is actually a journal...
I couldn't resist using this fabric to make a house shaped journal and since I've been playing around with the tri fold design it seemed like a good pairing.
And I bought a few pieces of this very fun paper that has a floor plan sketch on it.
And on the other side:
some more blank pages and 6 envelope pockets.
Well with 61 comments I decided to give away 3 notebooks so without further delay the winners of the notebooks chosen by the random number generator are...
Lise of http://lise2007.blogspot.com/
Ruth of http://ruthsfiberphotos.blogspot.com/
Cindy of http://crftyscrapper.wordpress.com/
Congratulations you three! Please email me at suebleiweiss@yahoo.com with your mailing address and which notebook you'd like and I'll pop it right in the mail to you. Thanks to everyone who commented and played along!
I worked on a new journal style this past weekend - the tri-fold:
I used a gorgeous textured silk for one side that I got at Joggles. Lovely fabric to work with, I'm going to have to get myself some more!
And opened:
On one side 2 single signatures and on the other:
A signature made with envelopes: 4 small ones and 4 large ones. And I couldn't resist filling the envelopes with some note cards:
Lots of variations can be made with this style journal and I'll be working on several over the course of this week so stay tuned for more photos!
I've been playing with the bind-it-all machine for the last few days. I love this little binding machine! It works so well. I started with these large 8"x8" notebooks:
Had a blast making these up. I used some recycled wall paper samples for the covers. It was a vinyl wallpaper so it makes a nice sturdy smooth cover. I put these large ones in the shop here.
Then I thought it would be fun to make up some smaller ones so I put together these 6"x6" ones:
And then I found that I couldn't stop so I made up these 5"x7" ones:
All of these notebooks have 60+ pages in them along with some coordinating colored card stock pages. Of course there are some pockets and I threw in some journaling tags too. I thought it would be fun to give a couple of these away so if you're interested in having one of the 6" square or the 5"x7" ones leave me a comment on this post between now and Sunday. I'll draw a random name from all the comments on Monday morning. How many am I going to give away? Well it depends on how many comments I get!
In the meantime, it's nose to the grindstone for me now as I start working on the new Journal Making II class that I'm hoping to have done for the fall. I've spent the last couple of weeks making note and sketches and I'm ready to start testing some new ideas!
I mentioned a few posts ago that I had a stack of sketches and notes for some new journal designs. I've been working my way through them slowly picking and choosing different elements to work on. Whenever I create a brand new design I usually like to build a sample or prototype first just to work out the measurements and the assembly order. Sometimes what looks good on paper or make sense in the sketchbook doesn't always translate well into reality.
This new journal:
looks a lot like the others that I've done in the past but the inside has something a little different. I've been trying to come up with a way to store pencils and pens right in the journal utilizing something other than a pocket:
So this one has a pencil box built right in:
Not sure if I like the ring system for the pages or not. I'm working on a few other ideas for that too. This design needs a bit more work but as prototypes go, this one is headed in the right direction I think.
Have a great weekend!
We all have those days. You wake up and just don't know what you feel like working on. I was having one of those days today. Usually the best way for me to get past that is to just start moving things around in the studio and typically something starts to happen. This is what happened this morning:
I bought this fabric a couple of weeks ago, put it away and then Vicki's post the other day reminded me that I had it. I thought it would work well for a journal.
The inside:
The pages have been embellished with some of the fabrics used in the cover and lining. The center of each signature has a page from "Alice in Wonderland":
The front and back panel of the journal has a slot pocket which is a little hard to see in this photo:
And each signature cover has been embellished with fabric and silk ribbon.
I'm working up some idea and sketches for developing another journal making class. Not sure when it will be ready but you can be sure you'll be seeing previews of the projects here on the blog. Here's a question for you: What makes a good journal? What do you look for in a journal or sketchbook? How do you like them to close? What extra's do you like to have?
And a quick reminder that the Mixed Media Surfaces for the Fiber Artist online class starts next week!
I just put the finishing touches on the Creative Mixed Media Journaling Techniques class lessons.
I am really looking forward to the start of this class, we're going to have a great time working through all the different techniques in these lessons. I really packed each lesson with lots of techniques to experiment and play with. My most sincerest thanks to Sandy for being my official lesson tester for this workshop!
Here they are, all 89 pages bound up nicely in a book all ready for class to start. Visit my website here to learn more about this class and how to register for it.
I've been working on a stack of journals for the last week and I finished them all up today.
All of these are in the shop here. This is the last of this style journal for a while. I've decided to retire this particular style and configuration for now while I work on some new designs. I have several pages of notes and sketches for new journal styles that I'll be working on over the summer.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Well this is pretty exciting! I got my May/June issue of Somerset Studio yesterday:
And turned to page 20 to find my 3 page article all about my Journal Fabric Sketchbooks!
I still can't believe I'm seeing my work in this magazine. I couldn't be happier with the layout and the photos, they did a really wonderful job. The article is about creating the journal fabric sketchbooks that are on the home page of website.
A friend of mine asked if I would make a baby journal for her to give as a gift for an upcoming baby shower. The person had registered at Pottery Barn so we decided to coordinate the journal with the theme of the baby's room and I went and bought a pillowcase to use as the outside fabric for the journal:
The inside has 3 signatures that are sewn in using silk ribbon. Each has some coordinating colored papers and I added photo frames to the center page of the center signature:
She can add some baby photos later using some of the photo corners that I included with the journal. I wanted to coordinate the pockets and include a few tags so I photo copied some of the pillow case fabric onto so full sized label sheets and used them to make the pockets and tags:
And I embellished some of the pages with some baby themed things. These little pink baby ceramic hand and foot print impressions were too cute to pass up in the store:
The same for these fun safety pins:
I hope she likes what I've done. I think she will.
Hope everyone is having a great week!
I've been busy in the studio this weekend. It was so nice outside yesterday that I set myself up out on the deck and prepped some textured surfaces for some new journals:
You'll learn how to make these surfaces in the Creative Mixed Media Journaling techniques class that starts 6/9/08. Actually you'll also learn how to turn them into a journal too.
I wanted to do some more painting today but there's just too much wind. So instead I ended up finishing a couple of journals I started last week:
This one has some great preprinted water color pages inside all ready for adding color to and the button embellishment on the cover is glass. More photos in the shop here.
And when I saw this fabric at equilter.com I just had to buy some of it.
The brides journal! More photos of the inside here.
There's been a lot more journals added to the flickr group for the Journal Making for the Fiber Artist class that's running now. Check them out here. The next session of this class starts 6/2/08
And a reminder that the Mixed Media Surfaces for the Fiber Artist class starts in just a few weeks! Click here for all the details on that class.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
On Tuesday this week I had the pleasure of spending the day with Vicki and Summerset. There was lots of shopping and lunching and I had the best time! Between the fabric store, the bead store and the yarn store I ended up with a good sized bag of goodies including some fabrics and some new ribbons:
My ribbon collection is seriously lacking a good variety to choose from. This newly purchased batch will help a bit. That fabric in the center is a fake leather with a basket weave pattern. It's very textured. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it but I think it might be a good surface for painting on.
I just added a couple new journals to the shop:
The closure embellishment on this one is a door knocker and the little ring on it actually pulls up. More photos of the inside here.
I just love the outside fabric on this one. More photos of the inside here.
Took a break from working on the Creative Mixed Media Journaling Techniques class to put together a new journal:
Red is not a color I usually work in very much but when I came across that metal inspired tag when I was browsing the card and gift store I had to buy it and put it in a journal. The inspired tag and skeleton key are attached to the journal with a red satin ribbon and can be used as a place holder or bookmark for the inside. More photos of the inside are in the shop here.
I'll be back in a couple of days with more class sneak peeks and an announcement about when registration for the new class will open.
Have a great day!
Remember the textured surface in yesterday's post that I showed? Well now it's been turned into these two journals:
Inside photos in the shop
and this one:
and this one has a very fun fantasy theme inside. Photos are in the shop.
I mentioned a few posts ago that I was involved in a secret swap with the BBEST etsy team that I'm on. Well today the mailman brought me my swap package from my secret swap partner and I am over the moon about it:
See the little cocker spaniel charm! Don't you just love it?! This charm bracelet was made for me by Kathleen who has a shop on Etsy called Figments by Kathleen. She does the most wonderful work.
Don't forget to leave a comment on my previous post to be entered in the giveaway that I'm having!
The VAST theme challenge for March is Green and so I created a green journal for it:
This has a gorgeous glass button embellishment on it. More photos here.
These two are actually gifts. One is for someone who did something really nice for me and one is for a swap with the BBEST group:
It's a secret swap so the person won't know that they're getting it until it shows up at their door. The insides of these are filled with colorful pages and some of that very cool velvet paper.
And this is another journal made with that white embossed wrapping paper:
Some gorgeous papers in this one. More inside photos in the shop.
Sandy has finished testing the lesson for weeks 3&4 for my Journaling Techniques class. She got some fabulous results! I'm now starting to get weeks 5,6&7 organized and written for her to test. This class is coming together faster than I anticipated so there's a chance that I may be able to run it sooner than September.
In case you missed the previous post, registration for the Journal Making for the Fiber Artist online class is now open, click here for all the details!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Remember the white embossed wrapping paper from this post? Well now it looks like this:
and the inside:
More photos in the shop.
Thanks to everyone who has signed up for the Journal Making class! Registration is still open and will stay open until 1 week after class starts. I had a couple of technical questions about the class that I thought I'd answer here:
How long will lessons be available for download? They will remain available until 4 weeks after class ends.
I'm a beginning sewer, is this class for me? Even if you are a beginning sewer and have never made a journal before you'll have no problem making these journals.
How much time will I spend on each weeks lesson? It's up to you! You can make your journals with complicated insides or not. Most of the shells of the journals go together fairly quickly so it's up to you how much time you spend on the insides.
Is this the Journaling Techniques class? No it's not, read about that class here.
Read more about the class and how to register here.
I will be running the Mixed Media Surfaces for the Fiber Artist class soon. Sign up for my mailing list here to be notified of when that class is open for registration.
A reminder that the Invitational Reverse Auction of Fabulous Fiberart opens on March 10th with art from Frances Holliday Alford, Terry Grant, Peg Keeney, Jay Rich, Susan Sorrell, Del Thomas, Larkin Van Horn, Laura Wasilowski, Leni Wiener and Maggie Winfield. 100% of the proceeds go directly to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause. The reverse auction runs March 10-13 with the minimum donation reduced each day. Click here for all the details on how the reverse auction works and to view some of the gorgeous art available.
It was a relatively quiet weekend around here. I've been working away at writing the lessons for the journaling techniques class scheduled for late September so I've been sitting at the computer quite a bit. I decided to take a break from lesson writing and worked on finishing up one of the journals from the embossed wrapping paper that I blogged about a few days ago.
and a view of the inside:
I used a very fun postcard themed cotton print for the lining. More photos are in the etsy shop here.
Thanks to all of you who have left comments on the last couple of posts. I apologize to those I have not answered. I got a bit behind in answering emails and I"m working on getting caught up. I always welcome and appreciate your comments, it's the best part of blogging!
I got some very exciting news in my inbox today about one of the Fibre&Stitch subscribers. Betty Donahue is having a showing of her quilts (80 of them!) at the Isabel Anderson Comer Museum and Arts Center in Sylacauga, Alabama! You can visit Betty's flickr site here to see more of her wonderful work.
That's Betty on the right in this next photo standing next to one of her incredible quilts:
Betty has also raised a lot of money with her quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt initiative which you can see here. Congratulations and best wishes for a great show Betty!
I finished off a couple new journals today. Remember the purple surface I posted yesterday? Well today it became a journal:
More photos here.
and a new paper bag surface journal.
This one has actual paper bags for some of the pages and you can see more photos of the insides here.
And this just in... I've been featured on the Haute Innovations blog! I'm so flattered! Thank you Mimi for featuring me!
Now I'm off to do some work on the Journaling Techniques workshop. Stay tuned for some sneak peek photos...
I don't know if you are aware of Ami Simms initiative to raise money for Alzheimer's research or not. You should really pop over and visit the website to learn how you can help support this very worthy cause by purchasing a donated quilt. I just bought myself one by the very talented Annie Nordmark (who doesn't have a blog unfortunately). This quilt is is called "Wild Dreams"
and it's perfect for my living room, although I am very tempted to hang it on the wall and display it. But it looks so good draped over the edge of the chaise I might just leave it right where it is. You can click here to read the artist statement that goes with it. Annie I just love it and I'm so glad it's mine!
And I added a new chalkboard journal to the shop this morning:
Detail photos in the shop. This one comes with journaling tags made from the chalkboard fabric!
Have a great weekend everyone!
and the winner of the notebook in my previous post chosen by the random number generator is....
Sequana!
congratulations! Email me with your snail mail address and I'll ship it out to you first thing tomorrow.
And here are two new notebooks that have been added to the shop:
"How green is your garden"
Inside pictures here.
and "Love is in the air"
inside pictures here.
Thanks to everyone who played in the One World One Heart giveway!
Have you seen the posts about the One World ONE event? 
What is it? Well it's a worldwide blogging give away event intended to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. You can read all the details here and see the list of all the blogs that are participating.
All you have to do is leave a comment on this post between now and valentines day. I"ll draw the winner sometime on 2/14/08. Make sure there is a way for me to contact you by email to let you know that you've won.
Well I decided to jump in and join and I spent this morning creating the item that I'm going to give away.
A spiral bound doodlers notebook! The front and back covers have been covered in cork paper and the front cover has a piece of chalkboard fabric bonded to it. You can see I doodled a bit on the cover already (I'll clean it off before I ship it to the winner!) Here's a look at the inside:
It opens and lays flat and has 100 pages of really nice quality heavy white paper on the inside.
Good luck!
Two journals from the blue tissue paper surface that I blogged about a few days ago:
A regular sized one:
filled with lots of blank pages and some of my hand painted papers.
And a new sized journal that's a bit smaller at 7"x7":
Both are in the shop.
Now I've got to get working on a custom order and work with some of these:
yummy sheets of silk fusion. I think I see a journal or two in this pile!
It's been a bit of a crazy week here so I haven't gotten as much done as I planned but I did manage to finish off a new paper bag journal:
and inside:
More photos in the shop.
Hope you're having a great weekend!
Well after two days of non stop sorting, folding and organizing I managed to get the studio cleaned up and now have my fabrics in the studio with me. I was storing them the office closet (which is right next to the studio room) but the closet was dark and it was hard to find what I was looking for in there. So... we went out and bought a nice rolling shelving unit and I am very happy with this new arrangement.
This is the upstairs fabric stash. I have several boxes of fabrics stored in the basement but those are mostly home dec type fabrics.
I also added the shelf units on both sides of the large one. They're on wheels too so everything is easy to move around to clean under and get to.
and while I was at it I got all of my large sheets of decorative papers organized too:
Much better!
and since I was feeling so organized I decided to finish up the turquoise journal:
More photos of it in the shop.
Have a great weekend everyone!
I finished the third journal this morning:
More pictures of this one in the shop.
I have one surface left from the four that I made last week. So I pulled out some supplies and this will be tomorrows project:
That's tomorrows project. The rest of today is being spent doing some major re-organizing in the studio. I've finally gotten some new shelving units and I'm getting all my fabrics and supplies organized. Actually I'm trying to clear a path to the loom. I've gotten an article assignment from Handwoven Magazine and the yarn should be arriving today. But the only way I'm going to get to weave anything is if I find a clear path to the loom first!
Remember the surfaces that I blogged about here? Well I started working with them yesterday.
"Watercolor memories" journal:
Filled with tons of sketchpaper and quite a few of my own hand painted papers:
and "Window into my imagination":
which also has some of my hand painted metallic papers inside:
Both of these are now in the shop where you can also see more photos of the insides.
Hope you're having a great day!
Odd title for a blog post isn't it? Well the last time I ordered some fabric I bought a yard of chalkboard cloth because I was curious about it. This is cool stuff! It's essentially oilcloth with a chalkboard finish on the front. Then last week I ordered a few things from Dickblick.com and I came across this cork paper. Also very cool stuff. I decided that the two of these materials would work well in a journal and so here is the chalkboard journal:
You can actually write on this chalk cloth with a piece of regular chalk and then wipe it off with a cloth.
This is the perfect journal for people who like to doodle. I put three signatures on the inside and has a wrap of chalkcloth with a clear plastic wrap over it so that the doodles don't get smudged when the journal is closed.
This is now in the shop and there are more pictures here.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
I was walking through the fabric store the other day and happened to find myself in the silk aisle and saw this print and could not bring myself to leave without it. I thought it would be perfect for using for a sketchbook:
And while I was making one I thought I'd use that shibori piece that I showed you in my last blog post to make another one:
both of these are in the shop.
My Mixed Media Surfaces online class started today. The beauty of an online class is that you can sign up and join in even once class has already started so if you're interested, check it out here.
Now I've got to get back to working on the journaling techniques workshop. Samples from that new class are coming soon!
becomes today's journal....
"The Key to Creativity" Approximately 9"x8" closed
The inside has some handmade papers and the center signature has a smaller
signature nested inside with a page filled with my favorite quotes
about creativity.
and of course some pockets:
I had some of the outside surface left after I cut the piece I needed for the journal so I made them into some ATC's:
These are up for grabs if anybody wants one. Just drop me an email with your snail mail address to suebleiweiss@yahoo.com. Sorry, they're all taken!
Have a great weekend everyone!
This is what the work table looked like halfway through this morning after a flash of inspiration once the coffee kicked in...
and from that mess came this...
"Nature Notes Journal" The paper is mulberry paper from Creative Papers Online which is my favorite place to buy speciality papers like this. This is a nice heavy weight mulberry paper perfect for this purpose but I did re-inforce the spine and added a stiff backing to the back of the journal to make it easier to write in.
and the inside:
Filled with 3 signatures of nice cream colored cotton paper perfect for writing on and of course some pockets too.
Now I gotta go clean up that mess!
I've had this project on the list for a while.
This was a hardback cookbook in it's former life. Bought for 50 cents at the library used book sale. I took out some of the insides and sewed in three new signatures for writing on. When you open it the first chapter is still there:
but after that comes the new sections:
and I left some of the last chapters intact and then used them to make lots of pockets:
Definitely a fun project. Although cutting out those pages to make room for the new signatures was a bit of a challenge. I can see lots of ways to embellish and do interesting things with the inside with this technique and I've got a page of notes about things to try on the next one.
And I finished off a journal made with some hand painted fabric:
You can see the inside of this one over at the Etsy shop here.
of the journal class samples...
Buttons & Linen
12"x 4 1/2" and the inside:
and Fiesta...
I bought a stack of those handwoven fabric strips when I was in Houston. Paid a fortune for them but oh gosh they have such great colors in them. The inside of Fiesta is filled with lots of colorful pages of course...
Fiesta is 10"x 6" closed. Both of these journals have replaceable signature bindings.
And now that the last of the class samples are made I have some new journal designs that I want to work on. I'll be back in a few days!
Finished off the last sample for the journal making class that I'm writing:
"Paris Silks" has a silk outside and lining:
and the inside front:
and a shot of the 3 inside signatures:
This journal measures 12"x5" and is bound using a technique that allows you to easily replace the signatures when you have used them up. I'm working on a couple more of these, one in linen (a fabric I seem to have an affinity for working with lately) and version done in velvet each with a different spine embellishment. I should have photos to share by early next week.
This class will run in late May at Joggles and I'll have an announcement when sign ups start which will probably be sometime in mid April. In the meantime here is the narrative for the class if you're interested:
Journal making for the Fiber Artist
5 lessons, $50
There’s something about writing or drawing in a journal that you’ve made yourself that makes the experience more enjoyable. In this class I’m going to show you how to make several different types of journals that you can personalize with your own themes and style.
Lesson 1: We’ll make a simple wrapped journal this week and you’ll learn how to create and sew in signatures. I’ll show you how embellish the inside of your journal and how to make pockets that you can fill with journaling tags and note cards.
Lesson 2: We’re making a unique sketchbook journal this week that has replaceable pages with places for pencils and other drawing tools.
Lesson 3: You can bind this weeks journal together using either screw posts, ribbons, string or cording and you can embellish your covers with things like twigs, pencils and chopsticks. I’ll show you lots of different ways to add pockets to your journal pages that can hold tags, photos, memorabilia and cards.
Lesson 4: I’m going to show you how to turn a brown paper lunch bag into a faux leather journal. You won’t believe it’s not leather!
Lesson 5: For our last class we’re going to create a 3 signature journal that is uses a binding technique that will allow you to easily slide new signatures in and out as you fill them.
Have a great weekend!
I used some of that fabric I showed you in my my last post to make this tote bag:
and the other side:
This is one piece of a set of items that I'm working on for a big project. I'll have more photos for you on that later this week hopefully.
Back in October when I was in Houston at the Quilt Festival with Terri we came across this vendor selling wonderful packages of lace for practically a steal. So naturally I bought a stack! I finally pulled them out this week and used some of them for a couple of journals:
and Lavendar&Lace:
You can see the insides of these if you like by visiting the etsy shop.
Another sample from the journal making class I am writing made with brown paper bags...
The strap is real leather and the button is vintage courtesy of a treasure box of buttons that my friend Vicki sent me last year.
Seems only natural to use a map theme for the inside of this one doesn't it?
Some great papers and images in this one too...
and of course there are lots of extra pockets...
Can you tell that I'm having a lot of fun writing this class?! and now onto the next project....
This is a variation of the Japanese stab binding journal format.
This one is filled with some of the most fabulously textured papers...
Yes those are real twigs sewn onto the binding...
And this next one has some great colored pages inside...
and plenty of pages for sketching and drawing on....
Both of these measure about 6" x 10"
