Title: Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1
Structure: Canvas Book
Dimensions: 6 x 5

Video of my process.

Talk about FUN!!! This book was fun (and tiring) to make. For book 15, I made a canvas covered art journal, but for this 21st book, I wanted to make a full canvas book. One that had pages made from canvas. So like many of my other BIAD books, I found scraps from other projects to use in this one. But with that, came several issues. 

First of all, I have way more stamps than I realized. There are 36 pages (9 pieces of canvas) in this journal. All of them, except the covers, are filled with stamps, yet I still didn't get all of my stamping done. I still have my hand carved stamps, the stamps I made with foam sheets, and the many, many, many alphabet stamps I have. So I guess there will be a volume 2 at some point :-). 

The second realization I had is that not all canvases are created equal. I have several different kinds/brands of canvas in my collection. Each kind takes gesso differently and each kind accepts the stamped image differently. So of course that was fun to deal with as I went along. 

The inspiration for this book came from a conversation I had with my friend Nicole where we talked about archiving. I've always been fascinated by the idea of documenting life, things, etc. This book was my way of archiving and creating a record of the rubber stamps I own. Seriously, when I make mixed media art, it's so easy for me to go to the same old stamps all the time and neglect the others. This catalog gives me an easy way to see what stamps might work for the project I'm working on. 

Even with all the uncertainty and randomness of the canvas, I LOVE how this book turned out. I'm a fan of canvas as a material for bookmaking. Especially canvas for the covers. It's versatile, and if you know how to use mixed media techniques, the possibilities are infinite.  

I'm looking forward to what this week brings. Stay tuned! 

If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please share here or on the Giving Hands Creative Community site.  

Title: The Women Who Raised Me
Structure: Photo Album
Dimensions: 5 x 4

Video of my process.

This 20th book is bound to be one of my favorites. It's a photo album with pictures of some of the women who raised me and the lessons I learned from the. Each photo has a one liner that starts with the words: The Importance of...

This was an interesting experiment with gel medium because most of it didn't seem to want to hold and the front window has severe brush strokes in it from where the gel medium dried. 

Then there is the way the book doesn't open fully by the time I get to the 4th or 5th page. That's a bit disappointing, but all in all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book because of the content. 

Each picture is the same size and placed on the page in the same location. That continuity adds to the narrative of the book by creating an expected repetition and cadence as you read through the one liners.  

I found this process to be really empowering. Looking back through old photos and thinking about my life as a girl, a young woman and now the adult woman I am today, I remembered lots of lessons that, at the time, I didn't know were lessons. 

Because I didn't want to falsely represent my life, I included some non-examples in the book too. By that, I mean I included a few women who didn't necessarily teach me the lesson, but whose actions taught me to pay attention to how I navigate the world. For example, there is a picture of my Grandma Carrie -- she was a strong, caring, and proud woman, but she lived an unhealthy life and towards the end of her life, she was very ill. I learned the importance of good health from her, not because she was the picture of health, but because she wasn't. There are several others in there like that, because those lessons are just as important as the ones that come from positive choices. 

This book reminded me of how blessed I am to have so many wonderful women in my life and how age is not really what matters. There are pictures in the book of women who are younger than me, like the girls I coached when I taught high school. At the time, they were all between 14 and 18 and I learned many, many, many life lessons from them :-). 

Book 20 will surely stay on the list of my top 10 throughout this year. It's a keeper!!!

I'm looking forward to what this week brings. Stay tuned! 

If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please share here or on the Giving Hands Creative Community site.  

Title: A Day In A Book
Structure: Duct Tape Book
Dimensions: 9 x 6 1/4

Video of my process.

This was such a fun book to make!! Inspired by a book that I received during a "paint & pass" at the Glitterhood (Effy Wild), I created a book using upcycled art from previous projects and art journal pages. 

I knew that I was going to have a full day yesterday and that it would be a day worth documenting. My dear friend, Samuel Sattin launched his debut novel -- The League of Somebodies. I had a lunch date with my friend Lily, and my hubby was leaving town for an overnight business trip. There was lots to record. 

I thought the play on words -- "day in a book" would be fun and so I created the book using upcycled art and then went about my day living and documenting. It was fun. It reminded me a lot of my high school days where at the end of the day, I wrote in my journal and recorded things people had said to me and what I had experienced -- everything from feelings to actions to conversations and meals. 

The duct tape served as a great binding material. All the colors I have accumulated through various means really came in handy. This would be an amazing structure to do with kids. It's easy. There's no glue, no scissors, and no real way to screw it up. 

I think this is one I'll do again and again for making blank art journals. 

I'm looking forward to what this week brings. Stay tuned! 

If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please share here or on the Giving Hands Creative Community site.  

Title: Reframing Failure
Structure: Poetry Chapbook
Dimensions: 8 x 5 1/2

Video of my process. 

This week brought with it a great deal of "stuff" to do so I ended up making the book on a Sunday instead of my usual Thursday. After facilitating a day long journal-making workshop, I was beat. I needed a simple structure that I could create rather quickly and content that would fit a simple structure. 

So if you've been following along with the videos and reading this blog, you know that I started the month of April attempting to complete NaPoWriMo. I made it to day 12 and fizzled out. For the rest of the month I felt a little like a failure. But eventually, after a lot of freewriting and journaling, I realized that I shouldn't feel like I failed, because I did get 12 new poems written and I've got a lot of other stuff going on in my artistic and creative life. Thus, this book of poems -- Reframing Failure. 

My poems in this collection come from a series of found poems that I created during the month. You can read them here on this blog. Just search for NaPoWriMo tags and you'll find all 12. 

There's not much else to say about this book other than once the book was done, I was proud of it. It's an easy one to recreate because the cover is my original artwork (inspired by Roben-Marie Smith) that was scanned and copied onto card stock. I found that really satisfying to multipurpose my art and combine it with my poetry!! JOY JOY JOY!!!

I'm looking forward to what this week brings. Stay tuned! 

If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please share here or on the Giving Hands Creative Community site.