Title: For the Sake of Art
Structure: Leporello Blank Art Journal
Dimensions: 6 2/8 x 4 2/8

Video of my process. 

OMG!!! I just created book 30 and I'm EXCITED. 30 books in 30 weeks. More than being excited, I'm proud of myself. 

So book 30 is a blank art journal featuring a leporello cover created with my small Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate. 

I called it "For The Sake of Art" because as I was making it, I kept thinking about how I do so many things for the sake of others and how making art is for the sake of my sanity, so the title just felt right. 

The internal pages are made with mixed media papers so that when I'm ready, I can create art journal spreads on them. I LOVE a handmade, blank art journal. 

The one feature I love about this book is how it functions like an extended dos-á-dos. There are five "valleys" in the structure that allow for five sewn signatures. The back-to-back nature of the book allows it to close with beautiful symmetry. 

Yep!! It's for the sake of art and I LOVE IT. 

I'm looking forward to what next 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: Observations
Structure: Expand & Display
Dimensions: 4 2/8 x 4 6/8

Video of my process. 

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my niece, Khalia!! I am tremendously proud of you for all you've done to safely make it to 18. 

Okay, so after spending the day with my friend, Lyall and her 9 year old daughter, I was thinking a great deal about the relationships women have with one another. Mothers and daughters. Sisters. Friends, etc. 

It was this line of thinking that led me to write the poems that appear in this 29th book. 

Then I had to come to grips with the fact that my printer really does not like me. I had to print so many copies of this book before I realized that I just wasn't going to be able to print it properly. On to Plan B!

So this is not a structure that I learned somewhere. It's actually a fold that I created one day playing around with paper and folding. I call it the expand and display structure because you start with one square and with each unfolding, you expand the content and display the book until it is fully expanded (see below). 

I fought with my printer and it won. So I had to cut the pieces of the poems into squares and glue them onto the page. I'm fine with it, but I wish I had not wasted hours trying to format the text just right and then fiddling with the printer. But alas. It is done and the end result is pretty nice. 

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: Exposed
Structure: Hardcover Blank Journal with Exposed Kettle Stitch Spine
Dimensions: 8 x 5

Video of my process.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my best friend & husband, Damon. He has been wonderfully supportive throughout this year long process. He is an AMAZING man who journeys with me even when I have no idea where we're going!!! Love you, Papi!!

So this week's book is called Exposed because the spine is staring right at 'cha. I own this journal by Studio Oh! (Bohemian Vintage Floral) that I adore and that I've had for a little more than a year. It's nearly full and so when I set out to do a book today, that journal came to mind and I thought I'd try to recreate it. 

The thing I like so much about the Studio Oh! journal -- they call it a deconstructed journal -- is that I can see the spine. 

I wanted to recreate the journal as closely as possible, so I printed lines onto sketching paper to give me space for journaling. 

There's not much to say about this blank journal other than it was fairly easy to make, it has too much gluing involved, and I must remember to measure three times and cut once. I keep screwing up my measurements and I'm not quite sure why. I suspect I'm just being careless (or carefree). 

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 Unearthing
Structure: Artist's Portfolio
Dimensions: 8 1/2 x 7 (closed)
18 1/2 x 23 (opened)

Video of my process.

Okay so if you've been paying close attention, you've heard me mention several people multiple times. Effy Wild is one of those folks. I adore her artwork and her sense of community, so I'm always eager to fellowship with her when I can create space. I'm already taking two classes with her and so when she started her Inner Excavate Along, I was most definitely trying to get in on that. 

In this week's video I talk about the serendipitous way that I realized I already owned the book Inner Excavation by Liz Lamoreux and how I took that as a sign to go ahead and excavate along with Effy. 

The first chapter of Inner Excavation is an "invitation to begin" and after reading Lamoreux's story about she and her husband moving across the country from friends and family, I was immediately hooked. My husband and I did the exact same thing. From Florida to California. 

Then there is one line in the first chapter that reads, "capture the simple moments of your life" and so I did. I spent one day taking pictures that capture the simple moments of my life. Because I had thought about this book the day before, I was able to wake up and immediately begin taking photos. 

Because the first photo excursion was called "Scenes From This Day," I thought it was fitting to combine the photos with the writing activity from the chapter, and that's how I came up with the photos and the one line poems that each start with the words, "I am..."

This 27th book became one of my favorites rather quickly. Even though I had a lot of issues with my printer, I loved the results. Then, of course, if you have watched the video, you know that I struggled with the measurements for this book and had to do some crafty and creative correcting. 

All-in-all, I'm happy with the way it turned out. 

I'm looking forward to what next 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.