Miss 3 and A Book Sale

Miss 3 is coming to spend the day with me today. I am hoping it will dry up a bit outside so we can play on the swings and walk the yard a bit. I wonder if the frogs are out and about by now. With a creek right outside the back door, we expect to see some water life once the weather starts to warm up. Perhaps the blue heron will visit today.....


Our local branch of the Jackson District Library is having their annual book sale this week. I am going to give Miss 3 a bit of change for her little purse and take her to see what we can find. They don't open until  1 pm and I told her Mom I would bring her home around 4, so the timing sounds just about right.


When I take her home I am planning to make stops at Michael's to get sketching and water media paper and Office Max to get paper suitable for sketching and some colored cover paper. I am then hoping to go to Legacy Printing to have it cut to size. The hardest part is deciding on the size - the books I use come in all different sizes. Today I am planning to select the next five candidates for a redo and have the paper cut to fit those. I am also planning to have the Arches 140# watercolor paper that I ordered from Dick Blick cut into 5" x 10" so I can try my hand at square format watercolor journals.


I have several journals available at Faint Heart Art, some of which you may not have seen. You can see them here. Don't forget that pricing includes shipping and that you could have one of them in your arty little hands within a couple of days. By the way, if you have a favorite book that you'd like repurposed into a blank journal, email me and we will work out how to make it a reality.



I made a beautiful special order journal this weekend, but hesitate to show you yet since I don't know if the recipient might stop by and see it before I get it to her. It is my favorite yet. I am becoming much better at the coptic stitch and don't think I used any colorful language at all while constructing this one. I can't wait to share it with you, but am not delivering it until late in May when I attend my water media class at the Krasl Art Center in St. Joe.


The next thing I want to learn to do is efficiently and carefully cut slits in my book boards so that I can weave the supports that I sew over into it something like this:

I am especially interested in cutting these slits into the really thick book covers that I am using from some large old books I found in Florida. They are 1/8" thick and quite difficult to cut. I use a rotary cutter to cut them to size and a Crop-A-Dile to punch the holes in them for coptic stitching. I almost think I would need a sharp ended chisel and a hammer..... I'd appreciate any thoughts and/or ideas you may have for this.


Tomorrow is my little girl's 31st birthday - what I want to know is where all those years have gone! I'm not sure what I am going to do to celebrate this - out to lunch and a cash gift is probably what I will settle on. My kids don't read my blog, so I feel safe letting this cat out of the bag.


I think I'd better get the bird feeders outside (the raccoons make it necessary to bring them in at night) and get another cup of coffee. Maybe I can sit outside to enjoy the second one while I await the arrival of my little guest.

xoxo