Paper Play on the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July all.  We hope you're each enjoying your day in whatever way you're celebrating.  Jeff and I are having a paper play kind of day.  Hes making a blank journal:

I'm tearing paper to make a collages for greetings cards and also painting a small canvas with acrylic paint for an idea I have:

Tomorrow I'm taking a class in making mini cards with case holder while Jeff either goes to see the new Terminator movie or goes to a local professional wrestling match (he's a big WWE) fan.  All in all a good weekend so far!

Vacation Day Play

I'm home from work today, taking a vacation day.  Later this afternoon I'll be going to participate in Real Mail Fridays, a monthly letter writing event at Jaffe Book Arts Center at Florida Atlantic University but more about that tomorrow.  This morning I spent some time writing in my journal, had breakfast with Jeff and then we both went to "play" on some projects.  Jeff finished making a small blank notebook he's been working on for about a week.  It's a smaller version of the book he made in the Books and Boxes class last weekend at FAU.  He's so precise in the work he does.  It's fun and interesting to watch him work.  He's very systematic in his approach to doing a project.  Me?  I just start where I am and learn as I go.  My goal is to have fun while doing my best to turn out a good item.  If it's not good enough to put on our Etsy site or take to a craft show I'll use it myself or, in the case of making greeting cards and stationery, I'll use it on friends and family, upcycling it, recycling it, "arting" it up, doing anything I can to make it creative.  But more about this in another posting.  For now, here's pics of Jeff's small journal/notebook and the bookcloth I made this morning for a journal I'll be making.  Hope all of you who are reading this are having a great day!  I know I am.  Now off to Real Mail Friday!

And here are some pictures of the bookcloth I'm going to use as a spine on an old Bobbsey Twin book I want to recycle into a blank journal.

Front and back of fabric

Back of fabric is covered with a combination of 1/2 PVA glue and 1/2 water,

then covered with tissue paper

Tissue paper/fabric is then covered with another

layer of PVA/water mixture and left to dry completely.  

It's fine to use different colors of tissue paper on your fabric.  

I started with yellow, ran out of it so I added some pink.

Now I just have to remove the bubbles and creases.

Again, create a joy-filled, creative day for yourself !

Books and Boxes

This past weekend Jeff took a fabulous class at the Jaffe Center for Book Arts in Boca Raton, Florida. Entitled "Books and Boxes",  participants in the workshop made multi-signature books sewn on tapes and chiseled into hard covers.  They also made cloth-covered folding boxes that opened similar to a Jacob's ladder with several "hidden" chambers for housing small objects.

The Center is located in the library at Florida Atlantic University.  The instructor, Susan Joy Share, is a multi-media artist.  Based in Alaska, she's had a display of her work in the library for the past few months.  In addition to teaching the Books and Boxes class, she is also teaching a papercutting class this coming weekend then it's back home to Alaska to create more art.

Here's a few photos of Jeff's handcrafted journal.  Isn't it nice? :-)  He's even making a couple of mini journals as samples for future full-size ones.

If you're ever in the Boca area, be sure to stop by the Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University.  The Center is on the 3rd floor of the library.  Be sure to stop on the first floor of the library to see the exhibits.  They're great!