Rosette Art by Cathe Holden

Look what Dawn surprised me with, woot! It's Cathe Holden's new book "Rosette Art," of Just Something I Made fame. It's filled with pre-scored craft paper and an instruction booklet on how to make various rosettes. Being in the middle of making tons of rosettes for an Oz festival, this couldn't have come at a more convenient time. Thank you, Dawn!

Salinas Has A Book Store!

Since the closing of Borders in Seaside as well as a few independent book stores, the closest book store we've had the last year or so was about a 45-minute drive to Gilroy. So you can understand why we're so excited to have discovered the Book Nook! It's an awesome used book store, very organized and the owner is wonderful. I haven't met the male half of the business yet, but the woman really knows her stuff. The best part? The prices are reasonable! She doesn't charge any more than Savers or Goodwill does, so she will be getting a lot of business from us and we will be donating to the store to help keep them going.

I love being able to support local businesses. Next time we go I'm bringing this magnetic rosette I made for them using their business card for the center. I am determined for them to be successful, so if you're in the area of 521 South Main Street here in Salinas, stop by and buy some books!

Elephant-Themed Card Holder

Let me start off by saying, "Arrgggghhh!" Blogger is not cooperating with me today. It wins. If the spacing between paragraphs is off, please pardon Bloggers insistence it be wonky. Ugh.

 

I made this greeting card holder for my daughter Valerie, who loves elephants. She gave me a few sheets of her favorite scrapbook paper from her collection and it worked out fabulously. The background paper is very cool, it simulates elephant hide and feels a bit like leather. I fussy cut the images of the elephants from another sheet and used yet another print on the inside.

The back was done the same way as the front. I was going to fussy-cut the entire elephant, but my daughter told me she really liked it with the background. She has an eye for stuff like that, I like it as well.

The inside print looks like a rock wall and matches the grey color scheme going on. The left side has a corner pocket that can be used for smaller cards that won't fit between the two rings or for letters that accompany the cards my daughters receives. I cut up an envelope and adhered a piece of the printed paper left over from fussy-cutting the elephants on the front.

For the right side I took a library card pouch and attached a square of the elephant hide print card stock and slipped a keepsake tag into it.

See the texture of the this paper? I love it!

 

I'm on the lookout for the perfect beads to slip on the rings.

I'm quite happy with the way this one turned out. It suits what my daughter likes and will be something I hope she can use for years to come.

Photos by dawt on Flickr.

Books, I Made A Couple!

I made these journals for my daughters' birthdays and titled them with their favorite Jane Austen books, Persuasion for Dawn, Pride and Prejudice for Valerie. It was interesting to put these together having never made a book in my life. I learned a lot from the process and would like to take the time to make one that requires the stitching together of pages. We’ll see. I uploaded a ton of photos onto my Flickr that I took while making them if you’re interested. I still can’t believe the top two turned out like I imagined. Rarely does that happen when I’m crafting, it usually just sort of evolves into its own thing.

I used Tim Holtz grunge board for the covers, inked them up and sealed them with a coat of Mod Podge Hard Coat. I purposely swirled the Mod Podge Hard Coat around to give it more texture when it was dry.

I love the feel of that grunge board, it’s like super thick fabric-y feeling card board, it’s so flexible and bendy. It even took the creasing well.

The actual design on the front cover was made by stamping brown card stock then applying several coats of the Mod Podge Hard Coat (the regular is too sticky for my taste). When I was satisfied with the coverage I let it dry then scrunched it up to give it that worn, leather look. When that dried I attached it to the grunge board with some super strong red double sticky tape and gave the entire front another coat of Mod Podge Hard Coat.

The ribbon I used on the inside front and back covers (to cover up the back of the brads and eyelet) was too white, so I aged it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Tim Holtz

For the paper I used some packaging filler paper that came with something one of my daughters ordered. There seemed to be a whole ream of the stuff, and I loved how it felt, so I rolled it up thinking it would be neat to use for something vintage-y looking.

The embellishments on either side of the clasps are brads, the base plate is metal and the latch is leather attached with an eyelet on back.

 

I’m sure I broke all sorts of book-making rules, but I wasn’t going for perfection, I was just hoping to have something extra ordinary to give my girls.

This is a wall of mostly Easton Press books at Cal's Books in Redding, California. Isn't it beautiful? I would very much like a wall just like this, pretty please.

It would also be cool to have a library so enormous as to have one of these in order to reach them all.

The shelves in this books store dwarf even the tallest of humans. But bundle up cause baby it's cold inside!

  

We can't wait to go back!

Thrift Shops = Mini Vacations

I don't get to my favorite thrift store often enough, but when I do, this little book section becomes a black hole of time. It doesn't look like much, but I have found some pretty nifty reads here.

There used to be two small rooms set back in a hallway, away from all the other stuff. And other people. One held clothes, bedding, purses and shoes (and a couple of bins of pretty grodie-lookin' used makeup and lotions), the other was dedicated to books, magazines, records and tapes.

Then one day I walked in and all the walls were gone. POOF. I was vewy, vewy sad. I spent many hours in the middle of that tiny room, perched on an old stool, drinking in that old book smell, building a stack or two to bring home with me.

I still enjoy going there, the owners are genuinely good people, and the prices are certainly always right. But I still wish I could get lost in the quiet of that little room down the hall where nothing else mattered for just a little while.

READ