Hoping to Sell Some Stocking Stuffers

Online sales have been very hit or miss.  I knew downsizing to move and then shutting everything down for 2 weeks would hurt, just didn't know how much.

Anyway I came up with some inexpensive stocking stuffer notebooks to see how they might do.

They vary a bit in size, 2.5"x4", 2.5"x5" & 3"x5".  Each has 208 pages, most are lined.  These are perfect for a pocket or a purse.  

I need to make one for myself!

Christmas & Winter Themed Blank Journals

Two more journals completed and up for sale.

A Christmas / Winter themed blank journal with a few pages with Christmas images.  Lovely red berry fabric cover and 164 pages sewn in with peppermint twist butcher's twine.

A Winter theme blank journal with a starry fabric cover.  This one has 232 pages of various paper and star punch outs throughout for fun.

Both are ready for someone to fill with their thoughts, drawings, photos & mementos.

New Journals for the Holidays

I've gotten 2 more journals completed and up for sale.  One is a gratitude journal with an autumn color theme and the other is a Christmas journal.  I have left a lot of blank space for the buyer/receiver to add in all their own journaling, keepsakes and photos.

Yes, this is a shameless plug for my items that are for sale.  It's how I earn money right now as I search for work outside of home.  You can find all my journals in my Ebay store, Etsy shop & Poshmark closet.  The links are in the sidebar.

For those just interested in seeing the journals, enjoy the photos and thanks so much to everyone for stopping by.

Gratitude Journal

Christmas Journal

Hallowe'en is Coming! Goth Journal

I've been working on 2 goth / Hallowe'en journals, really more like scrapbooks for someone to add in their own mementos, drawings & thoughts.

Here's the first one done.

Spiderwebs!  Beaded spine in black of course.  The elastic bookmark has a silver circle charm.

The edges of the signature covers have cobweb looking vintage lace.

Looks cool when the book is closed.

I even had a piece of spiderweb embossed paper, though you probably can't tell very well, it's the small piece laying on the red.

I'm working on another with a sugar skull cover!

Journals for an Artist's Work

I have spent 4 days working on 3 journals as gifts for someone.  The journals are not fancy, they are mostly just functional, it's what's inside that's important.

3 sizes to suit the items inside and note how thick the red one is.  It has 5 signatures.  The blue one, the largest is 9 x 12" and had to be to accommodate what went inside.  The person these are for inherited artwork drawn by his grandfather and they haven't been stored very well.  So I took them out of the ziploc bags and envelopes and out of the shed they had been in and gave them new homes that hopefully will keep them safe for years.

I want to show you some of the artwork done by a man who did them in his spare time as a hobby.  The blue journal holds drawings from the 1940's, WWII era.

He used whatever he could find to draw on and used mostly no.2 pencils with the occasional ball point pen, some colored pencils and even a couple with crayon.  On this portrait he used tracing paper and it is so fragile the edges are shredding.  In case you are wondering about the little strips of paper, they hold the drawings in place without having to glue anything but the strips.

click on the images to see them larger.

He seemed to have loved humor judging from some of his drawings.  The cartoon is on a scrap of writing paper, Gussie and many other pieces were drawn on the back of pasteboard signs from the railroad company he worked for.  Most of his work from the 40's is full page size and there are a lot of female nudes as well.

The red journal is filled with drawings from the mid 1970s and they are mostly ranch scenes.  And it's the same ranch and same lake in each one.  The full page drawings are mostly on some sort of cardstock that looks like it might have been the backing to a notepad or something. I believe these were done after he retired.

A handsome cowboy on a random sheet of blue paper.

Some smaller pieces done with colored pencil.  You can see here how many pages I had to use.

The green journal is novel sized and I believe they were all done in the mid 1970s also, with a ballpoint pen.

A couple of caricatures.

Neighborhood cats.

And a jogger.

Check out the texture on these and see if you can guess what he used to draw on this time.  The answer will be below but try to guess first.

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It's the cut out tops of styrofoam egg cartons.  I wish I had met this man.

I know his grandson is going to appreciate the journals which make it easy to look at the art without it falling to pieces anymore.

More Journals & Rosaries to Sell ~ Nothing Bought to Make Them

Here are photos of the new journals I've made along with some new rosaries.  And the best part is that I bought nothing in order to make them.  Recycling at it's best use!

No extra frills on these, just lined pages and sometimes signature covers.

This rosary is made of clay beads with brass accent beads.  The ridges feel nice as your fingers move over them.  

All the beads are made of stone in varying shades of blue.

My favorite so far, red stones 

including the cross to which I glued metal crosses on each side, the large beads are vintage lucite.  I think it gives it a byzantine style.

All are for sale on my various Ebay stores, soon on Etsy & Poshmark, check my links in the sidebar if you are interested or send me an email.

More Journals, I'm On A Roll

I have 3 more journals completed and up for sale.  I'm trying to make a nice amount of them in various colors and sizes.  And for the most part will try to keep them a bit plain - as in no extra frills, especially on the inside.  This is to keep the cost down.  Journals are something I tend to sell when people are looking for a handmade gift and with Christmas coming up sooner than we'd like.... well, there you go.

A nice floral with a vintage book page on the front.

Vintage looking endpapers and signature covers, the bulk is plain lined pages.

One for the younger girls, though it might make a great recipe book.

Again mostly lined pages with signature covers and an envelope pocket on the back of each signature.

Signatures are what the sets of pages are called, each signature is hand sewn to the spine.

My favorite, I gussied it up with a beaded spine and a bit of lace.

Pretty signature covers with vintage book illustrations with a letter theme.

All are now available in my various online stores, see links in the side bar.

I have 4 more ready for photos and 2 more started.  Having the recycled book covers already covered in fabric from my bin makes this go a bit faster.

Most everything I'm using is recycled.  The book covers from books I got free or cheap and have read, fabric I had, scrapbook paper I picked up are thrift stores for very little, book illustrations from a free book, embroidery thread odds & ends from the thrift store or given to me, beads & trim I have had forever.  All I have bought so far has been mod podge & tacky glue.

Making Journals Again, 1st One Done

I am making journals again as I have sold all but one of the ones I made last time.  So in hopes of sales for 4th quarter / Holiday time, I'm working on more in a larger variety to appeal to a larger audience.

Here's the 1st one done.

I love the celestial fabric and I trimmed it with gold lace and golden glass beads on the stitched spine.

288 lined pages with other pages and envelopes to store your treasured mementos.

There are 6 signatures with plenty of room for the book to expand as photos and such are added.

I use recycled book covers and I kept the colorful map endpapers in this one.

This one, the mermaid journal from the last batch and more to come can be seen in my Ebay store and also will be cross-posted to my Etsy and Poshmark stores.  

Working on New Journals, Use What You Have!

I have been working on 2 new journals, this time for myself.

This is just the cover, its empty inside though I have some pages completed.  I wasn't sure I wanted this print for this particular journal but didn't have funds to buy anything different as I would have had to order some online.  It must have been serendipity because the cardstock I am using for the pages are all these same colors and everything works well together.

Another journal for myself with peacock fabric I bought months ago.  I adore peacocks and wanted to make a visual journal of just peacocks and similar colored birds.

This is an old typing manual so it flips open at the top.

I removed almost 2/3 of the pages because as you glue in images you are adding 2 layers to every page.  Then I painted pages with craft paint, fairly thinly and the paper is so good it barely curled on the edges.  I was also in a painty paper swap with 2 other people and the paper on the left, among many others, was done by a swap partner.  The swap asked for favorite colors and I received all the peacock colors I could have wanted.  Those papers are pasted onto the ones actually in the book and bird images will go on top in random patterns.

A Romance Journal Just in Time for Valentines Day!

I finished another journal that included some more sewing and beading.

This was fun getting all the beads to work out to the right length.  I had wanted to use for of the shell leaves, but they were too wide to fit.

I included so wonderful pages from a free old book and antique lace edging that had seen better days.

And made my own marbled paper for the signature covers and end papers.  That was fun, you use shaving cream in a tray and drizzle or drop paint on it then stir with a thin stick.  Lay a damp piece of cardstock or paper on it for a minute, peel it off and after a couple minutes you squeegee off the foam.

Available in my Etsy Shop!

My Newest Blank Journal with a Beaded Spine

I've spent 3 days working on a new journal which will be a gift.  And I did get to play with fabric (for the cover) and beads (on the spine) as well as actually sewing the pages in place.

I love this fabric of leafless trees.  I covered an actual book cover (with pages removed).  I also added some metal corners I had in my stash.

As I sewed in the signatures (groups of pages) I added beads to 3 of the 5 signatures.  Silver Celtic beads, dark blue glass beads and long silver glass beads.  I am so happy with how it turned out.  Dark blue embroidery thread was used for the sewing.

Inside are rainbow water-colored papers among others.

This is inside the front cover.  I painted the watercolor page, the hand was printed out and I embellished it with tiny flowers & jewels meant to decorate fingernails.

I love this page, it made a heart just by accident.

And believe it or not, these were done with the cheapo kid's watercolors, $1.98 at Walmart.