Leather Journals, Basketry, Weaving and More Beginner Art Journaling

Well, the vast majority of the packing is finished and boxes are piled into the garage. The basement is crazy overflowing with garage sale goods and now I am just waiting on other people: painters, window washers, carpet cleaners… There is nothing for me to do now but to wait during this lull before listing the house and keeping everything show-ready. I guess I get to put my feet up a bit now.

See the baby bump? It never takes long for that to pop out for me. Only 17 weeks along and already a magnet for people’s hands. I don’t mind. I mostly mind just how ugly I feel. Yeah, I get it…pregnancy is beautiful and I’m just glowing blah blah blah…but I’m only in it for the baby at the end of it. If I could hide for 10 months I would.

Anyhow. I finished sewing together my leather journals. I always wanted a leather journal, but didn’t ever think of making my own. Oh, these smell delicious. I just love to touch them! Part of me wants to give one away as a gift, the other part of me doesn’t know anyone who has pined for a leather journal like I have.

I have zero idea what I’m going to do in it. Right now I’m enjoying holding them!

I’m trying to get ready for my dinky new kitchen and how I’m going to go from dozens of drawers to only eight. Open shelving will be a must; there are no cabinets at all (yes, you read that right). I’ve measured some shelves and decided to make some baskets to use as “drawers” on them. This was my first shot and I was unhappy with the number of stakes I chose to use, so quit when I was only halfway up. However, it will make a good basket for a casserole dish once I add some handles (wrapping underneath the bottom for extra strength). I’m blessed to have a friend that likes to make baskets and so we just sat out in the sunshine and did just that one afternoon. I have a pile of reed ready to start making more. Once it stops raining.

I did finish my first set of kitchen towels and got the loom all packed up. Thinking of moving that loom with a project still on it was stressing me out so I spent any extra time I had to crank out these weavings. I’m pleased with the results!

I had some little scraps at the end and tried a different weave. I didn’t bother hemming those scraps–just used the serger. They’ll make good dishcloths.

Speaking of creative endeavors, I’m still art journaling. I thought I’d share some of the ideas I’ve done in case you’d like to try some out. My journal uses a date planner as a base, and I learned how to do that via a class I took with Gina: No Excuses Art. She now has a book out with all of the great information to get anyone started.

The main idea is to use the date in the planner to put in the weather, a color, a sketch, and a word of the day. If you have the ability, you can add photos from the week (I don’t have a printer that can do that). Oh, and to do a little watercolor once a week. Sometimes I follow those directions. Other times…well…

Here you can see I didn’t sketch at all during the week, but I glued in some papers I liked from magazines and whatnot. On the right is a page I applied a medium to prepare it for watercolor (oy…pregnancy brain drain…can’t remember what that was…it’s packed…)…but I never really did watercolor there. I did a couple of drawings and then drew a map from memory of a childhood neighborhood.

On these pages I glued in papers and washi tape and did some stamping of my trip to Portland. The page on the left was added to my book, inset into the bind with washi tape on both sides. The postcard on the right was added the same way.

Here was a page (this last week) that I didn’t really deal on a daily basis at all. I just wrote out a quote I liked and also tried out some new pens on top, separating sections with stickers. Do you see when I got to hear the baby’s heartbeat? 🙂

Here’s a page I followed the rules and did drawings every day. I picked a theme and stuck with that rather than try to think up something new every day.

I do like the practice of drawing. Here is one I did rather than small dailies. I tried to copy a calendar page. Just like learning to write, looking at other people’s work and trying to imitate them is helpful in learning.

Here’s another example of adding another page, this time to the edge. The far right page folds into the book. I used washi tape on both sides. Oh, and here again you can see I didn’t take the time to draw anything. Because I’ve been mostly packing and then falling into bed. For months.

Ha…some weeks are so bad I get nothing done but stick an entire magazine picture over the whole of the week! Beginner art journaling = a whole lot of messing around.

I’m learning to take a smaller sketch book with me to places. I took one to the homeschool conference and while listening and taking notes, I drew whatever was around. Like a baby stroller. Like my daughter’s backpack with her Pooh bear sticking out of it.

Anyhow, that’s all for now. Soon I want to share some photos of our new house and show you the work that is beginning to get done there. When the main portions are finished, we can move in. I’m hoping that will be within a month, but we shall see. In the meantime, it’s nice to have a little rest.

Blessings,