i made: a journal!

 i've always wanted to try bookbinding, but it always looked so intimidating as i tried to read two-dimensional words to describe the process of coptic binding... not what i ended up doing here.
my 5-week online art class with misty mawn starts tomorrow! and we're supposed to have a journal to work in. so, along with most of the other participants, i made one! she showed us this easy way to sew your pages directly into the cover to make a spine. i used watercolor paper so i can paint in it! the cover is a piece of a dropcloth i had used for practice when i was brainstorming for this project. it's part of the word "beauty". i love that it's abstract ;) and i can't wait to use it :) good thing class starts tomorrow!

 ps. i made this journal over the last two days. not today. i didn't do anything creative today. literally. i laid around on the couch and tried to get up - all. day. at least i'm finally blogging!
pps. i also forgot to journal one day this week. other than that, i have kept all my resolutions so far this year! uh, maybe i forgot to floss last night. ;) how are yours going?

handmade gifts

 the three little headbands i made for my sister for her birthday (i took pictures of me wearing them for the sole purpose of submitting as a possibility of something i could make for the upcoming Light of Christmas boutique... but someone else is already making flower hair accessories. so i'm gonna have to be more creative ;) i realized that i love making things for people as gifts! but not really just "crafty" things, where i can like, find a pattern and copy step-by-step instructions... i like to take things my own direction so that they end up not just being a labor of love & time, but truly an expression of me! so, as i have a couple of different "projects" in the works, i'm having a hard time figuring out ways to really involve others like i would love to... cause they're not me... but whatever "we" make will be an expression of us (and me)... sounds like a control issue ;) 

first of all is the ever-present "project" of the uptown aesthetics team... i have a bunch of ideas swirling around in my head (this being one of those sleepless nights), but i'm not sure how to implement them while still maintaining my (& my family's) sanity... i have GOT to learn to delegate, let go! ;) 

the second thing that i currently have on my plate is that i'm in charge of the gift bags & nametags for our november women's retreat... and i have a hard time not choosing to make something handmade to go in every single of the 120 bags... pretty sure that, not only will the nametags & bags be embellished, but there'll be something designed my yours truly in there... but again, how not to let that completely overwhelm my life involves a team working together... which means i need to come up with something easily reproducible (a "craft" project of my own design, i suppose?)... and a team ;)

and there are more... and i can't wait ;) to see what pours out of my heart in the form of creativity to serve others. so my heart's desire and a passion that is always resting in my soul, waiting for expression! wanna join me? ;)

"happy pretty!" as joey says, in his attempt to say "happy birthday, kristi" ;)