I’ve officially started work on my newest fabric journal for this year’s round robin. I thought I’d start out with the tags to get into the feel of the book.

To make the tags, I started by stamping a leaf stamp onto leather using copper Brilliance ink pads by Tsukineko and then heat set the ink with my heat gun. (Unfortunately, the stamping doesn’t show in the photo.) I stitched in the veins of the leaves using FME (free motion embroidery) and some rayon thread. Then fused the leather to the backing fabric.

The backing fabric is calico which was tea dyed (a left over from my last round robin book) and then spritzed with Ranger’s Adirondack Colourwash. I did a quick satin stitch around the edge of the leaf before cutting it down to size. To finish, I placed an eyelet in the stem.

I was in the middle of making a wrap-cover journal for myself when I decided that Joey would probably like one as well, so I put my project aside and made this one for him. He loves corduroy, so the cover it quite fitting. The funniest thing was that about 3 days after I finished the book he mentioned that he’d love me to make him a handbound journal when I had the time.

The book has 10 signatures comprising of 10 sheets (20 pages) each, so this should keep him going for a while. Now I just have to get mine out of the WIP pile and finished. Mine is quite ‘fussy’ with lots of stitching and fabric manipulation, so his book was a nice quick distraction. :)

I’ve heard a lot about people keeping knitting journals, and for the most part I’ve mostly dismissed the entire thing as something I didn’t really need. Until yesterday.

I haven’t done a lot of knitting in the last couple of years with the exception of a few small items for the simple reason that I never had anywhere comfortable to sit. However, circumstances have changed, and I finally have comfy spot where I can sit and knit peacefully while I think about other projects.

Before I start any new projects I wanted to get a few previous projects finished which includes one navy blue cardigan. I started this project nearly three years ago where I got all but one sleeve done. A year and a half ago I picked up the project again and (nearly) completed the remaining sleeve. I picked this up again this week only to try and sew it together and find out that the second sleeve is the wrong size, and it’s much smaller than the rest of the sweater. Unfortunately, back in the begin, I never made a note about using a different sized needle so this sleeve was knit on 4mm needles instead of 4.5mm. I’m a little irked with myself about this, but the new sleeve (on the correct needles) is nearly halfway done so there’s not a huge loss.

This episode, however, has taught me a valuable lesson. Make notes. Even better, keep all your notes in one place. I think I feel a knitting journal coming on. ;)

The designers are working on a new monthly challenge on Scrap That Moment in which we all have to use the same piece of patterned paper for our creations—any creations, not just scrapbook layouts. ;)

My creation using the Mara-Mi paper supplied for this month is a journal page inspired by the paper itself.

If you’d like to see what the other ladies have done with this challenge, check it out in That Gallery.

While I was mooching around my supplies cupboard, I came across my art journal in my pile of WIPs (works in progress). This journal was created with no ‘sell by date’, there was never any pressure to work in it. I created it so that I could journal six pages in a day and then leave it for a few months, or I could write it in religiously.

I thought I’d document the round robin that we are doing, and I’m hoping to do a page in my journal for each page of the round robin I work through. Just seems appropriate somehow.

I’ve also noticed I’m on a bit of a blue kick. This page is blue. I’m knitting a sweater that is blue. The ATCs I’m working on are blue. I think it’s the weather….

The latest batch of spread I’ve done in my journal. And yes, I’m having fun. :)

Over the years I’ve started many journals, but they’ve always been set aside because I’ve never liked the way they looked… it was just all my own writing. Recently, I’ve been inspired by several other artists who’ve posted Art Journals in their online galleries. I love the look of their art journals. Combining art, graphics, colours, and techniques with writing is something that completely appeals to me. Must be the scrapbooker in me. However, I wanted my art journals to be something completely different to my scrapbooks. They are my play space. I place to try out different techniques, colour combos and just have some plain no rules fun. And I must admit, I’m having so much fun.

I wanted to share my first two pages. The first is about the whole reason this journal came about. I kept searching—for new techniques, new ideas, new anything—and it stopped me from simply playing creatively. So now, if I find myself aimlessly searching, I plan to just sit down and create a new page in my journal.

I had so much fun doodling on the second page. The window is actually cut out, and the flower is part of the following page. I love using windows. :)

I’ll post some more once I have another batch together.