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T Tuesday: Chinese garden edition

Last Friday Mini-me had the day off of work…yes, my little baby girl has a job. How does this happen?!?  The forecast had nothing good to say. Hot and humid with extreme heat warnings. So we figured the best course of action would be to go walking at the MN Landscape Arboretum. Yeah…good choices did not prevail. But that’s ok…all’s well that ends well as the old saying goes.

We headed out early for a little fuel in the form of Chick-Fil-A biscuits and iced coffee.

The Arboretum recently opened a new Chinese garden that we had completely forgotten about until we happened upon it on our 3 mile walk…technically its a drive but biking and walking are welcome.

As you enter you pass under a lovely arch…this is it from the back of the garden.

This plaque greeted us as we passed through the archway.

In the distance we could see large interesting art pieces drawing us further into the garden.

As well as the geometric red fencing that was the perfect perch for several birds as they sang their beautiful songs over the pond.

The area is quite sparse at this point. That may be purposeful. All I know is that by this point in our trek we were very overheated.

Mini-me caught a bit of breeze in the shade of a pagoda.

 Ahead of us on the crushed gravel pathway was this gorgeous dragon.

He looks very fierce. The detail of the work that the artist was able to create on the large scale using metal intrigues me. Evidently he is just on loan to the Arboretum. I wonder when and if they will have more permanent installations in that garden.

We will definitely be making more visits to the Arboretum as summer continues. We like to walk, take photos and chat together. Its nice having grown up conversations with my kids. Ones that don’t involve nagging about chores, homework or how much time they spend staring at screens. (as I sit here staring at my screen)

Today has a list as usual for me. It keeps me on track. In fact a friend and I are texting a photo of our list each morning to each other and then again in the evening to hold us accountable for checking stuff off that list. So far, so good. Of course this week with the Independence Day holiday things are a little wonky but stuff still needs to get done.

 

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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A second look : ATC book tutorial
Second on the 2nd

Today’s second look is one of the very first tutorials I had ever written. I had Mini-me, who was 6 at the time, take photos of me during the creation process. She did a really nice job! She still has an eye for photography.

Take a look….

FYI….this was published on Blogger March 2009. My formatting was definitely different way back then.

As requested by a few members of ABC I’ve taken pictures along the process of making my latest ATC book. I’ll do my best to explain the steps. Please click on the pictures for a better view of any step.

These are the supplies you’ll need as well as some string or fiber and a large eye needle for the binding process as you’ll see later.

After being properly scolded by Elizabeth, here is the supply list:

  • book large enough to fit your ATC’s
  • x-acto knife or other cutting blade
  • gesso
  • pencil
  • ruler
  • cardstock
  • cutting system such as guillotine or fiskars rotary cutter
  • white glue or gel medium
  • paint
  • paint brush
  • tissue paper or dress pattern(optional)
  • rubber stamps(optional)
  • ink pads(optional)
  • Japanese screw punch or awl
  • thread or fibers for binding
  • large needle
  • decorative beads(optional)
  • something to protect your work surface
The first step is to remove the text block from the cover. To do this you carefully cut along the spine on each side of the text block being careful not to cut through the cover. I used a glued in binding book so I had to use a bit of muscle to separate the glued in block after cutting. I reinforced the spine with a strip of cereal box cardboard adhered with gel medium although I’m sure white glue would work as well.
Next I coated both sides of the cover with gesso and set aside to dry.

In the meantime I measured the text block to determine the size of the cardstock that I’d be cutting.

For my book, I cut 16 pieces to 3.75″ x 10″. This will eventually yield 4 signatures but now I’m getting ahead of myself.

My next step is purely personal preference. I randomly stamped both side of my pages for visual interest.

After folding in half, I used a bone folder (forgot that in the supply photo as well) to make a nice sharp fold.

Completed pages ready to be gathered into signatures.

I used 4 pages for each of the 4 signatures…boy, that was a lot of fours!

At this point the gesso on the cover had dried and I was ready to make them pretty. I love using dress patterns for texture. As an added bonus it acts as a reinforcement. I simple spread out white glue and pat the pattern tissue gently down then set aside to dry.

After it dried, I painted the inside.

Used the same technique on the outside with scraps of pattern tissue.

And again painted and set aside to dry.

While the cover was drying, I prepped the signatures for binding. I made a template from scrap cardstock as my guide for hole punching.

I used a Japanese screw punch for my holes. You could also use an awl. You just don’t want the holes too big. I’m using the smallest bit my screw punch came with. BTW-the hole gets plugged when cutting through multiple layers. I keep a needle near by to dig out the tiny little circles plugging the punch.
I used my guide to make the holes in the book binding as well.

And punched 4 sets of 3 holes in the binding.
I started with an 18 in fiber on a large needle in the center hole from the inside of the signature leaving yourself a 4 inch tail.

Go through the outside of the book cover, slip in a bead then go back through the top hole in the cover and signature.
Next go back through the center hole to the outside, slip on a bead and then go back through the remaining hole of the set.
It should then look like this. Take the needle and go under the complete flat loop then tie the loose ends tightly in a knot. You’ve just completed your first signature. Go back and do it 3 more times.

The way I do the pamphlet stitch binding isn’t exactly that way the tutorials out there would have you do it but it’s the way I do. I’d encourage you to do a search and check out the other techniques if mine seems unclear. There are video tutorials out there as well.

Completed book outside..in poor light.

Completed book inside.

A few end notes…

  • I made sure my book was large enough to accommodate ATC’s in portrait and landscape orientation.
  • Be sure to leave at least 1/8 space between the 2 sections of pages so they actually turn.
  • Keep in mind that you’ll the book will become twice it’s size or more once the ATC’s are loaded. I use photos corners to mount my ATC’s.

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Inspired by Summer
As I sat down to create in the midst of a summer that I hadn’t planned, my mind wandered to the beautiful things. The things that make me appreciate summer. Beautiful colors. Flowers. Birds singing. Breeze blowing through open windows.
All this had me in the mood for an explosion of color. I used my fingers to loosely apply paint in a tribute to a gorgeous sunrise or sunset. The colors were a little too bold. Too in your face so using a baby wipe I blended and softened the page until it made me happy.
I pressed uninked rubber stamps into the paint to create some interest on the background as the stamps pulled even more of the still wet paint away with them as you can see above with the grid pattern.
After heat setting the page I used a harlequin stamp with white ink to lightly stamp randomly around the background using white embossing powder over top to provide a little more kick to the white.
Digging through my stash I found some rub-ons that fit my theme perfectly. The black really pops against the background.
A canning jar full of flowers screams summer beauty to me, Casual, simple, perfect.
I really wanted it to appear that these flowers were indeed inside a glass jar. This gave me a bit of a challenge.
I stamped the jar twice. One was clear embossed for later use. The first was adhered directly to the page. I then stamped my bouquet of flowers onto tissue paper using black Staz-on ink. I adhered the tissue with matte medium and placed on the page, partially “inside” the jar.
Next I cut out windows in the clear embossed jar. I cut a piece of vellum to fit and gave that a bit of shimmer with clear embossing as well. I carefully stacked and glued the pieces of the jar over the original stamped piece. Much to my great pleasure, the stems of the flowers shone through the “glass” as I had hoped.  I used a Tim Holtz word sticker to sum up my thoughts.
The jar seemed to be missing something so I thought about the basket of goodies I carried home from a friends house like Little Red Riding Hood.
The perfect embellishment was right there.
I’m linking up today with Art Journal Journey for Inspired by… the theme chosen by this months host Gil from gibbyfrogettcraftations.
Art Journal Journey

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T Tuesday: the return edition

Hello…I’m back. Hopefully without a long break again. The break started benign enough. I had a busy schedule with the end of school and just was going to take a week off from T stands for Tuesday. My brain had a whole other idea.

I ended up in the ER after experiencing a visual disturbance much like looking through a prism followed by the worst headache I’ve ever had. I honestly thought I might be having a stroke or aneurysm. Blood work and three types of MRI showed that I wasn’t having either of my worst fears happening but I did have blood on my brain…old blood. A next day appointment was made to see a neurologist. More tests were ordered to make sure I wasn’t having seizures or had a skull fracture from a blow to the head from a basketball a little over a month before. Everything came back good other than the mystery blood which is irritating my brain causing weird things to happen. So circling back around…the basketball hit appears to be the culprit. Basically a concussion that caused a small bleed that I wasn’t even aware of until later.

I’m still experiencing headaches and get a pain on the top of my head at times that is separate from the headache pain. I can drive now so that’s a good thing! I go back in September to be rescanned and follow up with neurology. What a crazy thing!!

In the meantime my garden has been growing and growing!

All the rain and neglect evidently has done wonders.

I even spied my very first cucumber today. It’s so cute!

The deck box garden is doing well too but notice anything funny about my flags….? 

I caught a red squirrel…well I saw him…didn’t try to physically catch him…stealing my flags. He took a big section and ran with them. I can only assume it was nest building material. Unless they were having some sort of decorating contest which, clearly, he won. LOL

I have done a tiny bit of creating. A journal page and a half complete dream catcher. I’ll share those another time. I do have one other project I’m just getting started on. Hopefully I’ll get it done as quickly as time demands. Nothing like getting a few weeks behind. Although truth be told, I only thought about it recently. So cryptic I know. It’s a gift and I have no idea if the recipient reads my blog.

Tomorrows list is long but I’m trying very hard each day to get most things checked off. Having a health scare and subsequent recovery really makes you realize that putting stuff off isn’t the best idea. You may not be ABLE to do it tomorrow.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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In the midst of a blog break

I figured I should briefly check in since I’ve been incommunicado. I’m dealing with a health issue and have been at appointments everyday. Tests, tests and more tests. Today I feel a little better than I have so I’m cautiously optimistic that things are getting better.

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T Tuesday: three days left edition

Three days…that’s the long and short of it.

Three days until I’m done with work until late August. But also three days until my oldest is done with high school. Technically he has already graduated since everything is checked off and he has his “card” but he must still attend school until the end. The actual “walk” is on Friday. Yep…getting my tissues ready now.

For me this last week off school is chaotic which can sway from “easy breezy” to “smack you in the face difficult” to “wait, what just happened?” all in one class period. So needless to say, in that respect, the days are long.

Outside of school days, I’ve been keeping busy with little mini projects and helping a friend with the monumental task of cleaning out her parents house now that is sold. I know how hard it is and I wish I could lend a greater hand but timing on these things isn’t always the best.

My first mini project was making a pair of glasses for a co-workers wedding cake topper. She had mentioned that she ordered some Barbie glasses off the internet. I told her I doubted they’d fit and mentioned that I’d made a pair of glasses for a Gnome a couple years back.

The glasses made the gnome a dead ringer for the neighbor kid…err…adult now. Too funny!


Long story short…the Barbie glasses were WAY to small for the would be groom so I was given the challenge of creating a suitable pair.

I think they turned out pretty good. I sent a photo to the bride and she approves.

Over the weekend, my rows of beans and snow peas popped out of the ground. It’s amazing how quickly that happens. I swear if you had all day you could watch them wiggle their way through the soil and unfurl their leaves in a splendid little dance.

 I made another bunting this time for the deck garden. Since I still need to stain the deck rails I decided to try out something new with the bunting.

I used some bamboo to act as mini flag poles suspending the bunting at the front of the garden. The hope is that the flutter of the flags might deter the deer from munching on the plants. This wasn’t my original plan so I’ll need to make a little extension so it can reach all the way around.

Anyone notice my after dinner beer in accordance with the T Stands for Tuesday guidelines?  I’m trying to be a good kid and follow the rules….sometimes it is difficult. :) I forget. It happens.

 

I’ve worked a bit on some journal spilling. Creating a background then quickly with a very free hand (aka messy) spilling my thoughts of the moment. I may leave things as is or I may use my writing as a part of the background. Not sure, so it sits.

I brought home a little basket of treasures from my friends house. Mostly spools of thread, a few vintage dress patterns and some double pointed knitting needles. You should have seen me walking home with my little basket under my arm. I felt like Little Red Riding Hood. I even saw a large critter on the way home. Only it wasn’t a wolf…it was its slightly small cousin a coyote. Its crazy! We’ve noticed a big jump in sightings lately. I have seen 4 in the past 2 weeks. But seeing one while out walking only 2.5 blocks from we was a little disconcerting.

T stands for Tuesday
Its the last Tuesday of the school year for me…. but what are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: flora and fauna edition

This Memorial day marks one year since I lost my mom. She was on my mind all day. Half way through my first cup of coffee I made the decision not to be sad but to reflect and remember the good things, The funny memories. The things that make me smile.

As I walked around the yard watering before it got too hot, I thought about her green thumb. She had flowers galore and a big garden. Houseplants too. I guess I’ve taking after her in that way. I love spending time tending to the garden. Making it beautiful and productive,

My newly sewn and strung garden bunting made me smile. Mom was no seamstress. In fact she hated sewing. She was so happy when I learned how to sew in school and gladly passed all of her supplies on to 13 yr old me.  I’ve never stopped sewing since!

After finishing the outdoor chores I headed inside to do a bit of art journaling. I was really feeling inspired by nature.

The background colors I laid down didn’t scream nature. They were the colors that spoke to me though. Sort of a hard edge along with nature.

Layers upon layers stacked. This fussy cut stamped birds nest was the perfect way to embrace nature. I used watercolor crayons to color the robin eggs then used diamond glaze over top to add dimension. The addition of the thread help sell the idea of the nest for me.

I added the skeleton leaf for balance.  As soon as I added the leaf, the words “live gently upon the earth” jumped out at me.  This page made me smile.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Flora and Fauna

Art Journal Journey
as well as T stands for Tuesday today.
T stands for Tuesday
Eight days of school left. Whoop, whoop!
What are you doing today?

 

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