Another Concertina Journal

This one will be heading to South Africa for a fabric book swap that I am participating in with the Mixed Media Art Friends yahoo group hosted by Belinda Spiwak. 

These are the beginning stages of side one; panels 1, 2 and 3. (This journal will have four panels on each side.) 

Since this is a flower swap book, I decided to add some silk flowers that I took apart and then sewed then on using a glass bead as the center and adding some beaded stamens to hold the petals in place.  The flowers also add continuity to the panels and the overall piece.

And the lucky winner is…..

Thank you for stopping by my Halloween Blog Party yesterday.  I had a wonderful time meeting new friends in blog-land.  This morning I chose the lucky number 9 as the winner of the Halloween Quiltlet.  The ninth comment on my blog was from Sue in the UK.  Congratulations Sue!  Please send me your snail mail address and I will ship the quiltlet to you.

Thanks again for visiting.

Welcome to my first Blog Party

I am so happy you decided to stop by and visit my blog.  Please take a look around.

First, pull up a chair, grab a cuppa coffee or tea and take a look out my front window.  Isn’t this a beautiful Sugar Maple tree?

Here are a few pumpkins to share.

How about a cookie to go with your coffee?

Here is a recipe to make these very scrumptous cookies.

The Great Pumpkin, Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Cookies

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup oats, uncooked
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup pumpkin
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or raisins)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in one bowl.  Cream butter in a separate bowl, gradually add the brown sugar and sugar, beating until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla to the sugar mixture and mix well.  Alternate the dry ingredients in the first bowl and the pumpkin with the butter mixture in the second bowl.  Mix well after each addition.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop rounded teaspoons of dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake for 13 minutes, cool for one minute on cookie sheet.  Finish cooling cookies on a rack or paper towels.  Store cookies in a closed container.  Recipe makes ~4 dozen cookies.

 

Would you like another cuppa of coffee or tea?

 

Are you ready for another treat? 

 

Can you guess what’s behind the doors?

 

“Come in, come in my little pretties!”

Would you like to have this lovely handmade quiltlet for your home? 

Here is how you can win this:

1. Leave a comment telling me why you would like to win this quiltlet
2. I will randomly draw a name from the comments and post the name of the winner here
3. The winner will have 3 days to contact me via email with their mailing information

Good Luck! 

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will bookmark my blog for future give-aways.  Please visit our hostess, Kathryn Antyr at Collage Diva, to continue your Halloween Blog Party treats.

 

Six more days

until the Soul Journal Halloween Blog Party starts, hosted by Kathryn Antyr at CollegeDiva.  

This is my very first blog party and I have created a giveaway for all of my blog-land guests! 

One lucky guest will win this handmade Halloween Quiltlet. 

How can you win this?  To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment (and your email address) on my blog on Sunday, October 26th.  I will randomly draw a name and announce the winner on Monday, October 27th.  Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you for mailing information.  

Come back on Sunday, October 26th to see what is behind the doors!

Christmas Giftie Ideas

I was reading through the Everyday Matters Yahoo group threads today and came across this post on Making a Simple Sketchbook posted by Nina Johansson in Sweden.  I pulled out a small scrap piece of the Fabriano Watercolor paper and followed her folding instructions.  Viola!  Very easy to make this booklet!  I spent some time brainstorming ideas on what I could do with this little gem.  Hmmm.

Here are some ideas:

1. A Watercolor chart (you can see the large one that I made for my studio last week).
2. A hand sketched “12 Days of Christmas” book
3. A book of samples (fabric, buttons, etc.)
4. A paper and fabric quiltie
5. A book of ephemera collected from your daily life
6. A photograph album
7. Letter and number forms
8. Poetry
9. Random collage
10. An autograph album (of your art friends)
11. An address book
12. To do lists
13. An appreciation book
14. Postage stamp album or how about collecting postmarks
15. Inspirational quotes album

Let’s hear some of your ideas.

Keep it simple!