Making "Junk" Journals

One of my new projects is learning how to make journals and bound books.  It is a lot of fun and something that you can keep increasing your skill level as you make different kinds.

This is my first.  It is the most simple binding, called 'twine binding".  You just loop twine around as many times as needed to hold your page signatures.

Obviously this one is a travel journal.

The 'junk' part comes in with what you use to make the page signatures.

Leftover scrapbook papers...

... paper bags and magazine pages...

...leftover embellishments and old letters.

Whatever you have at hand!

When I fill it, I'll show you how it turned out.

A Passel of Tassels

I'm working along in my studio, getting everything organized so I can start having some fun.  It is coming together enough that I can actually start thinking about decorating.

And my one thought on style of decor is "Boho".

And so I have started making tassels.  This large fabric tassel is my first of many (many, many, many) that I will be creating.

It's very simply constructed.  Torn fabric strips that are mainly from leftover fabric from the kids birthday banners (can you see the 'John Deere' peeking out?).  I started with a button on a long-ish piece of embroidery floss and threaded on the fabric strips and some ribbon pieces.  I bound it with a strip of fabric that tore out very thin.  The leftover floss was looped to make the hanger.  Done!

It was so easy that I could do it while shooing Persia off.  She decided that it would make a perfect new play toy.  

Ummmm... No.

http://www.punkprojects.com/2015/07/make-things-week-7-challenge-fabric.html

A Bit of Family Heritage... Homestead Grain Sack Pillows

This is a project a long time in the making... like 20 years!

When my late father-in-law's estate was divided, there was a small pile of old feed sacks in box of rags.  I pulled them out and asked if anyone wanted any.  Nobody wanted the 'rags'.

Good!

I have no idea how old they are but they were in with cloth items (unfinished needlework of Himself's grandmother) dating back to the early 1950s and earlier.

Although vintage, they are not rare... in fact, they are pretty common.  

But they are a bit of Himself's family heritage.  His grandfather homesteaded in North Dakota in 1901 and the farm is still in the family.

A snip here... a tuck there... and I have a great set of throw pillows for our guest bedroom!

http://knickoftime.net/2015/07/farmhouse-friday-13-grain-sacks-feed-bags-and-burlap-bags.html  

The Color Purple

Needing a small bulletin board, I found inspiration in a challenge to use my favorite color to craft something.  

I had an extra long clipboard in my stash and all it needed was to be covered in this pretty fabric to become something special.  I used homemade 'mod podge' to adhere the fabric to the clipboard.  I chose to leave the clip in its original rusty shabby glory.

My wee cork boards are two gold frames from Old Time Pottery.  Tho they don't show in the photo, what looks like white lines all through the fabric around the flowers are actually gold lines.  So when I spray painted the larger frame I did only one coat so the gold still came through.  The smaller frame has a heavier coat of paint, though you can still see just a bit of gold.

I've glued the frames to the clipboard with heavy duty glue.

Perfect for the corner next to my computer desk!

http://www.punkprojects.com/p/craft-challenge.html

http://www.punkprojects.com/2015/06/make-things-week-2-challenge-favorite.html

http://thatcraftplaceblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/new-challenge-anything-goes.html

Upcycling and Creating

Something I really enjoyed about the Homemakers Convention was all the creativity being taught and displayed.

One of the seminars was on "Upcycling".  

The demonstrators were great.  They kept it moving and interesting; there were a lot of visual displays to keep your attention.

They had a fun little 'hands-on' project.  On each table there was a paper bag with different odds and ends (junk).  Each table was supposed to work together and upcycle this junk into treasure.  As you can imagine, there was a lot of chatter and laughter.

We came up with this 'garden angel'.

These ladies had a garden bee!

As I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of items brought in by the lecturers.  Here's just a few of them...

A recipe holder.

A jacket from chenille bedspread scraps.

A wind catcher.

A wreath from old aluminium trays.

More wind catchers.

Plant stand made from the leg of a round table.

Planter from a vase and bowl glued together.

A little fairy garden.

More wind catchers.

Even tho the judging was bogus, there were so many beautiful creative items displayed at the Cultural Arts Contest.  Here are a few samples of the talent within Homemaker club members.

Pillows.

Love this family heirloom wall hanging.  What a wonderful idea!

There's a professional weaver among us!  This is a full kilt that was handwoven on a loom.  She didn't mention the which clan tartan it was.

Items in the Miscellaneous class.

Fine arts oil painting.  Lovely!

This crazy quilt was entered in the "Embroidery" class.  I would love to make a crazy quilt some day!

Love it!

Baskets galore!

I thought this one was best.

As you probably imagine... all this has gotten my creative thoughts flowing!

Ladder Me Show You This

I love to repurpose things; using them in a completely new way.  One thing I'm always on the look out for are old ladders.  I have a few in the shed for some projects I have in mind... as soon as I finish other project so I can get to them!

Until then, here are a few ladder projects I've done already.

This little ladder is on our bedroom wall.  Snagged it from Mom when she redecorated.

This step ladder was found along side the road!  Oh I did the happy dance when I found it!  It gets moved around constantly.

Five dollars at ReStore... and a bit of paint.... and I now have a fun decoration for our bird garden.  It's going to have even more bird houses on it by summer.

Now all my ladders are for decorative uses.  This one is my perfect rack for drift wood boards.

So... what do you repurpose and use at your home?

http://knickoftime.net/2015/04/farmhouse-ladders.html 

Going Green: Pass It On

As you know, I enjoy recycling, repurposing, and rehoming items rather than sending them to the landfill.  

One little thing I keep out of the dump is magazines.  Subscriptions are so expensive these days that it is just a shame to read and toss!  There are so many things to do with magazines.

Pass them on to a friend.  Better yet, have a swap with friends where you each take a different subscription and pass them round robin so everyone can read many magazines for the price of one.

Bring them to waiting rooms.  It is especially nice if you bring some ladies magazines to the auto shop and men's to doctor offices and hair stylists.  

Schools sometimes want magazines for projects.

Or you can send them to missionaries for them to have in their fellowship/recreation areas.  

I'm boxing these to send up to a missionary friend in Alaska.  All these and a few more fit in a large flat rate box.  Because of the weight make sure you tape it very heavily!!

Before you box them, make sure you clip off all the address labels.

Then pack away!  After getting the main stack in, I curled another stack over on itself (like 2 'U's that are interlocked).  This gets more in the space than just rolling them.  Then at the top I put small 'Guidepost' to fill that area.  This box it packed TIGHT.

And for $17.90 I will get about 50 good magazines off to folks who will look forward to reading them over and over.

What do you do with the magazines you finish?