8/52 Bite Sized Books

Hello!

Another pink book - all sorts of pink - plain and patterned - with lots of lovely sewn elements.

It was nice to gather some of my favourite pink bits and pieces - lovely patterned papers torn and sewn together.... and touches of glitter.

Double layered butterfly - lovely Sizzix dies.

Patterned paper waves....

I used cross stitch patterns as background papers...

Here's a flick through of the book...

Thanks for stopping by

Farewell faithful junk-journal....

... it has served me well..

Early last year I sewed 3 junk journals and bound them into the covers of an old hardback book.. I didn't decorate it or anything because I wanted this book to be something that I wasn't too precious about...  and, well, you can see from the state of it now how I've treated it! lol

I wasn't too cruel to it - I carried it around in cotton bag (you can just see the pink bag in the photo above and below) along with pencils, pens, glue and scissors - always prepared - always a girl guide! lol

It has accompanied me on many train journeys to and from London (the reason for the slightly shaky lines of many drawings sketches), and I've really enjoyed working in it - so much so that half way through last year I sewed two more journals into it...

I would thoroughly recommend working (making) in a journal like this - something that you're not too fussed about so you don't mind if things go wrong or you just want to doodle/experiment.

There's something freeing/liberating about working on pages that already have paint or marks on them - its that 'it can only get better' feeling! ... no pressure..

AND you get to use up the scraps and project leftover left on the work desk.. (I can't be the only one who has those!)

This book has been used, loved, filled with colour, ideas, doodles and more colour - now I'm going to mend the spine (I might even rebind it to give it the cover it deserves!) and put it on the shelf with my other journals.

Here is the final page I decorated in the journal - its sets the scene for the year ahead and shows my mantra for this year: 'LESS IS MORE'...

I hope this has inspired you to gather up some scrap papers, discarded gelli prints, underpapers, book pages and bind them into a book (which is easier than you think!) to work/play in.

Give it a go - no pressure!

Take care

Jo

#365Challenge.... July!

I know I shouldn't have 'favourites' in this 365Challenge but I really like July's book.... its one of the books where I planned it beforehand:

*  I sat and stamped all the date tags (front and back because I didn't know which way they would lay so both sides needed to be printed).

*  I laid out the pages so they ran in order:  a 'signature' of kraft,+blue+white+blue+kraft; followed by a 'signature' of white+kraft+blue+kraft+white and these repeated until the month was filled... 

*  printed out the questions ready for answering (or not as the case may be! lol)

these little things help give the process focus and almost helped me finish quicker... 
(nb sometimes I write the answer on the back of the page.. a sort of 'note to self' )

The stamps I've used this month for date numbers are 'Lizziebelle' from Purple Onion Designs. They have all sorts of interesting alphabets.

(question: what can you live without?)

(aaaah, Mr Garton!  He taught us well and made us laugh at the same time... great teacher! )

Sometimes when I'm editing and adding the photos of pages I have to go back and see what the question was to the answer given on the page... 27 July was one such page! lol  The question was 'Do you hold onto something you should have let go of a long time ago?' ... I obviously couldn't think of something specific but this phrase I'd cut from a book seemed a great response! lol

One of the things I like most about these book is that they don't close - and bits stick out of the edges of the pages, artfully scruffy....

Woohoo!! I am past the halfway mark!!  (doing a happy dance!!)

153 days to go!!   (does it seem less if I say 5 months?!)

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