Hi everyone! 

When we were growing up our mother made our clothes and was a fantastic seamstress.  We always had beautiful dresses for Easter and Christmas and I can recall her at the sewing machine late Christmas Eve finishing up the details while we were supposedly asleep in bed.  She could remake an outfit for our brother from items handed down by cousins who also gave us dresses to re-size.

I was almost a teenager when I got my first bought coat.  Mother and I went shopping and I saw this adorable blue coat with white trim but mother selected a more sturdy one that would be ideal for our winter weather.  I was disappointed but knew her choice was best.

My sister and I learned how to sew and I took a sewing class in junior high school and struggled with a French seam (perfectionist at work); and, as teenagers we started making our skirts and tops adding trim via embroidered designs. 

For my spreads in my UNIQUE JOURNAL, I use tags and my personal journaling is on the reverse of each tag.  I used several items from grandmother's sewing basket.  The cost of the buttons on the left-hand page were 10 cents.  I can't even remember when we attached snaps and hooks like the packet I also included.  My spreads are more CD because I wanted to add items before they got lost or thrown away.  I created the doll template on the right-hand page and hope to use it as a stencil on other pages and several elements were from my dear friend, Debbie.

I also will link to Carolyn Dube's LETS PLAY. 

HAPPY AUGUST.

I completed another spread in my journal, NATURE. This was an interesting experiment.  I started with a rice paper butterfly serviette, added some stamps for texture and covered the pages with a light coat of gesso and added color.  I used the Marigold stencil from Donna Downey splitting it to cover both pages and added color with a sponge.  On the left panel, I added a die cut of a flower, painted, repainted, added glitter and outlined in black.  I also used a stencil for the word Nature. When I looked at the final page, it was dull so I added some Glossy Accents to the butterflies on the right page using my fingers so it would not be isolated to a specific area. When dry, I was not happy so I thought I would spray both pages with a final coat to protect them and also provide a finish to both pages.  I used a heavy spray of Grumbacher matte Picture Oil Painting Varnish. The results were amazing in that the glossy appearance on the right-hand page disappeared and actually went flat.  You could no longer feel the texture from the Glossy Accents but the glitter remained.  It was like the varnish dissolved the texture.  I have other fixative sprays but wanted to try this one.  I LOVE TO EXPERIMENT. 

I will add this to LET'S PLAY, using a product not intended for acrylics.

The monthly theme at Art Journal Journey is MAPS.  This gave me the perfect opportunity to create a page for China.  When I use kanji or other Chinese and Japanese symbols within my projects for a design effect, sometimes they don't represent their true meaning.  For this piece, I think I'm okay.

Oriental art has been a passion of mine for a very long time so this is the first of many spreads to come with an oriental theme.  I am also submitting it to Permission to Play.

Spring is my favorite season of the year watching the dreary days of winter turn green followed by the beautiful flowers.  Poppies are not spring flowers but one of my favorites and for some reason my black thumb dodesn't help them survive in our yard.  I also have HOPE but realize that we must accept what is and I'm okay with that as well. So I added it to my page.  I will be linking to Lets Play and Create Every Day. 

Music has always been a big part of my life.  My sister and I walked at least a mile each week to catch a bus to Sugar House and then transfer to another bus for our violin lessons.  As we progressed, we were included in the Utah Junior Symphony  and our conductor was the famous, Maurice Abravanel.  He conducted the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years.

As an adult driving to and from work in California, I would sing along with the music from the radio.  No iphones or tablets to entertain us. At home, I would crank up the stereo and listen to music from classical to western to jazz.  I go way back because I also loved the Ink Spots.

Hubby and I attended several concerts of all types in the Los Angeles area and when we moved to Eagle, Idaho, we spent many falls in Sun Valley attending the Jazz Festival.

When my hearing deteriorated due to a fall back in 1996 and severe ear infections and surgeries, music was not as enjoyable. 

Below is a photo of my musical spread as my journey continues which I will also post to LETS PLAY and Create Everyday.  ( I tie a tag to the center of each spread to write my journaling on the back side.)

Below is a photo of my latest spread.  The border was inspired by Debbie when she let me experiment with her sprays and Dylusion inks. More fun techniques yet to try, thanks Debbie.

Carolyn Dube of Permission to Play - Lets Play has stated that if you don't like a page you can paint over it and start again.  W E L L,  I wasn't happy with the left page so I made a few changes and completed the right-hand page.  When I started my New Journey it was due to the recurring of my lymphoma and I made the decision to try a new chemo to prolong my life and hopefully put my cancer back in remission.  I decided that during the treatment, I would take advantage of the days or hours when I felt good to do those things I love, spending time with family, friends, and working in my new journal or other crafty items and hopefully working in my flowers and yard.

I have made a tag for my journaling which I attach to the coil binding in the appropriate spot for each spread.  This is where I write how I feel, what prompted the page I created or thoughts in general.  I didn't want to leave space on my pages for a lot of words and felt a tag was the best way to record the details that prompted the spread.

I am also linking to Art Journal Journey and Creative Every Day.