art design ideas

It's been nice seeing and hearing the birds again. This morning we had wrens, chicadees, a bluejay, and small and large woodpeckers at the feeder. And it is sunny after a rainstorm on Friday and a damp, dreary wekend.
Since it is still too cold and windy for and outdoor BBQ , but hubby wanted ribs and bangers for Sunday, I made some in the oven, along with chicken for me. All, along with side dishes and green salads, more than enough for a few meals.































Spinning...
Last spring I set out to teach myself to spin. I made a spindle, bought a book and for a few minutes a day for nearly a month, I worked at it (the spindle on the left). I was able to get a couple of ounces of yarn spun, but was never comfortable with it. In September, I went to the wool and fibre festival, I took an empty spindle (on the right) and some of my roving and a kind expert gave me a brief lesson. She suggested I thin my roving, which did help (spindle on the right) and renewed my enthusiasm, but I‘m still not there yet.
I would still like to be proficient at it and would like having more lessons, though I’m not sure where or when. I know I don’t need to learn to spin; it’s just one of many of the ancient crafts in which I’ve always been interested . I will pick it up again, of that I’m certain. I welcome suggestions.















Also last spring and summer, hubby and I built a spinning wheel using instructions from a vintage booklet I found a long time ago. We improved on it by doing research online. It works, though some adjustments need to be made, and it needs a proper leather belt. But since I’ first need to be proficient in hand spinning, it will be a while before I’m ready to use it, though I have tried it out. I have to learn to better use the foot pedal. Barefoot seems work best.















It is time to sew more pillowcases. I bought a few yards of this fabric this weekend, and I have a few yards of other cloth I can use up.

The weekend weather was lovely. we raked the yard and garden a bit, and got a lot of little jobs done in and outside the house. Our microwave oven went kaput! last Wedensday, so we we went shopping for another, Hubby missed making popcorn! He also bought a new kitchen faucet, and a new desk chair. I think he has spring fever! We both do.
Today is very windy.
Tutorial :

This is a small no frills art journal/scrapbook, but you can personalize and make improvements. Since many of the materials used in bookbinding are specialized, I wanted to use materials which are easy to find or that one may already have on hand. Suggestions for improving and personalizing will be added at the end. Please ask if you have questions.

Supplies
Drill with quarter inch bit ( hand or electric)
Needle tool or small awl, or large, sharp sewing needle (all optional)
Pencil
Ruler
White glue
a brush for spreading the glue (optional)
Paper cutter if you have one or
Utility knife
Kraft paper
wax paper to protect sorfaces and the work.
C-clamp (optional)
Large paper clamps
or clothes pins
A heavy book to use as a weight.
Cloth tape, (optional) or masking tape
A 2 x 8.5 inch piece of cotton or linen cloth, cut straight on the grain.
Tapestry needle
Crochet hook size E (4mm) or larger or devise a hook tool from a piece of heavy wire
½ inch wide ribbon--- grosgrain preferably
24 sheets of card stock in your choice of colour, 8.5 x 11 inches

Mat board for front and back covers. (I buy leftover pieces from a framing shop for a minimal price.) or similar weight illustration board.

How to: (Please remember to protect your work surface )

Cut two pieces of mat board 8.5 x 9.5 inches (20.5 x 24.5 cm) also,
cut a separate piece of cover board precisely 8.5 x 1.5 inches (20.5 x 5 cm).
Draw a line down the center of this 1.5 wide piece, mark the center, then mark 1 inch (2.5 cm) in from each end on the center line.
You will be using this as a template for drilling holes, to aid in
making the covers hinges, folding your pages, and for protecting your cover when drilling the holes.


Using the template as a guide to the width, take each card stock piece and fold and crease one of the 8.5 sides 1.5 inches. Fold all of your pages this way.
These folds are the spine and they face up in this way when you put the pages and cover together.

Again, use your template to draw a line down one 8.5 inch side of both the front and back cover pieces on what you chose to be the wrong side.
Align the ruler with the line. Press firmly on the ruler and use the utility knife to cut with even pressure.
This right (or out facing) side of my back cover piece shows the cut more clearly:



On the wrong sides of the boards, align the top and bottom, and add a space of two board thicknesses between the two pieces. Use small weights to prevent them from shifting, then use a piece of the cloth tape or masking tape to secure either side of the two pieces while maintaining the space between the two boards.
Glue four 1.5 inch lenghts of the grosgrain ribbon as hinges:
Repeat for both covers. Let dry.

Glue the 2 x 8.5 inch piece of cloth over the hinges and up to the edge of the board. Use a heavy book with a piece of wax paper between the book and your work for protection and let dry.

Putting the book together:
Place the back cover,(wrong side up) the pages,(folds up) and front cover,(right side facing you) together, make sure they are even at the spine and at top and bottom ( the covers will be slightly longer than the pages at the opening edge). Use paper clamps to hold them secure. Then align the template with the spine and use more paper clamps to secure it. If you have a C-clamp, use it to secure the whole to the counter. Here I have protected the countertop with a wood board and clamped the counter, board and book together.
Drill the holes as marked on the template with the quarter inch bit as straight as possible. Almost finished.

To improve and personalize, you can glue a picture to the front cover or before tying the book together, cover the front and back covers with decorative cloth or paper.

Cloth cover, heavy cotton:

Cut the cover fabrics at least an inch all around larger than each cover.
If using paper as your cover, spread glue on the front of the cover board to paste it down, then do the hem and corners as follows:

Cut the corners of the cloth at a 45 degree angle from the corner of the cover board, leaving about a quarter inch, or at least two cover board thickness of fabric at the corner. Using the following photos as a guide, dry fit the corners and the hems before gluing them down.
turning the corners and hems is one of my favourite bits:
Use needle tool or something similar to “iron” the first fold down and up against the board’s edge. Fold a miter at the adjacent side, iron it down with the tool or your fingers then fold down this hem. Now open up the folds and hems, paste them, re-fold and crease as with the dry fit.

Your corners should look like this, smooth and flat and at 45 degrees.



Use a big book as a weight, with a piece of wax paper between, to hold the cover flat while it dries. Do both covers in the same manner.
End papers : Cut 2 pieces of paper (I used brown Kraft paper) one eighth of an inch smaller than the cover all around. Glue it down, being sure to smooth out air bubbles. Let dry.

Use small sharp scissors to cut through the fabric to open the holes for the ribbon, place a dab of glue on the cut to prevent fraying, let dry, then restring as before.

Finished art journal/scrapbook-

Below, on the cover of the journal I made during our trip to the southwest, I drew a version of the flute player ( a native American symbol) directly onto brown paper, then I did a faux leather finish, and used leather string ties and beads for an antique look. The pages were also made from brown craft paper. You can also make your pages from whatever is most useful to you, watercolour, drawing papers, etc, or a mixture of both. You could also gesso the pages.

I'm pleased to announce the opening of my second shop on Etsy, Natural Soothers. I hope you will visit, and thanks for your support.
I think overall, things have slowed for most sellers at Etsy, so it may not be great timing on my part, but I'm optimistic. I figured since there was a lull, I had the time to do the new shop.

Coming Soon---I have wanted to do a tutorial here for a while, but I wasn't sure if it would be a craft or cookery. well, crafts won and I promise to post a demo of an easy project my next visit.

Brrr, it is getting cold here again. The winds started last night and it now about 18 degrees F. I look forward to the much warmer weekend weather that has been predicted.

The studio project is finished---almost! I've not yet found the right cupboard for the upper left wall. Actually, since the size is not standard and we want to maximize the space, we are exploring our options. We still have to cut and polyurethane the base boards, but we will wait until a sunny, warm day to do that outside. Anyhow, I will post some pictures soon.

Next to the dining area is my my painting space. It is a tight fit in our small house, I had to move a couple of chairs out of the way to get a good photo, but it is adequate, and the northern daylight is good. I also do dry sculpting here, though I do have a sculpting platform hubby made for me a few years ago in the shed. I resisted using polymers for years, but they are certainly less messy, and a lot more portable than earth clay. My taboret is on the left, and I use my easel only for displaying finished projects. My angled board is much more useful for watercolours.
On my desk is a photo cube made specially for me by a friend. It is very inspirational!

Here is a peek of the new floor:


Coming Soon! I am opening a second shop on Etsy called Natural Soothers this week. I've been working at setting it up this past week. I'm still waiting for the new circle punch( 1 11/16 inches, 4.5 cm) I ordered from Dick Blick last week to do the stickers ( the one I have is too big). I thought it would arrived by now, but I expect it will be here by Wednesday.

Oh, be certain to visit AJ'sCountryCottage on Etsy. She did a nice job putting together a little gift for my friend last Christmas.

A view of the first day of spring from my front door. Not bad, It’ sunny, and much of the snow and ice are gone. How is your first day of spring? A nice one, I hope.

I'm going to colour some eggs today.

It’s here, the spring issue of American Archaeology magazine. Okay, so it’s been here for more than a week, but I’ve only just had a chance to look at it and read in detail. The article on the development of ceramics is of particle interest, since primitive methods of crafting was, and remains one of my favourite areas of study. The In the News pages covers both fun and disbursing facts, including pre Spanish beer making in the south-west, and the looting of historic sites.
Hello Amy, Hello Amby! Thanks for stopping by.

Nothing in the spring issue of Knitty peaks my interest, and, while I’m determined to finish all knitting projects before starting another, (there are two projects left-a pair of socks and the wrap.) I am
swatching for this bag in Knit Simple magazine‘s holiday 2007 issue.
I’m using two strands of worsted wt. winter white wool though the pattern requires a single strand of bulky weight. The gauge is pretty close, and since it is a bag, it is close enough. However I’m not certain I’ll do it in white since I have several skeins of bulky yellows and purples that I bought when we were in the southwest last year, and I’d like to make use of them. The pattern is not too difficult so far, though I do have to pay close attention on the wrong side rows on the chart, as that gets a bit confusing at times because of the seed stitch. I do like the cables. A vintage floral lining would be pretty I think.

A comment, how nice! Thanks Kerry, it’s nice to hear from a fellow Etsyan and Blogger.

Not the Flu, though it was a viral infection. I was on a course of antibiotics, as well as herbal and vitamin supplements, and soothing aroma therapy.
I’m feeling much better. The sunny and warmer weather contributes greatly my feeling of well being. It has been lovely the last few days. Thanks to friends who e-mailed, I will reply soon.

I craved fruit and almost nothing else every day, so I made a lovely compote of available fresh fruit:

So to catch up a bit, on Sunday the second, since we already had tickets, we went to see “The Night of January 16th." Hubby was part of the jury pool, picked randomly from a list of the membership and the audience. Their verdict was “Not Guilty” Though it could have gone either way. The next play will be Godspell. I said no to helping with the costuming for it, but I look forward to helping with the next youth group staging, though they haven’t chosen a play yet.
We celebrated hubby’s March 13th birthday with brownies, and he opened his presents--- yes he likes the album of motorcycle photos, though I wish I had had more time to work on it. The celebrations continued on Friday the 14th, with a trip to the city. We stopped at several motorcycle shops where hubby enjoyed looking at the ones on his wish list. Then it was on do a bit of shopping, I found a metal cart with a wood top which is just right for the area next to the washer for storing the sewing machine and recycle bin. I spent some time in Michael’s, where I finally got to use the gift card my sis sent me last Christmas. I bought mostly watercolour papers and some essential oils. We ate a buffet lunch. Since I was still on the antibiotics, The slight nausea limited my choices, but the vegetable cheese pie was really good.
Of course, we had to spend some time at Barnes & Nobles book store. We both bought books; I got three, including a great Quilting book, more on that later.
We didn’t stay in the city as long as we usually do, my energy was so low, but we had a good time none the less.

On the way home, we stopped at the sushi bar for take-away for me. I got the California rolls, and the tuna sashimi. Hubby stopped for burgers and fries.

On Saturday, We went a couple of towns west to the Home Depot to buy the new vinyl flooring for the work room. I wanted something simple, and neutral, so we chose this one:

Well, I'm not sure if I'm getting the flu. or if my aches and swollen glands are something else. I am still fatigued, so a little break is in order. I hope all who are suffering from the flu or other illness will have a speedy recovery.