Handmade Book of Cards

A friend of mine, Maria, gives me handmade cards every week! Yes, every week. She blames me for her addiction to making cards as I introduced her to the craft. I wanted to celebrate her artistic flair and wanted an excuse to make a handmade book. So I combined the two in this book. Her favorite color is pink, so of course I used some of my prettiest pink scrapbooking papers to cover the book covers and spine. I used pink ribbons to tie the book together when it is closed.

The spine and end papers (inside the book) match.
For inspiration, I looked to one of my favorite books, Expressive Handmade Books, by Alisa Golden. The cover is called a split-board binding (see pages 128 and 129). I used the accordian structure she describes. I added flags to the accordian structure so that I could attach the pretty cards to the book without changing the cards in any way. See Alisa's Single-Flag Book topic (pages 57 through 59) for tips on how to incorporate the flags.

I wanted to be able to open the cards so I could read the sentiments inside and the cards were not the same size. I attached the cards, back-to-back, two cards to a flag. I matched the card size as best as I could and adhered the backs of the cards together. This gave the cards strength for flipping. I will treasure this little book for its contents and for its cute look.
Think about the possibilities for some treasured event like a birthday or wedding. You could collect the cards in one place for sharing.

Life's Goals in Photos

I love goals. They give me direction and motivation. I created a small handmade book containing my personal photos to help inspire me to reach the goals identified on each photo. This photo of family and friends reminds me to keep connected to those I love. I get too caught up in the day-to-day tasks. I use to cringe when friends or family called because I saw it as an interruption. I now realize that it is the relationships in life that make life worth living. So instead of seeing the call as an interruption, I put my tasks aside and engage in the call. It actually relaxes me and I feel refreshed after sharing personal moments with those I love.

I needed a reminder that I should look for humor and joy in my life. So I used a photo of my cat, Heidi. We kept water in a container on the kitchen counter and often left a little water in a glass for her. I can't help but smile whenever I see this photo of Heidi with her head stuffed in the glass to get at the water.

This is one of my very favorite photos. I call it "The Boy with One Shoe".  A group of friends and I had a beach party. One of the boys (Jordan) was caught up in his own world. When and why he lost his shoe I do not know. But this photo reminds me to not take myself or the world so seriously; to become more child-like.

I guess you can see a pattern now. I tend to be too serious and too wrapped up in my daily tasks. Then I seem to stack more activities on top of that. I end up being so busy that I tend to forget what is important and forget what life is all about.







Last of all, and maybe most importantly, I wanted to remember to reflect upon the blessings in my life. This is a photo of my husband's reflection in the water on the

beach, just after the waves retreated. I wanted to capture how the water embraced his reflection and the idea that life can be as fleeting as the ripples of water on the sands.

I find that when I am grateful and thankful for what I have, then I have less desire to seek things that are not important, and I am much happier and joyful.

Journal and Card Workshops

I truly believe that journaling at a young age saved my sanity and my life. Journaling is the way that I focus and ground myself. I sleep better when I journal before bedtime. Journaling is a personal history, an exploration of my life. As I look back over time through my journals, I have found that my prayers have been answered and I've learned to be much more thankful for all I have and for who I am becoming.

I enjoy teaching and sharing, especially anything about journaling. A couple of years ago I conducted a journaling workshop at a women's retreat. The only problem with giving workshops is that I see all the beautiful things others are creating and I have no time to create during the workshop. However, at this particular women's retreat, I was able to create two quick journals (pictured above). I was able to share in the creation experience with the lovely and talented ladies who attended.

In my neighborhood, there are several ladies who love to come over and make cards. We sit and chat while working on our stash of birthday and thank you cards. I usually give a quick little demonstration on how to use tools or techniques that they can try out. As they get more accomplished at card creation, I have more opportunity to relax and create with them. I am very blessed to be able to teach and create. I am also blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Art Journal Pages

I took a class in making handmade books, back in July 2008 at Yavapai Community College. It was at that time I started my art journal. I haven't been very consistent at adding to it. I seem to go through fits and spurts, experimenting, adding notes about possible art projects and doing some sketching. The following was my first experiment with water color pencils. I really enjoyed scribbling and swishing around the color with my watercolor brush (it has a water vessel in the handle). I can water color on the go (or in bed) without worry about spills.

What I'm finding is that I'm also using it for spiritual journaling about my personal walk in life. This image was one of my first spiritual drawings in my art journal.

So I guess that my art journal has become multi-faceted. I'm not sure I like the fact that I'm using my art journal for so many things. I'm so use to organizing and categorizing everything that I find myself a little unnerved by this flagrant disorganization. But it is what it is. I suppose I could pull the pages out and put them in separate books - but then I would lose the continuity. I think it is more important to see the changes and growth through both my art and spiritual journey.

My Coloring Book

  

I always wanted to create a coloring book. So just for fun, I took some scrapbooking paper with open images on it and used it as a cover. I colored in some of the images. This is a little pamphlet book. I printed a few of my own photos and dimmed the images enough that I could color over them. I inserted just a few pages and then stitched the pages together at the fold. I think this experiment worked. It certainly was fun.

My Secret Garden

These are photos of an altered book I created named My Secret Garden. In the book, I used my own photographs that were altered to look like watercolor drawings. I was very transparent in my thoughts about how I deal with the world - inviting the reader to continue only if they were not put off by what they had already learned about me. I added an insert with rocks and twigs; symbolizing my internal rock garden. This was my first altered book and there were things that did not work as well as I would have liked, for example the gated page. I did not put enough support on the folds, so the folds are a little fragile. I may go back and fix this at a later date.

In the Beginning

I love books, especially small books. My fascination started with a small, green, logarithm book (math symbols and formulas). I checked the small treasure out of the library when I was in junior high (middle school). It fit nicely in my hand. It was hardbound with onion sheet thin pages and the logarithm symbols were foreign but interesting. I kept the book for two weeks and caressed the pages to feel their texture and stared at the strange shapes. After that, my eyes were always on the look out for small books. I didn't find many in the 1960's.

I started reading regularly for fun after my son was born and my appetite for books was voracious. I would read at least one or two books a week. My favorites were science fiction and mysteries.

Much later in my life, I found another person who read as much as I did -- my mother-in-law. We both had large book collections. Part of her collection was her childhood books which were printed at the end of the 1800's and early 1900's. The books were small and they had the old smell that I loved. When she passed away I inherited her prized collection of small books.

A few years ago, my love of paper crafts and card making lead me to making my own small books. I'm just a beginner, but the books still fascinate me.

This blog is all about my journey with books; those I read and those I create. I don't really know where this blog will lead me, but I'm hoping it will encourage me to become more creative and to share what I am learning.