered well, so I'm going to glue the fabric to the actual spine before adding the stitching on the sides. When the spine is glued to the fabric, I bring the top of the fabric over (then the bottom) and glue it down as well.

The second piece of fabric, I just fold it to the same measurements and glue to the inner spine. Once that is dry, I get out the sewing machine. Since I have done the doodling on the book in black, I decided to use black thread for the sewing.


I did some straight stitching, and some zig zag stitching... and notice, I wasn't too particular about whether or not they were perfectly straight, they are so much more interesting when they aren't. Trimmed it up to about 3/4" from the actual spine and was pleased with the results.

Now comes the really interesting part... how to attach it to the actual book. Wasn't real sure that just gluing it would be sturdy enough, so along with the gluing, I decided some sewing would be good.

To do the stitching, I would have to make some holes to stitch through though, and, of course, I would have to have holes in the spine to attach the signatures to as well... so... out comes a girl's best friend... a rechargeable drill. (And a small drill bit of course.) I measured the book and find that it is 6 inches tall. Well that makes it easy... I'll space holes every half inch apart, starting a quarter of an inch from the top. (An awl would be just fine too... or, for that matter, an ice pick... just something to poke holes through.)

Line up the two covers so that you will have holes in the same place on both covers and hold them tight (I used binder clips). Mark where you want the holes to be. Mine are just a shade more than an eighth of an inch from the edge, and spaced every half inch from top to bottom. Notice that piece of wood under the drill? Best to use something like that to set your book against to drill or poke into, otherwise, you might be shocked at what you end up putting holes into...

While the drill is out, might as well drill the holes in the spine as well. To do this, make a "pattern" of where you want the holes to be. You will use this later when you poke the holes through the signatures as well, that will ensure that all of the holes match up correctly when you assemble the book later. To make the pattern just take as crap of paper about an inch wide and as long as the spine of the book. I generally measure down about half an inch from the top, and half an inch up from the bottom to decide where the first holes will be.

Then I find the middle. After that, I decide how many holes I want to be between the middle hole, and the top or bottom hole, and measure accordingly. Most of the time I just fold the paper to get the holes positioned (obviously, I measure for things like this like I measure in baking... more a kinda sorta sort of thing), but feel free to actually measure. Mark the spine, drill the holes.

(It really doesn't seem like this much work when you are doing it.)




Now to attach the spine to the covers... Run a small bead of glue next to the edge of the cover to help holed the fabric while you work on it, then, working from the inside cover to the outside, and using just your basic black embroidery floss, stitch the spine to the cover. I made great big cross stitches in this case.





With both sides sewn to the spine... the front cover...







And, the inside cover.

Now, we have a complete book cover, reattached spine and all... the only thing left is to add the paper...