Vintage Finds

wood holder with tightly curled paper inside that hold  pins and needles

top view

wood bottom ...15 cents

I rotated the pin holder so I could photograph around the whole piece

   

This pin/needle holder came to me after my husbands aunt, Anne passed away. I found the pin holder in her sewing basket  The pins in this pin holder have been there since I received this piece. Many of the pins are still in the original holes and had never been removed to be used.

I also have a tiny box with a silk cocoon inside, but I can't put my hands on that at the moment.

I can't remember where I found this 1907 Waltham Watch Company repair kit box. Inside was a packet with a main spring, a wrist watch face and parts, and another container filled with watch parts.

1907 Waltham Watch repair kit box

closed containers

    open containers

I've had the watch repair kit and pin holder for many years. I love old things, don't you?

a very fragile old crochet, tatting , knitting instruction booklet. Tatting  is a lost art. I wish I knew how to do it.

Elaine

This and That

I don't have any new artwork to share with all of you, but I wanted to share a few photos that I've taken in the last couple of days. Some of bargains I've found and some from a ride around the cranberry bog with my dad yesterday.

First...a few days ago I went to T J Maxx in Plymouth, and as I was browsing I found some wonderful rolls of gift wrap (30 square feet in a roll) for $2.99. The paper is quite heavy.

I love both rolls of gift wrap that I bought but my favorite is the birch bark gift wrap. I love birch trees and this paper is so real looking. I plan on using some of the paper on a  journal cover. The paper is so real looking but not so much in this photos. The birch bark paper is also a little heavier than the clock paper I bought.

 

clocks

If you have a TJ Maxx nearby look to see what they have for gift wrap.

I had to go and cover some cardboard for book covers using the birch paper.

I feel a nature themed journal is in the making

I took my Dad for blood work yesterday morning, then ran some of his errands and before we did his grocery shopping he wanted to take a ride around the cranberry bogs.

I had to stop because this good sized snapping turtle was crossing in front of us. His shell was probably 12 inches across. They are nasty so I didn't get too close to take the picture.

By the river I spotted a large pussy willow tree that I had never noticed before in all the years that I have been down the bog. I guess it just never was in bloom when I've seen it.

sorry, this photo is a little blurry, but as you can see some of the pussy willows have already started to go by and soon the tree will be leafed out.

I almost forgot...I love white quartz rocks and when ever I see a decent sized one I pick it up for my rock garden. While I was out of the car taking a photo of the snapping turtle, I spied a white quartz rock near my back tire. I used the tip of my sneaker to try and dislodge it from the dirt roadway. At first I was disappointed when I saw that the rock had split and one half was in shards. When I turned the rock over I was surprised to see a hollow inside.

inside of rock

top part of the quartz rock

The bogs are still dormant and look like a carpet of dark red. Soon the cranberry leaves will turn green.

Have a creative day.

Elaine

Smash Book March pages

I started by spraying the pages with yellow and lime green Dylusions inks. Then I sprayed the pages with Smooch Spritz ink in a red color. After spraying the pages, I took a  roll of paper towels and rolled it over the pages to absorb the extra ink. My pages still have a few more little things to be added.

 

I used pictures and words from travel brochures and also used part of a AAA map.

I wanted to create my March Smash pages relating to the Florida trip that my cousin and I recently took.

Elaine

Working on another Beach Themed Journal

What can I say. I love the beach and I find that many handmade books/journals that I create have a beach theme. 
this is the colorful handmade paper that I bought years ago at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design). The paper has some clear areas because wax was used to make a leaf pattern on the thick paper. I have hoarded this paper for a long time, and today was finally time to break down and use some of it. I guess the creative bug hit me this morning because I also completed Smash book pages.
Creating my covers for the journal. I recycled by using the thick cardboard back of a used up watercolor pad. I cut my cardboard to the size I wanted on my big Boston paper cutter.

cut paper and glued cardboard for my cover
I glued cardboard to the center of the paper and then I scored paper sides of cover
gluing sides
cover paper is now adhered now glued on.
Handmade paper is glued to the cover. I cut a piece of cardstock slightly smaller and glued both the paper and the cardboard so the cardstock would adhere really well. I love UHU glue sticks. I've never had a problem in my handmade books with the papers coming loose using UHU glue.
still bumpy looking from the UHU glue stick, but I used a brayer to smooth the paper and when the glue dried the paper was smooth.
finished front and back covers. I didn't want the waxy leaves on the paper to show because my journal is beach themed so I covered those areas with cut out images.
front cover for now
back cover
front cover, signatures and back cover
inside front cover, and water color paper on the cover of the first signature in my journal that I painted and then added stickers
water colored painting I did on back of the books first signature. On the right..I want to replace the cardstock signature and use another water color paper so I can have a water color painting on both pages.

(Added 4.6.2013  I went to Michael's and used a coupon to buy another pad of water color paper. The photo below is now the finished water colored double page spread.  I will probably add something to the right side of the page... and I did..a mermaid)

   I created 4 signatures
  

covers of other signatures
I haven't sewn the book together yet. I am also thinking about using either a piece of navy blue or black leather for the books covers, but first, I have to find where I stashed those leather pieces. Oh brother, where to look first.

So far this is a bare bones journal without anything  added to the pages at the moment. I have a folder with items and papers that I've collected and want to add to  this journal. I have replaced some of the card stock pages with more water color paper pages.

My fingers are covered in glue and Gesso. I keep washing my hands, but I haven't managed to get all of the glue and paint off yet, but what fun I had today sitting down creating. :-)
Elaine

Smash Book pages month of February

February's finished  2 page spread

Yes, I was behind on working on my monthly Smash book pages. This morning I gathered a few items, grabbed my Smash book and started working on a two page spread for February.   February was really cold here in Massachusetts and we had lots of snow so why not work on a snow theme.

the Smash book pages started off looking like this, but the right page had orange paper, and it didn't go with my theme. If you don't like the page..change it by covering or painting over it.

I first covered the orange page with gesso. Then I glued a piece of snowflake tissue paper over the Gesso. I cut out a decorative napkin and glued that to the page. Glued a piece of sheer Let it Snow ribbon to the top of the page. I found a brown cardboard snowflake which I coated with Gesso and added Martha Stewart snow glitter on the top of the wet paint. I used a Tim Holtz ticket to journal on. Lastly, I smeared Gesso onto a piece of bubble wrap with my fingers and stamped the page with it.

finished right hand side of page

I kept the blue and white background that was on the Smash book page. I glued a small calendar page to the left hand upper corner. Cut out and glued a decorative napkin over most of the page. Added some snowman stickers. Used bubble wrap with Gesso and stamped on the page. I also glued on large plastic snowflakes in dark blue, silver and a medium blue.  Finally, I wrote...Snow Snow and More Snow 2013.

  left side of page

I already have an idea for March's pages. Do you use decorative napkins in your artwork?

Elaine