BAMBOO JOURNAL

I did this bamboo journal a couple of months ago.  Someone was commenting about these types of journals today so I said I would post it.

The journal is 6 x 11 1/2.

The spine of the Bamboo Journal.

The front cover of this particular journal.

The following slideshow are the pages inside the journal.  Enjoy!

MY ASIAN JOURNAL IS DONE!

Okay!  I am done with my Asian journal.  This binding technique took a little more time but it was really really easy!  Love it!

Instead of binding it in groups of signatures, I bound the pages individually.

The front of my journal.

How cool does that binding look????

Welcome to the Florida Keys!

Key West is famous for the amount of roosters and chickens that roam around it's streets. They are "mascots" for the City of Key West and are very protected.

In Key Largo we have peacocks.  The courthouse is full of them and now they are roaming around most of the island.  We have a beautiful female peacock on our property who makes her home under our motorhome.  She had sort of "disappeared" and we were worried about her.

Today, when I left the house she was back!!! AND she brought 5 babies with her!!!  Woo HOO!

JOURNALS, JOURNALS, JOURNALS!

I have become totally obsessed with making journals! I have tons of homemade journals but every time I come across a new binding technique my OCD goes into overdrive!

LK Ludwing - whose art I ADORE - has a wonderful class (Just 3 Journals) which teaches 3 binding techniques.

Yesterday I did the first one.  It was fun to do but so easy it was really not challenging at all!!!  Here it is:

This is the binding from the side.  I was happy with the binding.  Didn't like the "whiteness" of the paper.  I also rounded all the corners on the pages to give it a more finished look.

This is the front.

Another front view.

The BEST thing about this type of binding is that the journal lays totally flat!  After participating in numerous round robins where the books do NOT lay flat, I can really really appreciate this!

Now, last night I started another one where I addressed the things I wasn't happy about with the first one:

Since I didn't like the white paper - I covered the folded edges of the paper with this wonderful gold colored - tissue textured paper that I have no idea where I got.

This journal is to be used for an Asian round robin project so I wanted the paper to have an "Asian" flair.  I also obviously wanted the covers to match with the paper I had used for the paper edging.

I used the same paper that I had used on the paper edging for the inside panel of the top and bottom covers.  It looks really pretty with the edging.

Tonight I will try a different binding technique to put it together. We will see what happens!

A BEAUTIFUL GIFT

Martha Lever, a wonderful lady and teacher on Creative Workshops (her latest Color Drop Flowers is just amazing) sent me this wonderful painting!

She had been searching for a Kala Kiss Brush which are discontinued and as difficult to find as dinosaurs!  Well, I decided I wanted one (probably because I thought I couldn't get it!) and since I suffer from OCD, after numerous emails, telephone calls and endless backtracking I found THREE of them!

Anyway, I sent Martha one as a gift and she sent me this wonderful painting as a gift.

Thank you Martha!!  I LOVE it!!!

SMARTER THAN MOST PEOPLE I KNOW!

My friend Teri sent me this video of GUS.  Not only is Gus absolutely adorable, he really is much smarter and more tenacious than most people I know!

ENJOY!

A DAY AT THE WATER PARK

I had my grand daughters for 5 days last week (barely survived it .... seriously thought of hiding under my bed).

Bernie and I took them to the Water Park on their last day with us in an attempt to tire them out - but they tired us out before we accomplished that goal!! Thank God their mother picked them up from us at the park!

Ms. Kaitlynn is rehearsing for her magazine photo shoot!! That girl LOVES the camera!