Latch Hooked spine

The lower edge of the photo is a latch hooked spine I made for a journal cover. The colors match the distressed fabric that Linda created a lot better than is evident in the photo. For a tutorial about latch hooking go to:

http://tinyurl.com/25me4n

For some reason I had assumed that I'd done latch hooking a long time ago, but after struggling with the first few strands of yarn I decided that I'd never used the tool before. My daughter made a few small rugs from kits; nice to know that I hadn't completely forgotten how to do it!

The next step for the removable journal book cover using the kit from Linda is to make a pellon cover that the spine and distressed fabric will be adhered to. Remembering the covers for text books? In case you don't here is a tut:

http://tinyurl.com/2komhh

I've glued down the first fold to the size of the journal leaving the flap edge free so that the journal cover will slide into them. Next I'll glue the latch hook spine onto the center of the cover followed by a 1/3 of the distressed fabric. The back of the cover is yet to be created. (I'll photograph the steps later.) The remaining 2/3 of the fabric might become a wall hanging.

My comfort zone has been tampered with. I don't feel comfortable living here yet. Many days I feel like I'm struggling against the tide rather than flowing with it which causes stress, something I don't need more of.

I thought about tidying up the house before the AC repairman arrived today and then didn't. Wouldn't you know it he needed to go up into the attic; the hatch for the attic is in my master bedroom closet. No clothes in that closet; it's wall-to-wall storage for art supplies. I said that it was embarrassing to not be able to set up the ladder in there due to the overflow on the floor. "Let me say this," he said. "I've seen so many things over the years but to see such a large amount of art supplies rather than unnecessary shoes or expensive show-off clothes is something I never see. I would love to know what you do with all of it. To me it's the most interesting closet I've ever seen! And you're painting in the bathroom! Original! Usually, I see bottles of makeup etc. not tubes of paint! Never apologize for being you."

Nice guy who brightened my day!!! I can't seem to work in a tidy space. But I do have to have the kitchen and living room tidy. When the AC guy was leaving he said, "Besides, you've got very clean main rooms, who needs to know what you do in your bathroom or closet? Get back to creating!"

Prepped Journal pages

One of a few conditions I had before even considering a move to the desert was that there had to be a Trader Joe's very close by! Most of the meals we have have a food in them from TJ's. They have the sort of food I like, healthy but not so ridiculous as to have no flavor or too heavy that one is aware of eating healthy. Plus, the prices are outstanding! Speciality items abound like the lemon dill sauce that is drizzled over every bite of fish. The local TJ's was only a few months old when we started looking into the move! Why do I bring this up? The pages below are created from tearing out images from paper bags from TJ's! They encourage recycling bags by offering a ticket for every bag you take in to reuse. None of my tickets have been drawn from the monthly drawing, but I'm hopeful. This bag, however, ended up on the pages in my journal. All of these images are from one bag. The bottom right is my favorite. The middle one reminds of Dr. Seuss drawings, especially the fish. (Click on the pages to see an enlargement.) I got a bit messy with the top one, but what the heck; if one can't have fun in a journal what's the point?

I can't remember that last time I watched the Kentucky Derby, but there I was this afternoon glued to the set! Every intention I had upon rising this morning was to create a fabric piece or finish one, but there I was watching the horse race! I do seem to have a thing for horses. I rented "Flicka" for Stacy last week so she could watch it on her portable DVD player during her dialysis treatment. I thought that "Flicka" might be a little on the saccharine side for me, but I enjoyed it. Tim McGraw did an okay job playing the father. It was the horses that caught my attention though. Absolutely beautiful shots of them.

Journal pages

A friend recently asked if I write pages in my journal first or paint them. I do both. This spread now has journaling on it; you know the private drivel kind of stuff that I don't share with anyone. I remembered to scan these examples first. Watercolor crayons, Neocolor II, are great to use on blank pages or over waterproof ink. I found some foam rubber stamps at Lowe's a few weeks ago in the decorator paint section and decided to give them a try. The Fleur-De-Lys motif is one of three in the set. Very cool! The pages certainly aren't anything grand but they're fun to write on.