five ornies

                                             Source: pattyschaffer.typepad.com via Lori on Pinterest

my very talented bloggy friend patty schaffer has been working some of her creative magic again.  she designed five ornaments for the styrofoam company, and i think they'd make any tree look merry and bright!  this very sweet red-and-white button ornie is one of my favorites.....click here to see patty's other fabulous designs, along with a how-to video and full instructions on how you can create some for yourself this weekend!!

right on the button

i enjoy creating so many different things that it seems my greatest challenge these days is trying to find projects that combine all of my loves.......my love of paper, my love of fabric, my love of sewing, my love, my love.....

and sometimes i wonder if that's why i enjoy creating journals so much. i get to tear paper, slop some glue around, attach eyelets to the covers, and my most favorite part.....sew it all together....

and every once in a while i add a trinket or two.....

so usually when i'm done,

i feel like maybe i've hit my challenge

right on the button!

you can read more information about this journal here

buttons, part two

i'm still on a mission to use my growing stockpile of buttons.   and so i could put all of this into perspective for myself, i came up with this comparison:  if i were to put the contents of my button jar on a weight loss program, with a goal of losing, say, 10 pounds, then "losing" these four buttons from my jar and using them on this journal would represent about a 5 ounce loss.  as you can see, i have a long way to go!

button coptic

i love buttons.  so much so that i refuse to claim that i collect buttons, because whenever i give myself permission to collect something, well, let's just say i always end up with a larger inventory than most retail stores (just ask my paper and fabric collections).  i especially love the vintage variety of button,  and one of my favorite things to do is paw around in my wide mouth button jar...i just love that happy clinking sound that they make!  

i've managed to add buttons to some of my other books, and since i've discovered the coptic binding, i decided to merge the two...and here's the result. i'm really happy with the combination of the tweed looking bookcloth and the vintage buttons.  and since i've used four buttons from my button jar, doesn't that give me permission to add some new ones to it?!  :)

circles on blue

one of the first journals i put in my etsy shop was made using fabric like this...except the background was yellow.  the construction is basically the same as my other journals, so i decided to do something a little different on the front.  well, actually, it was by necessity, because my wood buttons were a little too small, so i backed them with a flattened bottle cap and it worked out pretty well.  boy, i sure do love those "happy accidents"...and i sure do wish they happened more often!  :)

girl on the go

this is a blank, hardcover journal that i made yesterday.  for this book, i used fabric that i bought at the quilt show this past weekend.  as with my other journals, the inside is filled with italian velata paper.  i sewed some black and white cloth tape to the front and it wraps around the spine onto the back cover.  to finish, there are two wooden buttons (made by me by gluing paper to wooden discs) hand-sewn to the front cover using waxed linen thread.  i love the black, white and hot pink combination, and while i don't usually use novelty-type fabrics, it's fun to deviate from the norm every once in a while!

love those batiks

here is another hardcover blank journal that i made, this time using batik fabrics for the outside covers and light green canson artpaper on the inside covers.  this book was constructed using the same techniques as my book from yesterday.  i have lots of italian velata paper, so there are 60 pages of that inside this book.  i also have lots of fabric...so consider yourself warned!