Inside Joy

Julie got her journal a couple days ago so I thought I would give you a peek at the inside joy. I shared details about the layered cover in this post. 

If you remember....Julie's stash was full of bits and bobs of color....and it's ALL in the journal. 

I'm not going to share all the pages....but it was hard tp choose...so you're going to see quite a few of them. The post got a little long....so read on if these kinds of things bring you joy.

I stitched a belly band on the inside cover with another piece of Julie's fabric snippet strip. I knew I wanted this journal to be layered....with pages of different sizes and pieces and parts peeking through. 

Julie included several art papers done by her grandson....Connor loves rainbows and bright colors! I added just a few of my gelli prints but Collin's art is featured on most of the base pages.

Julie included several little puzzle pieces....the pink one became a tab to turn the little heart page.  

Most of the pages are double up and reinforced...and I carried the black stitching throughout the journal. I like using a mix of straight and zig zag stitches.

I cut some of the pages following Connor's line drawings. I think these unexpected shapes make the journal more interesting. The crayon cutout is glued to that page strategically placed for viewing from the prior pages.

Julie and Cherie are friends....and one of Cherie's clothing tags tops a little pocket.

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All through the journal you get a glimpse of things to come...including the llama and the pink butterfly. I include a butterfly in every book because of this post. 

Wonderment was one of the words Julie included....and it seemed perfect along this page. 

I tried to leave some open spaces for Julie or Conner to do their own thing. 

There wasn't room for many....but there's a few.

This is the center...and the heart and soul of the book. It was tall page from the book Llama Llama Red Pajama that Julie read to Connor at bedtime every time they were together at either house. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. I had to figure out a way to cut it down preserving the art and words. It worked out well. 

These next few pages have lots of layers and a page that flips out. Julie sent the stickers and cutouts in cellophane envelopes....I cut them down and turned them into pockets in a few places.

All the stickers came from Julie....Connor loves dragons.

This spread has a couple of pockets. I tucked Julie's Monopoly card in the side pocket and there's another puzzle piece as a tab on a pullout in the other pocket.

I folded Connors practice alphabet page into a little zine. 

I wanted to finish with another rainbow....I've had this card for years. 

If there's any journal it belongs in...it's this one. This PERFECTLY IMPERFECT joy journal.

The rainbow card has some texture...and included Rainbow written in braille. 

I saved it and tucked it in the joy pocket. There's a another belly band on the back cover.

Another art piece....that I almost forgot about. I didn't quite know what to do with it. Too much of it would be lost if I folded it into a zine. So I backed it with fused fabric and cut it out. Julie could iron it flat again if she wanted to...but it gave me something to tuck in the last belly band.

This last little page started as a plain white add on for the spool cover page. I found this paper snippet strip in my stash and thought it was a nod to her fabric snippets and I turned it into a side pocket. Congratulations if you're still with me here at the end. Julie's Joy Journal is a wrap!

Next To Last Stop

Paul is on the Cape with his good friend Dan. I mostly spent the day on house and garden chores but I am having dinner with my good friend Janice! There's nothing quite like a good friend!

A few of you know Dan...so thought I would share this photo of the two of them. It warms my heart knowing these guys are together in such a beautiful place!

I have to chuckle when something random comes across my screen that I can relate to so perfectly! 

I still remember mine! 608-884-8174 and I had to call Paul a few days ago to look up a password I needed. There's only so much brain space...and remembering a password would be so much more helpful than my childhood phone number.

Cherie and Dale and The Traveling flowers dodged some storms and made their way through Indiana...dipped into Kentucky and through Ohio. There weren't many stops on this stretch...but they did find a little LOVE(S) when they stopped for gas.

But now Cherie and Dale are home in western Pennsylvania and The Traveling Flowers are at their next to last stop. The next stop will be their new home in Portland, Maine! Don't you love the color of Cherie and Dale's front door!

A Little Bit West

I haven't had much time in the studio lately....just busy with other life stuff. So I was pretty tickled when a couple people shared something they created inspired by something here on the blog. That makes me so happy.

A week or so ago Lily asked about the button hole binding technique that I used on Emily's journal. I sent her a video that has been helpful to me and links to several of my posts where I shared some of my favorite button hole books. 

She got right on it...and made her first journal using the button hole technique. Well done Lily! 

I love that she used brown packaging paper for the signatures...also a nod to Emily's journal filled with paper bags.  I like her choice of fused fabric for the inside cover.

She stamped the cover using one of her homemade tree stamps and stitched a border 

around the edge. It's a very earthy journal...and she's going to fill it with trees!

Aren't these stamps fabulous!

Back in 2020 I was commissioned to make a fabric piece to mimic stained glass for  Amy.  Before I made hers....I made this practice piece which I blogged about here. 

I tweaked the pattern a bit for Amy's and you can read about her piece here in this post.

I fused batik fabrics pieces onto my hand drawn pattern...then covered all the seams with hand dyed black fabric to create the trees and the stained glass lead effect. It's a fun process...there are lots of photos in the links.

Randy saw my practice piece on the blog...and was inspired to use my pattern to make an actual stained glass piece while taking a class. I was tickled that he sent me a photo. His window is 65 by 25 inches and took about 8 weeks from pattern to installation. The frame is zinc and all the black trees are lead. Pretty darn impressive. Well done Randy! 

The Traveling Flowers spent some time in St. Louis

at the top of Arch Hill and at the St. Louis Art Museum.

Cherie was hoping to get a photo at the Cardinals stadium but there was a day game so no parking. 

But she was ready to go with the flowers in her lap...and snapped this shot at a stoplight with the arch in the background. I love it...and it's a fitting end to their visit to St. Louis! 

It's time to head home. I had to chuckle because they actually went a little bit west before the home stretch going east. 

Leaning into the Journey

I'm always glad when I pause to notice something beautiful....last evening it was the sky. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the business of life and forget to pause...and just look. I never want to be too busy to stop and look at something beautiful.

I'm so excited to see green buds on the lilac near my condo!

Cherie and Dale....along with their precious cargo...had a busy day yesterday touring along the great river road. Cherie mentioned that she might have Traveling Flower withdrawal when this journey is over....and that made me smile. We've all been on this journey....so there will be an adjustment period.

They started in Alton, Illinois where they found a kindred soul bumper sticker.

It still makes me smile when The Traveling Flowers dine with Cherie and Dale. It takes someone with a playful spirit and a joyful heart to cart them around and take the time to stage these photos. They have leaned into this journey...and it has been an absolute pleasure!

They headed on to Grafton, Illinois to see the mighty Mississippi.

Aren't these bird sculpures beautiful!

And finally a visit to Pere Marquette State Park.

Today they are headed to St. Louis...before the final stretch back home.

Mini Gallery

This lineup makes my heart sing! This is Jane's bottle collection on the window sill at her beach home. I popped in yesterday to wish her a happy birthday...I think I photograph these bottles every time I visit.

Jane has a mini gallery wall in her guest bath with five of my pieces...two little mirrors...and two pieces from Regina Lord....an artist we both admire. My little bird collage on the lower left still needs to be hung. 

Yesterday I took her this felted piece that I mounted it on another piece of wool. It was an odd size to frame....so that was my solution. 

I also added this this doodle stitch piece to her gallery that I did a while back. I described my process (on a different piece) in this post.

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2023/06/rabbit-hole.html

Here's another piece I did at the time with decorative machine stitching.

I shared my process for framing both pieces in this post:

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2023/06/one-step-further.html

I remember having a lot of fun playing with the decorative stitches on my machine...then adding a little hand stitching. I think I will revisit this again sometime,

Here's a better photo of the felt and fabric piece.

Cherie, Dale and the flowers have had some much needed rest at Rita's in Illinois. In the next few days they will be in the final stretch as they head home. I copied and pasted Cherie's email below that describes this photo of Rita and her whole garden of gifted Chuck flowers. 

This is our former across the street neighbor and good friend Rita with the rest of  her Chuck flowers.  The large red one is a one of a kind flower. These arrived after the ferrous flowers and live in the house. Rita’s grand-dog, Petey, has to be watched at all times because he has been caught lifting his leg to pee on them….fortunately just in time! 

The yellow hummingbird flowers are a double flower that Rita got specially made for her. She was supposed to get the hummingbird flower that resides on our cabin table . Since I “commandeered” it my dad felt Rita deserved a special replacement. The white flower, which I call the floppy flower, I gave her from a group my dad gave me to give special people at work when I retired. Lastly, the flower Rita is holding is one of three garden flowers she made in Chuck’s shop when she came to the cabin to visit. Rita says she’s very blessed to be the recipient of so many flowers.