Distressed Chic Sparrow

I got this London Fog Chic Sparrow from a Facebook Chic Sparrow Buy, Sell, Trade group.  I was a bit too fast in buying it because I've always wanted a Chic Sparrow, and it was "London Fog" and-and-and!  It's beautiful and the craftsmanship is impeccable. But . . . it's grey and I'm not such a fan.

Then I saw a video where someone distressed their notebook. Then I saw another one by Elena Bedner who gave a bit more of the How To. That was the inspiration to take the plunge and distress my Chic Sparrow.

I got the Tim Holtz stencil & then I used some of my Noodler's black ink on a Q-Tip. And here it is:

That bottom ink splat is very special:

I printed out the Goulet Pens logo and then traced over it with a
Sharpie pen onto freezer paper. Then I cut it out & voila: a stencil.

Here's the whole thing:

If you look carefully on the lower right corner, you can see the name of the gal I bought it from:

Inside, I didn't do too much. I did an initial ink test on the pen loop & I stamped a tea cup on the secretary pocket:

And there you have it.  I'm still not glued to it and I've offered to sell it to another Jessica in the FB group who was interested, so I'm giving her first refusal. If she doesn't buy it, I'll post it on the group for $65. If you see it here and are interested, you can leave a comment below. You'll need PayPal, tho. 

Paperdori

I love discovering new worlds, and thus has begun my Midori-Fauxdori obsession. Midoris originate from Japan and are a kind of notebook where you buy a leather shell, and then you insert individual notebooks. These notebooks can be lined for writing, or blank or made of a sturdier art paper for painting.  Fauxdoris are like Midoris but can come in different colours, sizes & materials and are not made by the Midori company. Check out Etsy or Chic Sparrow for some awesome options! There are also Fabricdoris; haven't ventured there yet. But paperdoris are pretty easy to do!

I found some cute little notebooks at Tuesday Morning by Eccolo for $1.99.  They are 5 1/4" X 3 1/2" and I measured out my scrapbook paper allowing for half an inch more to those dimensions; so the paperdori is 5 3/4" X 4"  Here is the final product I made for my friend Tessa:

This is her favourite quote by John Morgan; Doing diffuses fear. I put quotes on post-it notes and stick them to my mirror in the bathroom. This was one of the notes. I printed this out on some scrapbook paper and then laminated it.

Here's the shell, without the books:

What I would do differently: I would have scored where the elastic bands are, so there wouldn't be that awkward crease. It's not visible when it's closed, but I think it would help better with wear and tear. Another thing I would do differently is that I would NOT laminate the inside because it puckered and I ended up cutting down the middle and overlapping it a bit. This prolly wouldn't be an issue if I'd used a heat laminator.

I punched in a bigger hole to accommodate 2 elastic bands:

About the elastic cord: It was vibrantly rainbowish & multi-coloured & I needed it to be more muted and dark. So I used a black Sharpie marker and dyed the cord. 

For the enclosure elastic, I used a Pilot gold marker:

I used goldish beads to secure the elastic on the outside of the notebook:

and I added a butterfly charm at the top:

This was actually a silver charm, but I used the same gold pen to colour it:

This is what it looks like on the inside:

That first thing is an insert folder that I made using left-over paper:

Outer folder.

Inside folder.

The insert folder slips around the first two notebooks:

Here's how I secured the two butterfly books together before I slipped them under the elastic:

With a rubber band along the center of each notebook.

See?

Here's the last book:

Oops, no photo, but I added some quotes in the book to get her started!

Here's the back:

 

Materials I used:
Aforementioned gold marker
Non-heat laminate roll.  I got it from the craft store and it says "Peel & Stick."  Here's something comparable from Avery.
Eyelet and Snap punch
Corner rounder
Scrapbook paper
2mm elastic cord. I got mine at the craft store, but here's something comparable on Amazon.
Charms, beads from craft store.
Scissors
Packing tape to tape together the papers for the insert folder.
Rubber band to connect 2 of the notebooks together.

Here's a quick flip-thru of the paperdori:

ame>

Procrastination

Procrastination is not laziness, it is an active process of delaying things until we "feel better" about them. It's a kind of perfectionism in the sense that we think everything has to be "just right," when in reality, there's no time like the present and we feel better when we have gotten something done. ~Lissa Coffey

I read this quote from a newsletter this a.m. and thought it was appropriate. Pictured above is the final product of Margot Potter's Kewpie Doll Challenge. She sent me the 2-inch doll in June where it sat and eventually got covered up with other thingies. So I finally excavated it. Initially I had thought I would do a miniature Seth Godin in a purple suit, since he has a bit on kewpie dolls. Then I thought, No! Robert Smith! A tiny version of Fat Bob! But whenever I would think about it, I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to get the hair right. So it stayed in my head, picture perfect. And incomplete.

Michaelangelo used to say that he was just chipping away the pieces that didn't belong to his statues. They were there already, waiting to be revealed. OMG! Am I really comparing my artistic process to Michaelangelo? Hahahaha Yes.

So I held the doll and looked at it and . . . daydreamed the possibilities of this sweet, cherubic-faced . . . reminds me of the baby Krishna pictures . . . and then I thought, Ooooh . . . Baby Ganesh. I fashioned the extra appendages with Sculpey, oven bake clay. I did make 2 extra arms, but I couldn't get them to fit. Did I mention he's only 2 inches???? I baked & then painted.

Back to procrastination: This is where I make a joke about buying a book on procrastination but never taking time to read it. Hahahaha Except that I did. And it was v. helpful. The key is just to start moving, because that helps build momentum. It's a physics principle: Things in motion tend to stay in motion. So the next thing is to finish my new CD--2 months after recording. Because, you know. *sigh* It's not perfect.

Labyrinth Rocks

I liked the melted-crayon rock activity so much that I played with it on Sunday. I've made finger labyrinths before for journals, etc. But this is my first venture into a more 3-dimensional form. I used sparkley dimensional paint for the labyrinth lines. The heart rock and pink rock, I painted, but the other 3 rocks I did the melted crayon thing. Before I painted it, the pink rock reminded me of an elephant, and I thought of a recent post from Margot, so here's a pink elephant labyrinth. Other than that, I was kinda on a purple kick. The crayon gives it a nice, smooooooth texture and I'll definitely be making more of these!