Artful Thursday

I've felt especially creative this week and productive. Nice to have both go hand in hand. I was really inspired by some blogs that I've been visiting these last few weeks. It's interesting how you go to one blog, then go to a blog on that person's list and then another and another. Sometimes you've traveled so far away from your original destination, you don't know how to get back. But the journey has been wonderful. It reminded me of when my husband and I went backpacking through Europe for 2 1/2 months. We had no itinerary, we just had our Eu rail pass and a backpack. We met many wonderful and interesting people along that journey as well. I'm always excited to see what my Artful Thursday friends have been up to.


This week I gravitated to things I love, first: jewelry and second: journals. I pulled out all of my jewelry stash, even some vintage jewelry I had torn apart and of course my beloved vintage buttons. I just started playing with color and ideas and came up with this:

Sorry, I don't have great tutorials like Julie, but most of these pieces are from vintage jewelry I've taken apart, vintage buttons, charms I've made (like the "pink" one), old chandelier pieces and some new things I've bought and had laying around. Dotter #1 said to me, "Mom these are so beautiful." It made my day. (I also love that they appreciate vintage too!)

I've had these journals in my mind for some time and just needed to pull out all the materials to put them together. Some things I used:

1. For the background, I used old curtain lining, that was already aged. No tea dying required!
2. I just randomly chose some old lace, dollies and trim and sewed that all on. I use clear thread so you don't see the stitches.
3.I used paper elements like the dove made from old sheet music and words cut from a old child's dictionary. These I glued on with tacky glue.
4. I used some vintage buttons, that I glued.
5. I made a flower corsage to put on each one. I ripped the vintage fabric (in this case, drapes) so that the threads hung off. I sewed a running stitch through the length of fabric and pulled to gather. I fashioned it into a flower and hand sewed it. I added a vintage button for the center. I then glued it on the journal.
6. I lastly added some tabs and cute file clips I've collected.

(okay, this is my attempt at at tutorial with no pictures :))

Happy Artful Thursday. What did you create today?


P.S. A fun idea I want to share. The dotter's loved it. I wanted to do something for them for Valentine's Day, but not candy, something heartfelt. I decided to give them heart attacks! They loved it. They asked if they could keep them up. Of course I said! I would recommend this fun idea. It doesn't have to be for Valentine's Day either. You could do it for a birthday.