JOURNAL SPREAD

Cabinet card tucks into page pocket - copyright Susie Jefferson

Cabinet card tucked into pocket - copyright Susie Jefferson

Closeup of spread without cabinet cart - copyright Susie Jefferson

I can't remember if I posted about this journal spread already - so if I did, I apologise in advance (Senior moment, lol). This was published in Craft Stamper, and here's the instructions if anyone is interested in how I did the pocket (scroll down to the bottom of the page).

MY DELICIOUS COLOURICIOUS BOOK IS FINISHED!

Kiss Journal - all photos copyright Susie Jefferson- all rights reserved

I finally finished my book! And yes, I'm very pleased with it.

Copyright Susie Jefferson

Side view showing stitching

Poor Peter - I forced him up into the attic and refused to let him down till he handed me all my art stuff - so now we're surrounded by a sea of boxes and I'm as happy as a clam! I finished sewing the book Tuesday, but didn't have a chance to photograph it till today as yesterday (Wednesday) I taught a Japanese Stab-bound class at Gerrards Cross Summer School - more of that in another post. So I've been up against it for time.

But I digress... back to the book which is the subject of the post....

I cut it wider than needed, so that I could repeat the spine measurement for the fore edge and fold the excess back over to the front cover, then create some kind of fastening. This ended up as hinges - TWO  pieces of die cut Grungeboard - flexible and very tough. I punched holes in the ends so they could go over hitch fasteners (fasteners and Grungeboad are by Tim Holtz).

Closeup of stitching

Clopseup of hinges

Hinge detail

The hinges were postioned with a dab of glue, then fixed with eyelets. Then I wire-wrapped each piece and over-wrapped a second time with beads and brass danglies.

Inside

The fold-over edge looked rather plain, so I hole punched down the length and wire wrapped again, a basic whip stitch.

Detail showing pen holder

 The finishing touch was a spiral of the cover paper (I cut off about 1cm from the piece folding back over the cover before I did the wire wrap) which I glued down, then eyeletted top and bottom for strength.

Hope you like it!

If you want to make your own, here's the link for my tutorial on Etsy. If you want to know how I made the textured cover, read the post below. If you too would like your very own hand carved wood blocks, contact Colouricious - tell Jamie Malden or Holly I said Hi!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, this is it folks!

Didn't 2008 go by quickly?

Anybody made any New Year's Resolutions?

I am making just 4...

1. Finish off all those (how many? hundreds?) art projects cluttering up the house
2. Join in some of the swaps on the Yahoo art groups
3. Send in a project to a magazine or three
4. Not feel guilty if I don't do any of the above

Here's wishing you all health, wealth and happiness in 2009.

JOURNAL LINKS

I came across this brilliant artist - Pam Carricker - go see her Flickr gallery for even more inspiration!



This has made me feel I really need to start journaling again!

And have you checked out Teesha Moore's blog lately? The only thing about Teesha is that she has made her style so distinctive (and inspirational - I love, love, love her pages), that if you want to journal with colour and draw lines for your lettering, that you look as if you are copying her - even if you don't want to! Developing your own style is HARD.


See what I mean?

More later, guys....

ALL ABOUT HAIR - JOURNAL PAGE

I had a lot of fun with this one.

It started off as a rant about hairdressers. I swear they have it in for me - doesn't matter what you pay, you rarely come out looking anything like the picture you hopefully (naively?) offer as a vague suggestion of the style you have in mind.

There certainly doesn't have any relevance to the amount hairdressers charge. Do you get what you pay (through the nose) for?

Still, I felt a lot better after doing this page - a magazine ad face, with acrylics and heavy black pen on hair, face, eyes & lips, and acrylic lettering over an acrylic background. I am not a "pink" person (I prefer earth tones) but if you're going to be pink, be a bright pink!

FIRST JOURNAL PAGES UPLOADED

Here goes my first try at uploading some pix - these are from my Kiss Journal (named after the stitching, but now the title seems to be influencing the contents as well.....)

This first pic shows a young woman looking back on life. I think she's reflecting on what might have been. She's a little sour, a little down, pretty resigned....

The numbers and arrows are thick gesso stencilled directly on the page.


The numbers represent time passing - and the arrows are for her determination, because the only way is Upward and Onward!

Remember back at school? You & all your best friends, giggling in a gang at break time? All those best friends - can you even remember their names?

I was at Junior school at age 4, and I still remember Johnny who made us all laugh, & Hazel who got me in trouble when she told me the wrong answer in Maths: "What's 4 x 0?" She whispered "4" and that's what I said. Duh, the answer was 0 - and to this day I'm still not sure that's right.













Love isn't just for the young - true love lasts all your life!

This is a vintage photo I found on the art-e-zine site (thanks Gillian, who owns the site - see Links for her url). It fits exactly what I wanted to say.

Peter & I have been together 15 years (2nd time round for both of us) and our 10th wedding anniversary is this November. Are we happy? You betcha!













This man is a Craftsman. He is a serious man who takes great pride in his work, making all the kisses to send out into the world.

You're never to old to hug & kiss, as the song says.

He makes sure every kiss sent out is in perfect condition, shiny & new.












This is a vintage page, for fun. The lady on the left is suitably shy and coy, and the gentleman on the right looks solid and dependable - but still with a twinkle in his eye! And the Proper Sort - a believer in hearts, flowers and boxes of Belgian chocolate.