Junk Journal

I made this junk journal for a swap in one of my art groups.  I spent about 3 months pulling it all together and really had a lot of fun with it.  The cover evolved as I worked on the project.  I added the cross stitched bluebird, and even a little face made from a piece of an aluminum can that I embossed.

I made several handmade charms to attach to the binding coils.  I have a closer view of the charms & how they were made posted on my hobby site, here:  http://www.hobbyloco.com/charms.html

You can see from the top view that I made the book really thick and chunky.  It is full of all types of papers, pockets, tags, postcards, and random bits of this and that.  There are easily over 100 pages, many are undecorated, but I did embellish a few to get the book started.

I have already posted several of the pages on my Journals & Sketchbooks blog here: http://cherylsjournals.blogspot.com/ - however the pages posted below weren't included in that post.

These pages all feature needlework - crochet or cross stitched motifs:

 

The beach scene on this page was cut from a piece of a junk mail ad.  This seashell is one of my original cross stitch patterns, and is available as a freebie here:  http://www.hobbyloco.com/XSpatterns2.html#seashell

This page has a watercolor painted background and features a cross stitched squirrel.  Also a freebie pattern of mine, available here: http://www.hobbyloco.com/XSpatterns1.html#squirrel

 I couldn't resist adding a small crocheted doily to the book.  I crocheted this doily from a free pattern found here: http://www.freevintagecrochet.com/free-doily-pattern/spool52/five-point-star-doily

If you are curious to see more pages from the junk journal, be sure to visit my other blog here: http://cherylsjournals.blogspot.com/

Have a fun & creative weekend!

a crazy busy Halloween art weekend!

I have spent this entire weekend making art. (Which is just the way I like to spend my weekends.)

I just finished making a postcard for a Halloween Postcard swap at ATCsforAll.com. The swap is open until October 10th (postcards may be any media: digital, collage, drawn, fabric, etc..).

This postcard features a mechanical element. The door opens and a witch with candy pops out. This 4" x 6" postcard was drawn with Indian ink and colored with markers and colored pencils. I added a little bit of glitz with gel pens and glitter glue.

Hmmm... maybe I will make more mechanical postcards.

The other Halloween project I worked on this weekend was chunky pages for another swap at ATCsforALL.com.


The main characters have a mechanical element: move the lever and the message changes from "Trick or Treat" to "Smell My Feet", and a foot pops out from under the costume.

Other elements include printed and handpainted papers, ribbons, fibers and shrink plastic charms. Larger photos can be seen at my hobby site: hobbyloco.com.

More Halloween Fun

I just finished making pages for a Vintage Halloween swap at ATCsForAll.com. For the backgrounds I collaged printed and hand painted papers, which I then stamped, painted and spattered. I trimmed them to 4" x 4" and edged them with black acrylic paint.

I adapted a vintage image to use for my main focal point. Printed on cardstock and hand colored, I created jointed ghosties. The masks swing down to reveal the little girls behind them.

The page backs feature Vintage "Kitties in Pumpkins", which I printed on cardstock and then stained to create an aged appearance. The pages also feature ribbons, fibers and handmade beads.

I really enjoyed making these and have several other chunky page projects in the works.

Time to Update

Last year I hosted a fun collaborative art project at Nervousness.org.

The project was a Haunted House themed chunky book.

I finally got around to posting some photos and information about the book on my hobby website.

The book itself is intended to be a Haunted House. The front cover starts with the front gate & each page progresses through the property and rooms of a haunted house. The book is really wonderful and features pop-ups, fold outs, fibers, tags, stitching, sparkle & more fun embellishments!

I participated in many chunky book projects over the past couple of years and each one has been fabulous!! I do plan to host at least one chunky book project this year. Most likely through my new swap group: http://www.atcards.com/. I will be sure to have all of the information posted here and at my hobby site as well.

Love for Chunky Books!

I received my very first chunky book just over a week ago, and I have not grown tired of looking through it yet!

Chunky books are collaborative art books in which participants each create original embellished pages (number of pages equal to number of participants). The pages are sent to the project host who binds them into books and returns the books to each person in the group.

The book pictured was a Halloween themed swap, featuring work from 17 artists. A wide variety of embellishments can be found in the pages - including ribbons, fibers, tags, beads, charms, spiders, skeletons, rats and more! One of the memorable items included in the book is a tiny handmade Ouija board hidden in a matchbox! (My pages featured a pocket holding a handstitched Jack O'Lantern finger puppet.)

No wonder these book projects have become so popular! I have signed up for several more to be completed in the upcoming months. I just added a section to my hobby site to feature the chunky book projects I am participating in, as well as photos from completed books.