Focus on Gratitude

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It has been a challenging few weeks in my neck of the woods 

and I have had difficulty sleeping. 

Productivity has been down, and worry has sky rocketed. 

Fortunately for me, 

I have a loving, caring, supportive family to lean on. 

During these challenging weeks, my dad 

(who is turning 86 years young tomorrow!)

continues to remind me to be grateful for all the good things I do have. 

He has a small journal style book that he uses to record the things he is grateful for. 

My dad is not a writer -for him to sit down and write is difficult

 but he does it to remind himself of his daily gratitudes

- from the blue sky and fresh air that he walks in

- to his good health

- and to having more food than he needs

- he is always thankful. 

  

Recently he offered me his gratitude journal to take and write in, 

as he felt it would help me focus on the many good things I do have.  

Instead of taking his book, I made this book into my gratitude journal 

and have been trying to write a sentence or two in it daily.   

Although the challenges I have right now are still here 

I try to remember all the good things I do have 

 and with that I know many wonderful things will continue to come my way.  

Daily Creative Sessions - Take Ten

Recently, I set myself a goal  -  daily 10 minute creative sessions. 

and this is what my 10 minutes turned into the other day.

Okay - this took me way more than 10 minutes to create, 

but that is how it started.  

The pages in this little book are pockets....

and inside the pockets are mini blank books.

At the moment only the pockets are decorated

..... eventually the mini books in the pockets will have something on them as well.  

During my next 10 minute creative session I thought 

I should make these at the visual journaling group I host on Tuesday nights.

So I created a less time consuming version to share if they are interested.  

If you haven't anything to do on Tuesday night 

and are in my neighbourhood  

- feel free to join us in the art room of the local school.... :-)

Cookbooks and Daughters

I have two daughters that are at the edge of not living at home anymore.

They both were interested in having cookbooks, and since I love making books. . .  

I made them cook books. 

This one is decorated with the paper from used tea bags

with a collage from my hand decorated paper added.

I love the colours and patterns the tea leaves make as the bags are drying. 

Daughter # 2 (birth order that is) loves grey, 

so I added some greys and blues to the cover  

before adding a copy of some birds i drew 

and a smattering of collage bits. 

I have no doubts these books will be filled with yummy recipes

and enjoyed for many years to come. 

Collectables Folder

I finally had some creative time.... 

or I should say - I finally made the time to create a priority 

over all of the other things I could have been doing. 

And so I made a collectables folder. 

The cover was made from layers of fabric, paper and many layers of acrylic paint, 

which I then decorated with my rustically carved stamps.

I inserted folders inside and secured them with some stitches.

The folders are only open on the one side - which is where items can be slid in for storing.  

The flap on both the front and back cover and the elastic closures

 ensures nothing can slip out accidentally.  

I really enjoyed my creative time

and I know I must give myself the gift of more creative time more often.  

Matchbook Notepads - Tutorial

I realize that many people don't use notepads anymore,

but I am a list maker - and love having little notepads handy at all times. 

 

I always have scraps of card-stock and plain paper that is leftover from bigger projects, 

as well as a never ending supply of hand decorated paper.

So I thought I would share how to make these matchbook notepads. 

Gather scraps of notepaper, card-stock and decorated paper.

     Cut the pieces to size and then glue 

      the decorated paper to the card-stock. 

Fold the decorated card-stock so that it has a small flap at the bottom and

insert the stack of notepaper. 

Staple the pages and the folded flap similar to a matchbook cover.

Fold the top part over and tuck it under the stapled piece.  

If it is too long, trim it a bit. 

Once it is the the right size and tucked under the flap, crease the top. 

If you don't have any decorated paper.... you can always use a piece out of a magazine. 

When I make them I seem to end up with quite a stack of them. 

But.... that isn't really a problem!

Letterpress Drawer

I have an old letterpress drawer that I intend to fill with little treasures. 

Including the tiny books I shared not long ago. 

I love it - and I love putting treasures in it. 

It desperately needs cleaning, but treasure hunting and making is much more fun!

I made this little accordion style book many many moons ago

 - and it fits perfectly in one of the cubbyholes. 

So I decided to make an even smaller one.... for the smaller cubbyhole. 

And it fit perfectly!