Making pages for art journal and Smash books

I love to play with images! SMASH books and art journals are part of my inner teenager, I think!

Here is the newest Smash book which I got from K&Co. It actually has several pages for each month, chronologically arranged.

The inside is New Year's Day

Next a couple of January pages..

A Christmas card with a painting by Jimmy Carter.

Just chillin, hanging out with friends...

 

A page about a sweater I finished knitting.

Then February, I can't make myself cover up their groundhog .....Gayle and I went to see the Maya Angelou life quilt at Crystal Bridges.

I bought the little primroses in the photo! I love how the pink looks with the orange mandarins!

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A larger format than the Smash journal, my art journal is a multimedia sketchbook from Strathmore. I decorate the cover with photos of art and colorful paint chips.

Inside I have many large messy pages....often these are ongoing, I will continue to paste something in to fill up the page as I find these pieces...

 

 

This one has my thought on turning 65 and getting Medicare....still adding. The circle of blue reminds me of the earth. It was done with a gelli plate, a monoprint.

Colored watercolor pencils and stencils are the backgrounds of these pages about our travel agent daughter, Laura.

This is a page with magazine photo and little daisy stenciling! Part of that page was done using a bent toilet paper tube for a heart stamp.....

Some pages are done by dragging an old credit card through spots of paint just squeezed out of the tube.

 

Like this!

 

Now, before this turns into one of those "days when it took me all day to not get anything done",

I am heading downstairs where my sewing studio is,to sew for the twins!

 

Flower girls, etc.

 

Now, a recap of the past week, in photos which have found their way here, to my iPad!

The twins, Nina Kate and Sophie Jane were flower girls in a wedding outdoors in Savannah!

(Nina finding a bug on Sophie's dress!)

[These are the dresses, with brocade tops and tulle skirts, which I took to them (after sewing them here) the first of May.]

Their brother, Bindley was the ring bearer.

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I found a freaky double flower, galadia, in our backyard! The two blossoms grew face to face, "kissing". And on only one stem!

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Black-eyed Susans and lilies burst into bloom!

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I made two greeting cards for friends......

And I coveted these traveling art supplies!

 

The lilies bloomed some more!

I admired this stitchery from Japan!

All hand sewing and raw edges, no problem!

And this sweater being knit of leftover yarns...LOVE!

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Our daughter, Laura, took her daughter, Lilia on a sweet 16 birthday trip to Mexico.

I tried making gluten free flat bread using equal parts almond flour, tapioca startch, and water.....sea salt.

Still enjoying these!

Then I scored a pint of green tea (matcha) ice cream, and enjoyed a new taste!

I am working on scrappy quilts....inspired by this quilt to use up some of my stash...

Instead, I started making these blocks....

12 down, 8 more to go...for a small quilt. Blocks are two fabrics each, 2.5 inch squares!

That's all for this week.....

 

Still making things...how about a shabby chic "quilt of valour"?

But first, I did finish the corduroy dresses and leggings for the twins and got them in the mail.

I played in my SMASH book.....ever the teenager! LOL!

Knitted a lot on the remake of the sweater which I raveled last week.....using larger needles, it is softer. Adding the NORO silk garden yarns in the yoke makes it scrappy, colorful and fun!

And, speaking of scrappy and colorful , today I am working on a patriotic quilt which features "Faded Splendor" floral flag print fabric by Robyn Randolph.

So pretty and romantic! but overall, the fat quarter group was too dull and soft for my taste! I tend to like light bright pastels! So I collected and added a great mishmash of more color and more Stars and Stripes!

Using the pattern for a lattice quilt in Missouri Star Quilts, "BLOCK" magazine, I am making a very romantic quilt! Even my lattice is a pale blue floral! Here, above the first (center) row is done....a few rows later, below...

This would be a beautiful label for the quilt....if I could print it in fabric!

I have to stop sewing and get some cooking done. Making several meat loves this afternoon, one for tonight and others for the freezer!
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One last quilt top today....I used another pattern from the same magazine...winter, volume 1 issue1....

To make a Christmas lap quilt top....again, I had to add to the little charm pack with fun Christmas fabrics of my own choosing.....found several relating to the manger scene which was implied by the Bethlehem pieces in the original charm pack!

These need to be machine quilted.....here is my friend Paula doing just that! At a quilt retreat! fun!

That's all now.....time to peel potatoes and make those meat loaves!

Snow day crafting....thunder sleet storm

Not going anywhere today.....and even though I could deep clean another room.....

I have seen this .....and pasted it into my SMASH book.

The living room with so much white from Yvestown blog.  She writes from the Netherlands about crochet, among other things domestic!

So I have my bins of yarn and my crochet hooks....warm and cozy as long as the power is on! Ice storms can take down power lines!

Granny squares galore!

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  If I get in the mood to paint.....(I guess that takes more focus than handwork....), I may do a painting using those fading tulips from last week's post!
I took a photo to refer to! [It IS time to transfer them into the ground....but the winter storm makes doing that a little hard today!]
My tulips...

Now , a wonderful tulip painting by artist Emily Patrick.   I love the loose, floppy, red, fully open tulips!

Keepsakes....scrapbooks...

I have another passtime, hobby, addiction.....fun!

Like a teenager, I do SMASH books! [These are from K&Co.]

Here are 5 in a basket!

I was inspired to store them this way by a photo I came across in WHERE WOMEN CREATE, winter 2014 issue.

 

These are in a cart from IKEA ( which also comes in white).....

----------I may "need" this cart for other things!----------YES?

 

Here are some pages of the SMASH journals I keep.

Grandbabies, last year!

Mother's Day 2012, a wonderful photo and a special card!

 

My hubby, Mr. P ( he objected to being called Mr. Pear in this blog....we all have our quirks!) following his bliss, gardening.

And my most recent SMASH book is devoted , for the most part, to my quilting. Here I am makin g plans for a very small hexagon quilt featuring the Eiffel Tower fabric in the center of the diamond.

The sleet and snow keep coming down.....give me scissors and glue....!!!