Cabinet Card Book

I had the pleasure this past weekend of taking 2 classes instructed by Joni Russell of Mrs. O'Leary's Art of Wichita, KS. The classes were taught at the Stamp Asylum (love that name) in Plano, TX.  The following project we constructed in one of the classes.

Front of book.

Close up of resin filled bezel.

Spine of book with 3 hand stitched signatures and ribbon binding.

Back of front cover and cover of first signature.

Back of first signature and front cover of the 2nd signature.

Back cover of 2nd signature and front of 3rd signature.

Inside back cover.

Back of book showing one of the beautiful cabinet card stamps offered by Artful Illusions. You can find them here on page 152.

It is amazing what can be done with chipboard, ink, paper and a bit of waxed linen thread.  Now that the construction is done, I need to fill the pages with vintage pictures.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:
Eclectic Ellapu's  "Anything Goes" challenge
"Anything Goes" challenge at Fussy and Fancy.

Fabric Collage Book - Anna

I am so excited to show off my first fabric collage book!  I have been inspired by the beautiful fabric collage books and creations by Nancy James of  Sugar Lump Studio for several years now but just never seemed to get up the nerve to make that first cut into the fabric to get started. I had even emailed Nancy to ask her a few questions about constructing the books. She was so gracious in her suggestions and support. Well, Nancy, I finally did it!!

The book itself is made of mostly re-purposed materials and lace. The cover fabric was a sample piece.....the kind that often ends up in the trash if not rescued.  Some of the lace has been salvaged from vintage pillow cases, dresser scarves, tablecloths and hankies.  A few pieces were made by my grandmother and mother as sample pieces to try out a new pattern. I also used a piece of fabric from my mother's wedding gown.

Front cover.

The picture on the first page is a copy of a watercolor painted of my grandmother in 1912. 

The picture on the left is of my grandmother's class at a school in Pennsylvania. The two cards in the pocket are copies of end of year gifts and achievement cards dated 1902.

Beautiful wedding picture of my maternal grandparents - 1921.

Top picture - my grandmother sporting the latest maternity fashion. Lower picture - my grandmother with her first born (my mother).
The next page is of my grandmother and her 3 children. The tags have other pictures of the children.

On the left is my grandmother wearing an unusual fur coat.
These are the only pictures that I have of my grandmother and I wanted a special treasury of these to share with my aunt for her birthday. She just turned (shhh) 85 yrs. young!

Here is the full cover - front and back. Dyed and crinkled seam binding finishes the spine.

Lovely layers of lacey goodness.

I am submitting this heartfelt creation to the following challenges:
Try it on Tuesday where the theme is recycle.
Anything But a Card where they are asking "Who are you inspired by?".

Roundtop - Warrenton Junking Trip

Well I finally made it down to Roundtop - Warrenton, TX for the mother of all antique and junking shows. My friend Robin and I left on Thursday with plans to come home on Sunday but were having so much fun, we didn't make it back home until Monday night.

There are a gazillion vendors set up in tents along the road for miles. You never know what treasures are waiting for you under the next tent or piled up in the pasture.

Here are a few of the things that made it back home with me:

 A pile of vintage laces and trims.

 Some of these are French, some are Irish and all of them are gorgeous!

Love the bottle with the spider webs...perfect for my witch's apothecary for Halloween.

I love vintage tins and boxes whether for the kitchen or bath.

Saw tons of old pictures but couldn't bring all of them home so picked a few that said "pick me, pick me".

I bought a few more things but already have them cleaned and in their new home.  My hubby was surprised that I didn't come home with more......I'll know better next time *wink*.