Thursday, April 18, 2019

This book is for the birds!



Many of you have watched me put these pages together for days on end.  Now it was time to decorate them.

To continue my recycling efforts, I cut these birds from left over gifted scrapbook paper.  I didn't have enough for two the same color,

but recently I had moved my mica powders, Twinkling H2O's, and Radiant Pearls to a much more convenient area so I could easily reach them.  I chose this over the H2Os because these were given to me by a dear friend who has since left my life.  I thought it would be appropriate to use it in this way.  I colored over both these birds using the Radiant Pearls, and turned them into a more similar color.  After an exhaustive search, I don't believe Radiant Pearls are made anymore.

I seem to have forgotten to show the next things I did.  I first sewed everything in place.   Only items that could not be sewn were glued.  Once I had sewed everything in each of the pages, I added Pellon (also known as Wonder Under) to the back of ALL FOUR pages.  I wanted to make sure these didn't come apart.  Overkill is better when you are making something for someone else.

Next, I ironed the pages back to back, turning the four pages into eight once they were sewn down the middle, very much like my scrappy visual journals.  The only difference is, these pages were each sewn separately before being "glued" back to back using Pellon.  I had to make sure everything I wanted on each page was sewn before I did that, though. Unlike my scrappy journal pages, there was no way I wanted my sewing to show through to the opposing page.

Here is the front cover for Birds.  Because this was a fun project, I'm joining Wendy from Wendy's Art and Craft Journal who is our host at Art Journal Journey this month. And since these birds looked like they belonged to springtime, I'm also joining my friends at Try it on Tuesday, whose theme is Springtime, and Moo-Mania and More, whose theme is Spring Fever.

This is the back cover.  The birds suffered a bit when I laid the damp pressing cloth over the page.  For those of you who are curious, the book began as 10 inches wide by 8 inches long (25,4 X 20,32 cm).  Once folded, as you see here, it was 5 inches wide and 8 inches long (12,7 X 20,32 cm) which falls within the guidelines set by Art Journal Journey.

To begin, the "B" and "R" (as well as the "S" not shown above) were cut from circles of leather that had been used to make badges at a friend's summer camp.  The leftover circles not used at the event were going to be thrown away, so I took them.  I've used a few off and on over the years, but these turned out great.

I got the "B" backward in the die cutter to the correct side of the leather, but I liked it because it accepted the Radiant Pearls beautifully.  The "I" was a sheet of paper that I glued in place and colored with another color of Radiant Pearls, just as I did with the "S" below.  The birds in ovals were from a set of stickers I was gifted with.  I sewed them in place because they were old enough, the sticky side of the sticker wasn't sticky enough to keep them from coming away from the fabric paper.

I sewed the "D" in place, which had been colored with Radiant Pearls, but lost much of its color when I used the damp pressing cloth needed to adhere the backs of these pages.

The purple on the "S" was very faint, but eventually it stayed.  So different from the color of the "I," which shows how different materials behave so differently even when the same product is used.  Another bird found in my stash was sewn to the bottom.  You KNOW how much I love cardinals.

I held these birds in place by sewing around them using variegated thread. 

I gave each bird wings, too.

I think this is out of focus because I didn't stamp it clearly.

It took four tries to get Birds of a Feather stamped properly.

Every bird sings its own song came together quickly.  These three red rubber UMs were purchased from and made by Joanie at Mrs. O'Leary's, who runs a wonderful mixed media shop in my town.

Since I spent so much time showing the cover, front and back, I'll be back tomorrow with the remainder of the book.

For Day 18 of 22, I assembled the fabric paper book I have been working on.  I recycled three pieces of leather destined for the trash, and repurposed two sheets of colored scrapbook paper, as well as stickers gifted me.   Only the glue (E6000) and variegated threads were new.  I think I spent more time changing thread on my machine than I did most anything else!

Thank you for joining me on this quest.  I am so grateful for your support of my art and recycling efforts.  Please also join me at Art Journal Journey, Try it on Tuesday, and Moo-Mania and More.

25 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

Your book is beautiful, The birds and stitching look great. Lookingt forward to seeing the rest. Valerie

froebelsternchen said...

My gosh - this is a rare beauty dear Elizabeth! I love and adore all about your amazing cover and I am looking forward to see the rest! WOW!!! Happy day and thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting all three challenges today with this WONDERFUL project! THANK YOU , THANK YOU, THANK YOU! ♥♥♥

I love that you have used the different colours of thread - this was for sure much work to change the colours so often but it was worth the effort - looks AMAZING this way!


Big hugs, Susi

Sandra said...

Book is for the Birds. Heh.
It turned out beautifully. All your hard work paid off.
Have a creative day.

My name is Erika. said...

Oooo. I do like these bird pages. The 2 bird page came out fabulous. But what I really like is the stitching you added on both pages. . How cool! This looks like fun play! Hugs-Erika

My name is Erika. said...

Once again I forgot to mention thanks for joining us at Try It On Tuesday. So thanks for joining us for this Springtime challenge.

Rosie said...

Wow, your book is stunning, great idea

Thank you for joining us at MOO MANIA & MORE

Rosie said...

... and I thank you also for joining us at TRY IT ON TUESDAY

kathyinozarks said...

good morning-I really love this one-anxious to see rest of book.
we will see what this plant develops into-most were thinking lily of the valley, and the others hostas-I am not big on either plant so they will probably come out. lily of the valley is poisonous so I will for sure dig it out-we will soon know-lol thanks for stopping by

Barbara said...

Amazing book! You use supplies I’ve never used on anything, and the result is charming. I’m envious of your hand-stitching, a finishing touch. Thanks for visiting my page, yes, Seamus is a handful. But he is my husband’s handful!

CJ Kennedy said...

Lovely book. Will look forward to seeing the inside pages.

R's Rue said...

😀

Divers and Sundry said...

What a beautiful book! So much work went into this! I love how you use the stitching :)

da tabbies o trout towne said...

a lot of work went into this; you did a great job Elizabeth; for reasons of which you know of; I won't let the tabbbies see this post !! ;) ♥♥

sheila 77 said...

I so much enjoyed reading this, Elizabeth. You are so meticulous at telling us all the details including where you went wrong and how you fixed it which you always tell in such a positive and amusing way. Cutting the "B" back to front (the sort of thing I do all the time) and then making it even better by colouring the back. I do like the pictures of the birds which you have sewn on with coloured thread - yes what a faff changing the colour of the threads on the machine, but so worth it.

Meggymay said...

I love your handmade journal and the subject that you chose. Birds do make us feel that winter is over and spring is coming. It is a fabulous project and I loved how you shared the process with us. Awesome stitching as well
I am looking forward to seeing the inner pages,
Thank you for linking this to our current TioT's theme Elizabeth and for your support over there.
Yvonne xx

Rita said...

A special, personal gift! Loved hearing the step-by-step. :)

Gillena Cox said...

Really Nice

Happy Easter

much love...

WendyK said...

Fabulous project, I love birds and I look forward to seeing more.
Hugs Wendy

Jeanie said...

For the birds, my foot! It's for anyone who loves and appreciates the beautiful work you do. This is great -- I was wondering how those fabric papers would be used and you couldn't pick a better way!

Joan said...

A beautiful book, so much of interest and lovely things to look at

Thanks for joining us at Try It On Tuesday challenge

Joan

pearshapedcrafting said...

Such a wonderful book - your fabric papers look fabulous! I bet this feels so good too! Hugs, Chrisx

pearshapedcrafting said...

I'm rushing far too much...Thank you so much for joining us at Try It On Tuesday!Chrisxx

Rike said...

Amazing how you created this wonderful fabric book with birds!
Rike xx

Words and Pictures said...

What a fabulous cover for your beautiful pages. I love the leather lettering, those two charming birds on the back, and the little b&w panels. It's so lovely to see all that work come together so perfectly. Brilliant recycling.
Alison x

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Beautiful artwork. I especially like the cardinals in this. I saw your comment that your blog isn't working, but I was able to see this. I'm also going to visit your alternate blog.