A New Challenge

This is my last book from Mary Ann's Full Tilt Boogie class.  The innards of the journal are a six-page frame block from that vintage album I was gifted with recently.  The covers are from the original art journal I started five years ago that I never got very far into, nor did I like the paper...so not long ago I dismantled that spiral thing in order to use the pages elsewhere, and the covers were just hanging out waiting for a new use.  This collage was done five years ago as well.

The frame block will be a bit of a challenge for me to use.  I'll likely cover over the frame parts in most instances and just use the pages as heavy substrates for art journaling.  We'll see what develops.

The new challenge for me now is to use these handmade journals ~ and toward that end I will shortly be launching into another class of Mary Ann's, Remains of the Day, her art journaling class from late 2009.   I want to get a few other projects out of the way -- like finishing my Fiberations challenge quilts for September 15 reveal -- before I launch into this.  Meanwhile I'll keep working in my two current art journals.

A few more words about the journal above.  The spine covering is fabric.  After gluing on a strip around the edges of the frame block and the two added covers -- which I jerry-rigged together with tape and waxed linen thread -- the spine didn't have enough heft for me.  So I took another piece of the same fabric and fused quilt batting to the underside, then glued that on top of the original fabric.  Now it feels like a solid spine/faux binding.  The dotted edges are smash tape.

Happy Day!  Summer finally came to the North Coast, by and large.  Just when summer is winding down on the calendar.  Par for the course.