Spring and other things

My last piece for AJJ 'Spring' theme   this month  hosted by Rosie
Once again I used a mix of various types of crayons (wax crayons, oil pastels, Neocolours) and a white Posca pen.

The bulbs - especially the Daffodils and Crocuses are flowering more and  it is starting to feel more Springlike - even though snow may be possible in some some parts of UK over Easter apparently.

And it was nice seeing a large Bee enjoying the flowers too

I've been busy making a few Easter cards and other Greeting cards

..here is a few of them.

As usual I have several things on the go at once - and I've not forgotten about the fauxleather for the traveller's notebook which hopefully I will show soon when its finished...

I recycled some cheese cracker boxes and started to make into Junk journal type of thing to try out some different glues - including Berol Marvin medium which I've never used as it had got tucked over the back of a cupboard and forgotten.

Then trying out glues to make 'book cloth' for a cover of a mini book

 And I found some MDF blanks and some ornate foam(?) embellishments that I've had for several years which need to be used - so I painted the heart shaped box first with gesso then painted that and the heart shaped daisy wreath with Paperartsy chalk paints.

  

 and this is the next batch of the MDF/chipboard pieces to work on

All for now.

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Friday, Have a great weekend

and  a Happy Easter to all that celebrate.

Gill x

Winter, Spring and Winter once again!

huh!...so much for Spring - Friday was wonderful- it was sunny all day and lovely and warm. We had the internal doors to our conservatories open and even had lunch in the one that overlooks the garden. The birds were happy and livelier than usual. I noticed some bulbs starting to bloom and took a few photos. Then what a contrast - on Saturday we awoke to snow and freezing temperatures again and although not much, it didn't stop snowing all day long. 

So my page I made for Rosies Spring theme at AJJ isn't quite true  - not Spring at last. 
It's suppose to be the bulbs popping up through the snow.
Page is a mix of watercolour paints, watersoluble crayons, white posca pen and a small little textured stamp. I used mini alphabet stamps for the words for a change as I wasn't worried about doing them in a straight line :)

 A few crocus by my rusting Japanese lantern...

years ago I would have disliked rusty things but now it's quite the opposite and I love them

 The Kerria starting to bud up

 Some Wood pigeons were having a little canoodle

until one spotted me watching them.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend,

Thanks for stopping by

Gill x

Book making

And now for something different today...
One of the things on my New Years resolution list was to learn a new craft but I had no idea that it would turn out to be book making/binding after nearly 20 years of wanting to do this.

from left to right: 

Coptic stitched book, White textured cover, Green casebound book

 and a cover made to repair an address book.

I have 3 books on this subject and over the years I have made a few mini album type of things and always wanted to learn about book binding but never followed it up in a serious way. 
More recently I had seen a few of Beate's wonderful books and intended once again to have a go but never did. And then out of the blue dear Beate kindly sent me a 'text block' to inspire me further to actually do it - and of course I had to didn't I? 
And so with Beates help, advice and tips and watching some good videos from Jennifer aka Sea Lemon  and Sage Reynolds this is what happened next...

In case you didn't know a 'text block' (or Book block - I hope that's correct as I'm still trying to understand all the terminology) is where the folded papers are grouped into 'signatures' and cleverly sewn together to make the inside of your book.  
All* I needed to do was finish that off with some 'end papers' and make a cover and glue it altogether. *It will get easier - I know!

 You can just about see the verticle lines of the stitching that Beate did to sew it together. 
 The 'text block' needed to be clamped and glued along the spine.
Beate showed me a photo of how she did hers and I was able to do exactly the same using some pieces from a Silk Painting frame.

While that was drying I made a cover and at that point could only find a plain piece of A3 white paper that was large enough to cover it all.
The corners I folded over like making a bed but that was slightly bulky so next time I would cut a triangle off the corner instead for a neater fit.

But the cover was fractionally too small when I tried the pages inside so I have saved that for another project. 

 And then I panicked assuming I would mess it up further, so I decided to practise on some other things first.

 I cut up some paper to make some new pages, cut some board for covers and made a different style cover and totally different style of book instead.

 

This is a Coptic style book with open spine - and when open it lays really nice and flat.

 

Then I found an old address book where the cover had fallen off and been lost so made a new one for it. I believe its also known as 'case bound' book. This was good practise for sticking on all the additional reinforcing bits and papers on the book to stick to the cover.

And next, finally I made the cover to finish Beates book.

This one was covered in 2 pieces of patterned paper

 with a thick textured paper for the spine.

Then a further piece of patterned paper glued along the inside spine 

to reinforce it.

Next I chose bright green papers for the end papers, folded them and stuck them in at each end and added the white paper along spine to reinforce that too (all as suggested in books and videos)

The hard part at present for me is sticking the finished textblock to the covers so that the papers don't wrinkle and are in the right position but hopefully that will get better as I make more and learn more.

This is the finished book .. a simple, traditional looking book ..

Thank you Beate for kickstarting me into doing this :)

And now I know a bit more, next time I won't feel so apprehensive

 and can experiment and decorate the covers.

 

And still talking of books (sorry) you may remember I had a go at making a Traveller's notebook recently too which at present is just being used as diary/planner. The cover was made from felt and probably not ideal so I found some lovely Grey faux leather material to make another one and couldn't resist some pretty floral cotton offcuts for book covers maybe.
So this is now on my list of things to do next :)

I love the pattern/texture of this faux leather

I was pleased when the snow went the other other week and the postman could then safely deliver my order of beeswax, thread, bookcloth and yet another (better) book on bookbinding - I'm addicted!

Thanks for stopping by today

and listening to my ramblings.

Hope you're having a great day.

Gill x

Go winter Go

 I made this piece for AJJ a week ago intending to post it then but then last week flashed by so fast in a blur and now its Sunday again and maybe in the meantime, Winter has gone at last... or has it? I hope so as I want to see my spring bulbs in flower :)

This is for Rosie's Spring theme this month over at AJJ
A mix of watercolour, water soluble crayons, acrylic ink, white Posca pen and digital words.

I hope you had a good week

and having a lovely Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by here today :)

Gill x