wow! i haven't written a post in over two months! how did that happen...? well - i don't really know exactly why or how... we have been busy with life i guess and i have not yet gotten into the habit of blogging enough to make it a part of my life i suppose... also i didn't really feel like it anyway and as it is my blog i figured i could keep that any way i wanted...
i worked on pages for two "deconstructed art journal" page swaps i was in... (i'm a member of the facebook-group "deconstructed art journaling" - one joins a swap-group of 5 people - with a theme or not - and creates 5 8"x8" pages (folded in half) accordingly to be sent out to the other 4 members of your group - one you keep for yourself. you get one page each in return to be bound into an artjournal any way you please. the main point of doing it that way is to keep the postage as low as possible since the format is made to fit a standard business envelope - there are art-swap-groups where entire books and journals are being sent around, which can get expensive.)
i was in a group with the theme "enchanted forest/garden" and made these:
the back has an extract from "the secret garden" written on it. the scene where mary calms colin after his big tantrum by telling him of all the wonders of the garden... i love that book...
the other group-swap i was in had the theme "peacocks" and also the challenge to give the page some sort of shaped edge. this is what i came up with:
i got beautiful pages in return which i might write about once i have bound them into books...
i made a journal two weeks ago. a little envelope journal that included the first 1st of using an envelope for the cover - i used a padded one which makes it a little poufy - as well as the second 1st of my first attempts at tea-dying paper, envelopes and doilies. i don't think i did it the best possible or most efficient way but i was fine with the results.
it has lots of pages in it, some tuck-spots and tags and paperclips. i intend to add more of everything and some stamping... i don't know what to do with it yet but i want to take it to a little local store i discovered recently that sells vintage (inspired) and shabby chic items and ask the owner if she would be at all interested in displaying my journals - this store might just have the right sort of customers...
i made a good-bye-card for T's kindergarten teacher. sadly she has been transferred somewhere else...
parents were lining up to say good-bye and thank-you and to give her flowers and chocolates... we all got a little emotional i think...
kindergarten is done for now until september and T's currently on a mini-vacation at my mother's - he loves it there and always tries to talk her into letting him stay even longer - which is sometimes possible and sometimes not. R misses her big brother though. she runs into his room first thing in the morning to look for him when he's not home... very cute...
this is what i'm currently working on. it's going to be a circle-cardigan.
this is the main circle almost finished and by now i'm working on the second sleeve - it's almost done! i'm very much looking forward to wearing it when it cools off a little - we have it crazy hot here at the moment with temperatures reaching 38°C... *phu* i also have not figured out how to block it yet as it is very big when laid out. i guess i will have to finish it really quickly and then try blocking it bit by bit. the "petals" need it most. i should take advantage of the hot weather while it lasts - it dries faster...
the pattern is by wollfactory by the way. you can select from 11 different beautiful colourways (i chose 4254 which was not easy). you get full instructions (in german) and the yarnpack including the colourful yarn and a huge cone of solid in a matching colour (which you can't choose) - in the above pic that's the red of the very outside round. in the sample pictures on the website you can see it in the very center and the round before the petals-round - just so you can get an idea of what's coming...
next on my to-do-list is this kid's artjournal for T and a traveljournal for my mother-in-law who's going on a trip to china in a couple of weeks... she brought a huge pile of old paperstuff for me to use in my art last week and there were even some chinese maps which i'm going to use...
well... i better get to work... =)