Friday, January 1, 2010

A new year and the last one of the decade. I thought I would try and keep a journal, inspired by my sister Patty who is blogging a year of crafting. My ability to craft lately has been difficult and I thought why not share crafting ideas with others who can craft. Maybe someone will find inspiration to make something wonderful!


January 2, I met with friends to craft and talk and laugh. We have a little crafting group called The Santa Maria Valley Crafters and we meet every Saturday to enjoy each others company and of course craft. On Friday evenings we meet to do embroidery.


I worked on a accordian fold journal. The theme is going to be Victorian roses. For the covers I used the flat 6 x 8 painting canvas. It makes a nice heavy cover which is important for this kind of book. I love that I don't have to cut bookboard! I covered the canvas with a piece of handmade paper I bought in a deep red. The rest of the time I spent cutting a rose from a print by Pierre Joseph Redoubte. A lot of intricate cutting that just takes time. While at Beverly's I found some card stock, ink pad and rub on roses that matched the prints colors perfectly! Unfortunately the paper I chose did not match so I have to rethink that part. Perhaps an offwhite paper and then use the ink pad around the edges to soften and blend, then rub on the roses randomly. We will see how it comes out.

This week I worked on cutting out fleece and felt hearts with a Cuttlebug using a diecut. Also tried embossing the hearts but they would not keep the impression. Using simple stitches like buttonhole and straight stitch I layered the hearts and even stuffed the centers. The project was to be several hearts sewn together and then attached to a pinback. I don't know if it will be a class or not at Beverly's but I hope so.

Very little got accomplished this week, I go to the doctors again soon and hopefully they will get me up and doing things again soon. In the mean time I keep working on small projects so it feels like I'm accomplishing something. Next week back to working on the journals so they can be Valentines gifts.