All Their Own

I told Cherie that these photos needed a post all their own. The Traveling Flowers look just stunning with the backdrop of the Grand Canyon. Thanks Cherie!

I think Cherie is having as much fun with this as I am!

Cherie and her husband Dale having lunch with a view!

I continue to feel like I'm on vacation with them!

A Glimpse Inside

The Easter sunset was incredible last night! 

Emily's journal hasn't arrived yet...but once it does it might be awhile before she has time to open it. She and Keegan welcomed their second little boy into the world late last night. His name is Miles...and I'm so happy for their family! Max has a little brother!

I thought I should share a glimpse of the inside of Emily' chunky joy journal for those of you who are interested. I'm not going to show every page....the post is already going to be pretty long. If you're not interested in the journal...you should at least scroll down for the Traveling Flowers! They had quite a view for breakfast!

Here's a reminder of what I started with...and I used every single thing.

I used paper bags and pages from the CD boxed set liner that I wrote about a few weeks ago. 

The pages are all double thickness...which allowed me to stitch things onto a page before backing it with another page.

Emily wanted this to be a living thing...that she could add to...so these are just the bones. I hope she writes and doodles in the margins...tucks things that catch her eye and splashes some paint around. Living things needs love.

I attached one of Cherie's clothing tags to one of Emily's whiskey labels and tucked it in the front pocket. I lined this lovely Chinese label with fused fabric for strength and wrapped it about the first page creating a pocket on both sides.

The yogurt container top became a pocket...

and there's a piece of the Ramen Noodle box.

The Kind Arthur label became a pocket.

Here's the Poopsies bag...a nod to her mom's and my friendship.

This is a second Chinese label I turned into a little booklet with lined pages. The white label says: The best ideas are the ones you dare to write down....and it was in Emily's stash.

This yogurt lid flips up...and under it is a foil wrapper. It was fragile..so I fused it on.

Back in 2021 Emily and I did a water doodle exchange....and she gave me all her practice pieces. Here's another post about water doodling when Emily first sent me the inspiration video. Our exchange came shortly after this. Emily's water doodles are hanging in my studio....and she made this frame for me when she was little.

This water doodle became a pocket...and I cut several of them into tags and tucked them in here and there. This envelope is from Linda....who filled if full of stamps from her collection for me to use in my art. I thought the envelope made a great pocket.

I used the regular folds of an Old Navy bag to create a bifold page with a Ramen pocket. The center page is a pocket with some lined paper in the background for notes. The tag says: Your future self will be grateful you wrote it down.

This Costco receipt has a little Max doodling on it.....I folded it in half and added it as a belly band. There's a disco insert from a CD...as a nod to her dad. I love the orange bag from Patty: the possibilities are beautiful! 

The last two page are leftovers from books I've made for Max. The animals are from the most recent Pocket Book...and the pocket and insert are left over from the Richard Scarry book. 

Inside the pocket is a little booklet filled with leftover Richard Scarry cutouts. The little booklet is made from a Wisconsin map.

Lots of lowly worm on the cover. You may remember my Lowly Christmas.

The cutouts might be fun for Max.

I use more of the same scraps from Patty's bags for the back cover of the final signature...I wanted the cohesion from front to back. I've had the FARM cutout for a while...and thought the flowed well. But it's also a nod to her mom and grandparents farm heritage. I sliced a hole in the cardboard to insert and stitch a loop of the fabric that wraps around for the closure. Phew! There are more pages...but you get the idea.

The Traveling Flowers had breakfast at at the Grand Canyon...

with a view of an elk! How fun is that! 

Easter Lineup

Whether you celebrated Easter today......or just another spring Sunday doing things you enjoy...I hope it was warm and wonderful.

Here's my little Easter line-up on my puzzle table.....little Jesus welcomed the more secular spring visitors. They're cheering me on with my newest word puzzle.

These little glitter globes make me smile.

Chuck's Traveling Flowers spent the day and night yesterday in the Joshua Tree National Park. I feel like I'm on vactaion with them!

A Guy Named Chuck

Subtitle: The Traveling Flowers

Sometimes joy looks like a guy named Chuck.

This is Cherie's dad...and his doodle was featured on the first page of her joy journal. While she was visiting him in Southern California she shared the journal with him. And just a few days ago...the three of us had a Zoom call because he had something he wanted to share something with me. 

Chuck is a retired metal shop teacher...and he's spending his retirement years repurposing parts of refrigerators....water heaters...and other metal from the junkyard into flower sculptures. 

Yes...you read that right water heaters become flowers....most of them with precious hummingbirds. 

At the end of the zoom call I got a tour of his own backyard junkyard and his shop....it was so impressive. I took a few screenshots along the way.

This water heater was his latest find at the junkyard!

Apparently the skins of water heaters are very useful! Who knew?

Chuck knew!

If he didn't have the right tool or storage unit...he made it. 

This rotating tool holder was impressive giving him two sided storage for his tools! I thought it was brilliant!

I believe he also made this cutting tool he uses to hand cuts the flowers....and he gave a demonstration.  He made another tool to bend them into the shape he wanted and it has interchangeable parts for leaves. I was blown away! 

Here's another one of Chuck's creations:

But the best part of this story Chuck wanted me to have one of his sculptures. They are going to travel by car back to Pennsylvania with Cherie and her husband where she will mail them to me. They are taking the scenic route...so Cherie is going to help me track their progress. They left Chuck's cabin last night near the Sequoia National Forest and spent the night at a spa in Hot Springs CA. Cherie sent photos of the flowers getting a little fresh air at the spa.....and I laughed out loud. What a delightful way to start my day! I'm going to have fun with this. 

It's these kinds of connections and experiences that balance out a chaotic and mixed up world. And I'm going to savor it....and celebrate a guy named Chuck and his devoted and creative daughter!

I'm going to (loosely) track these traveling flowers...just because I can. 

Would Never Have Guessed.

I would never have guessed that my hyacinth from Janice would end up being a bit variegated! Are they all like this? I've never grown one of these before....so haven't had a chance to see one up close.

It's fully open and it's one of those oversized crazy freaks of nature! I think Mother Nature has a bit of a sense of humor. I'm going enjoy watching it die back and shrivel into wabi-sabi wonderfulness! 

And I would have never guessed that I would love this chunky junky joy journal as much as I do. I put it in the mail to Emily today....and I'll share a bit more about it soon. I'm getting to her just in time....her 2nd child is due in a few weeks....so pretty soon she will be a bit preoccupied.

I'll just share the cover today. 

One of my favorite parts was the fact that Patty participated in my journey. It started with her bags....and continued as I walked down the street several times to share my progress. Patty had endless patience and genuine interest in helping me make decisions. She even requested to follow along on the next ones! 

That's just what I needed! I don't get to share these journals in person very often. Thanks Patty!

I used part of the ramen noodle box for an overlay and it wraps around to the other side. Most of the rest of the box is somewhere inside. For the cover I wanted to knock down the shine and distress it a bit...so I sanded it and wiped it with a little gesso.

I was surprised how easy it was to stitch through cardboard. 

I used the natural folds and cutouts of the box to create the shape and needed to make enough signatures to fill it. I reinforced the spine with a layer of surgical tape then a final layer of fused fabric. I used the button hole stitch to bind the five signatures.

I forgot to take a photo of the back...but this is a screenshot from a video. 

I thought the salvage of the fabric was odd....so included it for a little offbeat humor: NOT SUITABLE FOR USE IN CHILDREN'S SLEEPWEAR.

I got oddly attached to this chunky junky joy journal...but it's on its way now.

I'll share some of the inside soon. I'm not sure I would have guessed that it would have turned out as well as it did! I'm tickled with this one!