I finally finished the first part of the big wooden picture, and decided to celebrate by taking the evening off, and doing something fun. Which to me means creating and spending time with friends. Preferably both at the same time 
While waiting for my creative friends to come over, I decided to start with my Teesha-journal, so I could cross one more thing of my 41-things-list.
Arches watercolor paper. From one sheet, you can make a 16-pages journal.
Tearing and folding like above. You should really watch Teesha´s video to see the whole process.
Normally I´d use watered down or liquid acrylics, but I wanted to try using fabric paint this time. The fabric-paint is more translucent, and it won´t be as dark as the acrylics. Using sponges to spread the colors instead of brushes gives a much more even surface.
The spine is sewn down with the sewing-machine. I didn´t have the proper equipment for doing it by hand, and the machine was just standing there anyway… Quick and easy.
Fun part! Finding scraps, bits and pieces from magazines, tickets & maps, brochures and so on. cutting, piecing and gluing it all down. I use wall-paper-glue, but I´m sure there are lots of other options.
I muted the colors of the pages, to fit the theme ´m heading for. The collage starts with “framing” the pages, and this is how far I got before…
… the doorbell rang.
I got a beautiful bouquet of thistles. Roses and tulips and gerberas are nice, but the beauty of thistles can totally match it´s more popular relatives.
Nina is my old neighbor, and we´ve spent many a creative night together. She is just as eager as me. Back in the days when I was teaching and when we had to go to work the next day, and I need to sleep, she would just continue on her project, while I would go to bed. I like informal friends like that!
Her sister Lisa joined us last night, and this is her first go at the overlock-machine. They had recently joined a sewing-course, so they had a head-start on their projects: cozy tunics.
Nina piecing her velour-tunic together.
Lisa in da hood! I think the overlapping in front makes the whole look of the dress so soft and cozy.