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!