Pink Roses

DIY Friday: vintage journal...

After my flea market adventure last Friday, I was inspired to use some of my vintage finds to make a journal. 

I used the covers from some old books as the pages, and embellished them with a little bit of everything!

The books I used were not the same height or width, but were close in size.  I cut the covers off the books with an exacto knife, and used the front and back cover of the tallest book (the tan one) as the front and back cover of the journal.  Because my pages were very 3 dimensional, I only used one cover of each of the other books, 7 covers total...5 pages plus the front and back cover.

I punched holes in the covers with a crop-o-dile, and held it all together with 2" binder rings from the office supply store.  The outside edges of the journal are the smooth edges, and the "spine" is the cut edges of the book covers. Here is the cover : lace, millinery, satin ribbon, and a rhinestone pin...

 

The back side of each cover was covered in assorted papers, and a piece of watercolor paper was added as a blank spot for journaling on some. Here is the inside cover and page 2: a vintage dress pattern,  lace trim, velvet ribbon, a millinery rose, and a vintage calling card...

I hadn't added the journaling spots when I took these photos...sheet music, bridal lace, a vintage embroidered hankie, and a milagro tied on with ribbon...

The next page has a piece of vintage barkcloth with a bit of padding behind, so it can be used to "pin" on items, including a vintage enamel flower pin from my collection.

The next page has more vintage barkcloth and lace, and I laced seam binding to make a place to hold journaling tags, business cards, etc.

The back of this cover has vintage wallpaper and more lacing (like a corset), to hold more journaling.  I may not actually use these tags for my journaling...I just put them here to show you a possibility.

The last page has a round doily cut in half, then sewn to form a corner pocket to hold notes, cards, etc...

The back side also has a pocket...

This journal is sturdy and thick and just filled with all the vintage things I love and collect...and it was SO much fun to make!

  It would make a great guest book at a wedding!

waxed paper bags...

I am having a love affair today, sewing these little waxed paper bags!  I will be using them to package tomorrows DIY Friday project.  Can't wait to show you...:)

yikes...

It's been a month since I've posted...life got busy for a while! In the past month, I had a birthday...

Elizabeth and Paul came back from a 10 day honeymoon in South America, and are enjoying married life...

Mr. Duda and I went to see Christopher and Katie at college for Homecoming weekend...

I spent a fabulous weekend in Ashville attending Jennifer Hayslip's magical event...

My roommates: Karla Nathan, Lori Oles, and Kana Conger...love you girls!

The setting was breathtaking, the food delicious, the projects amazing, and the friendships...priceless!

Then I spent 5 days at the beach with some old friends...

Sun, sand, shelling, seafood...HEAVEN! I ate honey almond glazed salmon salad with fresh berries for lunch 3 days in a row...

We opened a new exhibit at the High Museum, where I am a volunteer...

Then my parents came for a week long visit, Christopher and Katie came home for Fall break, and now I'm getting back to normal. I'd like to take a deep breath, clean up, catch up, and craft. There's no place like home...

little projects...

Over the next few days I'm going to share a few little homemade wedding projects with you. These were the details that made the day a bit more personal, in my opinion.

First, the guest book...

I made it the same way I made THIS ONE, and actually just used the BACK cover of that original ledger.  Two new books from one old ledger!

Mr. & Mrs! signs for the chairs...

We decided that he was already a MR, and would still be a MR, but she was changing from a MISS to a MRS, and that deserved an exclamation point!!!  I used pages from an unfinished chipboard book (Michaels dollar bin), and covered them with paper, sanded the edges, glued on glittered chipboard letters, punched holes and tied with organza ribbon.  These were tied to the back of their chairs at the wedding reception dinner.  Took 10 minutes, and was simple and elegant.

Party favors.  Elizabeth wanted to personally make something for everyone, and decided to do her "famous" pretzels.  I say famous, because after she made them the first time, people always ask her to make them again.

And just to do a little math with you...we planned a sit down dinner for 150 x 6 pretzels per bag= 900 pretzels that had to be dipped in chocolate and rolled in sprinkles.  900 pretzels to be bagged, and ribbons cut and tied and doilies folded...2 days before the wedding!  We stayed up half the night. Do you know how many little white sprinkles were ALL OVER my kitchen floor??

I will admit...they were stunning when they were all in a big rectangular wicker tray, and EVERYONE loved them.  In fact there were only 3 left!  People couldn't believe she took the time to do that.  Good idea E!  My obsessive moment was with the programs...

They were simple, and I printed them myself at Kinkos, but we went to 4 different Michaels stores to find enough paper (Bazzill cardstock in a pearl finish) to print them all.  Thanks to 3 awesome bridesmaids, Ashley, Isa and Megan, who flew into town 2 days early and asked "what can we do?",  they were all folded and tied with seam binding ribbon in about an HOUR!!

I would have been lucky to get them all folded, and given up on the ribbon for lack of time.  The girls sat and talked and finished it up in record time.  Those 3 helped me SO much in the last few days, I will forever be grateful for their energy and enthusiasm and genuine LOVE for my daughter.  She is blessed to have such friends! More to come...

ledger journal...

I made a journal out of an old ledger and here's how I did it...I actually took the ledger apart, and because the front and back covers were exactly the same, I can make 2 journals!  To make the back cover I cut a piece of chipboard and covered it with a sturdy embossed piece of vintage wallpaper.  I covered the inside panel with vintage ledger paper and did some machine stitching.

I used an exacto knife to cut out a window in the front cover and added a piece of vintage wallpaper...

I backed the wallpaper with a piece of cardboard, and then covered that with decorative papers.  To bind the journal I used some twill tape...

I really liked the cover image, and didn't want to hide any portion of it.  I decided to sew the twill tape under the cover, instead of on top of the cover.

I cut 5 sheets of 140 lb. watercolor paper and folded those in half to make my signatures.  I sewed each signature to the twill tape "spine".

The pages have lots of room for adding lots of stuff!

One ledger=2 journals, and 5 pieces of paper=20 pages!  I may sew ribbons to the front and back so that I can tie it together when I am done.  My next project is trying to make a slightly more elegant version of this to be used as the Guest Book in my daughters wedding!  I can't believe she's going to let me do it!

Kansas City...

I just got back from a Girl's Trip to Kansas with some dear friends of mine : Heather, Lori, Karla, Jennifer, Andrea and Carol.  Spending 4 days with these girls was HEAVEN..laughing, shopping, eating, crafting and talking till the wee hours!  Karla is an AMAZING hostess, and can out-craft anyone on the planet.  Her studio is to-die-for, and I loved being there again. 

Karla taught us a project that she will be teaching at an upcoming event, and we all just LOVED it!

We also had a fabulous evening at Carol's farmhouse and enjoyed the outdoor room and fireplace.  Dinner was delicious, and we had enough wine and desserts to make everyone happy!

 

I visited Carol last year when she had just moved in, and now everything is complete ( and published: Romantic Prairie Style).

I have to be honest, Carol's home is even prettier in real life than it is in the photos!  Such a peaceful, serene, GORGEOUS home.  We all wanted to go home and redecorate...Carol style :)

Seriously...EVERY nook and cranny is photo worthy...even the kitchen sink!

We spent one day antique shopping in the city...

 

And one WHOLE day {I mean a solid 12 HOURS} in the studio, making stuff.  That night we were all tired, except Karla.  She is the energizer bunny and can just keep going... 

Thanks girls for a great weekend...can't wait to see you again soon!

journal swap…

Here’s a little peek at some details of the pages I am making for a journal swap…vintage wallpaper and tickets…a tab sewn from a piece of eyelet trim…

a lace pocket for a coffee dyed tag…

ledger paper, doily, ribbon…

Copic marker doodles, dyed muffin liners, button…

kraft paper, rick rack…

Still much to do, just wanted to share the progress…

cabinet card journal…

In Kansas last month, Beth had the AWESOME idea to use the folders that cabinet cards or old photos come in, to make a journal.  Why didn’t I think of that?  (I usually throw those away) Luckily, Beth shared her idea {and supplies} so that I could make one too!  Here’s how:  Start with a plain photo folder, and cut 2 pieces of watercolor paper (or any sturdy paper) slightly smaller than the (opened up) folder size.

Fold the 2 pieces of paper in half to make a seam, and open them up and stitch the paper to the folder down the seam. Your folder will now be a “journal” with 8 pages front & back!

I glued a cabinet card to the front, and I will say, this is not a card I would usually purchase because it had been folded…

and someone had written the girl’s names on the front with a blue ink pen…

But I sewed on some crochet trim and glued on a button, and it hid the writing!

I added some vintage papers to the inside front cover to hide my sewing…

and tied a bow out of a gorgeous vintage silk ribbon that Beth gave me {love}…

This project took no time at all, and was really inspiring.  It made me look twice at less that perfect items that I might normally throw away, or pass over at a flea market.  Thanks Beth for your inspiration and generosity!  Hope this inspires you too!

easy journal…

Several weeks ago, on the night before I was leaving to fly to Kansas to see my friend Karla, I had this wild idea that I needed a journal to record the weekends events.  Now the thought of a journal isn’t crazy in itself, it’s that it was 11:00pm and I had to be up at 5:00am, and well…I still hadn’t finished packing :)  So of course, I made a journal. A really easy journal. Here’s how I made it, using what was on hand:

I used one piece of watercolor paper that was 12”x18” from a notebook…

I cut the sheet into 3 strips, each 12” x 6”.  I folded all 3 pieces in half to make a 6” x 6” journal with 6 pages (12 pages front and back).  I really quickly painted a watercolor design on the front and back of each page-stripes, dots…really simple.  You could then sew the spine, but I punched 2 holes and tied my journal with some seam binding.

I decorated the front with a few vintage items and a crepe paper ruffle to hide the rough edge where I tore the paper from the book (you can see the edge on the left front page below)…

When I travel, I save business cards from shops and restaurants (and the cardboard holder from my coffee in the airport) and tie them in with a bit of ribbon.  Once a scrapbooker, always a scrapbooker!

I took the journal, a few pens, a glue stick,a small pair of scissors, a few bits of ribbon and paper, and put everything in a cigar box and carried it in my purse. That’s all you really need.

I left blank pages for photos and more journaling.

here’s the center of the book, so you can see the punched holes and ribbon…

my place card from lunch at Carol's…

I finished most of my journaling while waiting in the airport for my flight back home, while everything was fresh in my mind, and before it was back to reality!

the last 2 pages are for more photos…

This is a small journal, but perfect for a long weekend or a little trip. If I had more time, I would have tried to make it more complicated, but you know..it worked just fine being simple! The only thing I would change is that I should have had everyone sign it…guess I’ll have to go back again one day!!!  Tomorrow I’ll show you another easy journal that Beth showed me how to make!

passing it on...

Today I went to work at the museum a few hours early to attend a curator tour of a new exhibit entitled European Design.  The exhibit opens this Saturday and it’s worth a trip.  Very MOMA. 

Anyway…on my days at the museum I usually take along a project to work on when things get slow.  I saw this project on Rebecca Sower's blog last week and had to give it a try.  I used what I had on hand…

After the curator tour I had a free hour, so I grabbed a banana nut muffin and a coffee…

headed to the 4th floor…modern art…

sat down on a white leather sofa next to one of my favorite pieces…

made out of thousands of strips of metal bands from liquor bottles…

started to crochet…

and 30 minutes later I had this…

a 10 strand bracelet!  As I was working on this, a group of High School Art teachers was taking a tour of the gallery and they all stopped to see what I was doing.  After I explained it to them (and gave them Rebecca’s blog info), they all said “we’re doing this!  Thanks Rebecca for the inspiration…I’m passing it on!!