Wonderful weekend!!

I was able to complete over 9 art projects during my 4-day holiday weekend. It was wonderful!! I felt like a machine, but that was ok, it kept me from getting bored & snacking all day. Hmmmm, could creating art possibly become a new diet? :)

I created 3 different journals, 2 for my Etsy store & one was a custom order for a friend. The first journal below, I think might be my absolute favorite!! The photos just don't do it the justice that it deserves. If you can imagine the colors in a peacock feather, this is the colors that you can see in this journal & the light plays with the colors as you change the angle of viewing at this journal.

© 2008 Tracy Borders

For Sale

This entire journal was an experiment. New materials, new clasp, new idea of adding a refillable pocket for a spiral notepad (that I made) instead of sewing in signatures. (Love the new clasp!)

Not to break my arm patting myself on the back, but I figured out how to add the refillable pocket to hold the spiral notepad on my own. I could have checked out Fibre & Stitch's free padfolio pattern, but I wanted to figure it out myself, since everything else was an experiment with this journal.

A little note that might make you giggle about the notepads. I had this brainstorm to make my own notepads.......make some with "art" chipboard fronts & some without to just fit in journals like these. Well I needed the wire binding combs. Do you know how hard it is to find wire binding combs locally? It's impossible. So off to the internet to surf. I searched for over a week to find the smallest quantity I could order for the best price......................yeah, I now am the proud owner of 140 wire bindings combs, but wait................ I can make two spiral notepads from one binding comb, so now I have 280 wire binding combs. Ok, so it is funny, but it ISN'T!! I'm never going to go through THAT many combs & the worst part, finding a place to store that huge box. Don't think the DH has seen it yet since I haven't received a scolding yet :)

The journal below, is made from painted brown paper bags & I decided to create lined pages for the signatures this time.

© 2008 Tracy Borders

For Sale

The closure, seen in the close up below is made from Ebony. I learned a lesson when cutting this wood on my DH compound saw, you know the saw you can use to cut mitered edges? If you seem a little nervous about cutting a small piece of wood, let the DH do it. I tried to cut it, but apparently didn't have a firm grip on the piece of wood. When I brought the saw down to cut it, it ripped it from my hand, the piece of wood, circled around & came back & smacked me VERY hard on the knuckle right above my wedding ring & turned it purple instantly. I found the piece that hit my finger, but have NO idea where the other piece landed. So while I was icing to get the swelling to go down, the husband cut the wood for me. It's now day 5 since the accident & it's just now starting to feel better. I think I can say happily, that it's not broken.

The hurt finger didn't stop me though, I was able to continue creating. I was able to finish some Christmas ornaments for a swap that I'm in. I tried many times to photograph a couple of hand-dyed cotton velveteen ornaments & for some reason, the colors never seemed to turn out well, so am sorry that I'm not able to post those here.

I did manage to get a couple of Rayon/Silk Velvet scarves hand dyed & stamp embossed.

© 2008 Tracy Borders

Not For Sale

The scarf on the left is dyed with Pro Chem's Deep Navy & the beautiful emerald green scarf is dyed with Dharma's Better Blue Green.

I almost forgot......................a post or two ago, I mentioned about making a journal cover using molding paste & how I had such a hard time with it cracking while it dried. Well I was able to make those cracks work for me in this photo below. Am thinking of adding them to a journal cover front. I rubber stamped the molding paste while it was still wet. After it dried, I applied Golden's Iron Oxide & then lightly buffed it with a soft cloth to remove some of the color. Reminds me of old stone tiles.

I probably won't post much the rest of this week since I have family coming in for the first part of next week. I do hope to have another journal cover finished by the end of next week to post that I've been working on. I used molding paste again & squiggle rubber stamps. Intentions were for it to be in my store, but I think that I'm liking it so much, I just might have to keep it :)