A Time for Watching

The title on this book suited my theme of birds and flowers, perfectly.  The green color was a bit drab and ugly, so as I was painting watered down gesso on my scrapbook paper covered chipboard pages, I painted those covers, also.  I encased some dried flowers within hard plastic packaging, using copper foil tape, brads, and a touch of glue for a part of the front cover embellishments.  I had picked the flowers around my complex last year and put them between waxpaper and phonebook pages, thinking I would have a use for them, "someday" !! I recently purchased some vintage watch faces on E-bay, so, I finally got to use a couple of them within this book.   There are lots of K&K Company stickers, vintage trade card featuring birds, a vintage calling card, pieces of junk jewelery, pieces of new and vintage lace,vintage postage stamps, a vintage stick pin that acutally has a worm on it, vintage postcard, vintage pickle fork, cheesecloth, feathers, a birds' nest with eggs (beads covered with alcohol inks), rhinestones, twigs from shrubs in front of my courtyard, mosaic tiles, and much more within these pages.  I put these pages together with the intention of listing the book on E-bay, but, each time I page through it, it becomes more and more, MINE !! I suppose if I had not used a photo of a family member, or had not used other embellishments that had personal meaning, it might be easier to let the book go.   Click on the photos for a larger view.  I had tried to put descriptions of the pages next to each photo, but, Blogger does not co-operate with me.  I'm sure it is all just a matter of taking time and patience to learn a few things, but, I would rather be creating than trying to figure all of this out!!  AND, then when I do look at the post, the photos are all out of sync from where I had them placed when writing the post and also where they appeared in the preview.  I don't know what happened when I click "publish".  Oh well !!!

Pages 11 and 12

Pages 4 and 5

pages 7 and 8

Pages 9 and 10

Page 1 and 2

Pages 3 and 4

Pages 5 and 6

For You #3

Finally finished my third little matchbox - they measure 1-1/2" x 2".  I had covered and lined all three with the same script covered scrapbook paper and aged the edges with my trusty Tim Holtz vintage photo distress ink and a bit of gold paint.  I had coffee stained the tiny roses and a piece of a crocheted doily to use in the creations.  After gluing everything in place (thank heaven for my tweezers to handle all the tiny bits and pieces), I added some gold glitter glue to these roses and a few amber colored rhinestones to finish it off.  There were 12 matchboxes in the package I purchased -- don't know when I will ever use all of the matches, but, this pack was quite a bit less expensive than buying the pre-made boxes at a craft store. Now, to think up some themes for the rest of them !!  As always, click on the photos for a close up view.

Match Box # 2

This little matchbox has a surprise inside. My friend, Sharon, gave me a "teddy bear" ring awhile back that she had picked up somewhere, thinking I could use it.  I detached him from the ring and attached him to the bottom of this box.  I'm thinking I will probably give him back to her in this creation.  She always loves things I make and give to her !

Matchbox Creation

I

I had purchased a package of small matchboxes at the grocery store recently because I had seen one on a blog I follow that inspired me. I don't remember whose it was -- wish I could so I could give her credit -- the sentiment is much the same, but, the elements on mine are quite different.  I have two more in the making, but, for me, the tiny work is quite tedious.  I like the way this one turned out.  One of the other ones will be  much the same -- the third one - well, we'll see !!  Click on the photos for a better view.

Memories of Portugal

These pages are filled with mementos and memories of different days, times and thoughts !  A pocket is filled with bits and pieces of memorabilia. . . . . . This journal reflects only a small part of this amazing journey !!

Day 9 - Time to Go Home

How could the time have passed so quickly ??  Here it was, time to go home !!  There had been hurricane warnings for the east coast, so we had been concerned about flights being cancelled --fortunately, all was well that morning.  Luis picked us up at the hotel and taxied us to the Lisbon airport with plenty of time to get through passport checks and customs.  I didn't have my paints and cosmetics packed to suit the security check point in the bag that I had intended to carry on -- away I went back to flight check-in to check the bag --  the alternative was to have them take all of those things away from me.  Frustration set in -- it was another long day of travel  -- home never looked so good.

Day 8 - The Last Day

This was the day to finish our projects - our last day to be with all of our new friends !! We spent time putting finihing touches on our Navigator's Journals throughout the morning.  Another lunch at the little cafe next door to the studio, then back to the studio to clean up, pack our belongings and then it was "show and tell" time.  Micheal critiqued each of our creations noting things about each one and each artist -- seeing things that we did not even think about.  Margarita and her husband treated us to dinner at a beautiful Portuguese restaurant later that night -  the end of the evening was filled with tearful farewells to all.  It was likely we would never see any of these artists again -- some would keep in touch, some would not.