A Christmas Gift for Generations

I had the privilege of making a very special book recently. A customer wanted a book for her elderly father-in-law to record his stories and memories for his grandchildren. He has lived in a small town in Nebraska for his entire life, so she wanted a map of his home state on the cover. She even had a title for it. I cut a window and placed the words on the title page so they would show through the cover.


She and her husband presented the book to him at Thanksgiving, and he was very touched by it. What a treasure that journal will be to the next generation! It was a gift to him this year but will be a gift to those who love him for years to come. My mom passed away in 2000, and we still thumb through her old journals every year when we get together.

Remember what's important this holiday season and spend some time listening to your aging loved ones.

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Happy Birthday to My Dear Sis

As usual, the first breath of fresh fall air is bringing me back from my annual summer blog hiatus. Unlike many creatures, I hibernate in the late summer, when the heat becomes unbearable and we southerners need gills to breathe. But the leaves are turning now, and the days are delightfully cool. Windows open, I'm ready to re-enter the blogging world!


My sister has just celebrated a birthday this month. No need to mention which one. Let's just say it was a milestone. And as ever must be pointed out, she always remains older than me. Skies are her favorite thing in all the world, as I noted in a previous blog entry. So I made this book for her in celebration of the night sky.

She actually asked for this journal on a clear night last fall at our father's house. He lives in the middle of nowhere in southern Alabama, and with no street lights or homes nearby, there are more stars visible there than anywhere I visit. "That's what I want on my journal! Stars!" After a few false starts, I was so happy to send her this as a gift. Happy birthday, Barb!

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Class Over

I finished up Laure Ferlita's Artful Journaling Foundations class this week. This scan is kind of the "first fruits" of my class. I discovered a wren on my screened porch yesterday morning and got such a great picture of captivity and freedom in watching his struggle to get out. Six weeks ago, I would have been frustrated in my attempt to illustrate my insights, but I was able to sit down and quickly make this page.

Here are the last couple of pages I did for the class itself:

I highly recommend this class for anyone who is drawn to a certain type of art journaling. It's far more precise than a lot of things out there right now. It's not the deeply layered, collaged type of journaling where it seems you just let the page take you where it wants to go. She teaches the foundations of drawing, presents super helpful video lessons on the basic principles of watercolor and walks you through borders, backgrounds and planning a layout for your pages.

I wasn't sure how I'd do in the class, but soon discovered that I had more drawing and "seeing" skills than I'd given myself credit for. Again I know this is not great art for publication or anything, but this is exactly what I had hoped to be able to do. I have a long way to go, but Ms. Ferlita has given me a place to start. I definitely plan to take the followup course in the fall.

Thanks, Laure!

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More from Art Journaling Class . . .

The assignment for this lessonwas to create a word in an artful way. I also incorporated a lesson on making creative borders.


The so-called "scary" parts are in the middle, but they're hemmed in by the cool, clear truth on either side. This is a bit more "cartoon-y" than I would normally like, but it gets the point across. I had a blast with this assignment!

Laure turned us loose on this one. In previous lessons, she created the painting for us on video as an example to follow. We were on our own this time! It was definitely challenging but I'm fairly pleased with the results, considering I'm new to watercolors.

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Artful Journaling Class

I've left Ms. Trout for a time to take my very first online class: Laure Ferlita's Artful Journaling Foundations. It's quite challenging for me as not only am I learning more about how to draw, I am dabbling for the first time in the magical art of watercolor. I generally work in acrylics, and watercolor is COMPLETELY backwards from acrylics. I am having to learn how to think and see all over again. It's definitely stretching me!

Anyway, I figured I'd share a couple of my early efforts so far.

I'm not going to win any competitions, but learning something new is ALWAYS good, right? I've got new synapses firing all over the place!

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Little Recycled Remnant Notebooks

You can probably imagine that paper scraps pile up pretty quickly in my studio. I literally have an entire bookshelf that holds just "book innards" leftover from reinvented journals. I can't stand to throw them away. These little stab bound notebooks are an effort to use some of these leftovers in a creative way.

Everything used here, except the thread, has been recycled. The 20-ish blank pages are made from stationery that a local realtor discarded. The remaining 30 or so pages are made from leftover scraps from other projects: pages from old books and encyclopedias, as well as primary, graph, legal and ledger paper.


The front cover is a vintage library card embellished with some old postage stamps left from my sons days of "collecting" and rubber stamped for a little added interest. Of course, you know I can't resist a theme, so I've tried to coordinate the stamps with the title of the book on the library card. I can't help myself! The card is scored at the bound end to make for easier opening. The back cover is either part of a manilla folder (again salvaged from another project) or a remnant of card stock. It's all aged a bit with ink and bound together with red linen thread.


These are available in my Etsy shop for $10 plus a nominal shipping fee. By the way, all return buyers now receive free shipping to US addresses. I hope these go well because they were a lot of fun to make! And, of course, they lighten the scrap load. :)

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Interview on Bookbindingteam.com

Friends of UsefulBooks may be interested in the interview featuring yours truly on the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team blog.
Welcome, to the BEST interview series. We interrupt the showcasing of the contributions to our book swap for an interview with the swap organizer Cindy of Useful Books. She is located in Toccoa, Georgia, USA, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains 2 hours northeast of Atlanta.

Hi Cindy, thank you for the chance to getting to know you a little better! I am always interested to know: How did you choose your shopname?

I enjoyed reading children’s classics to my sons when they were young, and we particularly enjoyed A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. (Not the Disney anti-Pooh—the real thing!) In one adventure, Pooh was very proud to find a Useful Pot for Putting Things In. My shop name is taken from that. My little bunny mascot is an original design which I drew and painted. He is meant to be evocative of an illustration from an old children’s book as well.

Read the rest of the interview here.

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