If you have been following my blog for a while, you know I'm currently exploring creative book-making.

My favorite process is using Gelli Plates to create my covers and pages for my "art books". 

I first come in contact with this company and their products at a quilting expo.  Gelatin has long been a method for creating color and texture on fabric but it is a messy process.  You have to make the gelatin plate and put it into a refrigerator and after a few prints, it begins to deteriorate. (Not a bad thing but totally unpredictable!)

'Two women (Joan Bess and Lou Ann Gleason) decided to invent something better and they were kind enough to send me a plate to play with.  Well, I was hooked!  I have made many books using this process and thought kids would like it too.

I volunteer every week at the Ronald McDonald House in Denver and they asked me to start an arts program for the families staying there.  Printing with Gelli Plates was the first thing that came to mind!  So, I wrote them and asked them if they would donate their student kit for my class.

And, they responded back "of course"!  (How I love this company!)

I received 5 student kits this week and my new art class will start this September with kids (and their parents!) having some fun printing and making books from this wonderful process.

Thank you Lou Ann and Joan!!!

​Please visit their website and buy directly from them.  They also have tons of inspiring videos to show you what can be created using their products.  Enjoy!

Today was the finale of the Colorado Classic Bike Race.  

Luckily, the track went around the corner of my studio on Walnut Street so when I heard the whistle and sirens of the approaching racers, I could step outside and watch them.  After 7 laps, four of the riders broke away from the pack and at the end, Travis McCabe from the United Healthcare team won the sprint. 

But as I was watching the race, I was again reminded that bike racers race in teams and those teams are denoted by the color of their jerseys.  So, watching the peloton (the pack) race by, I could easily pick out which team was in the front or lagging at the back.  It made the race much more interesting to watch even though they raced by in a blur. 

Color has a very large effect in our lives, our emotions, and our perceptions.  Watching this race just made me think more about this topic.  

I know I love to wear jewel colors because they make me happy.  How does color affect you?
​

In my exploration of book forms, I ran across a movement called "Junk Journals" and decided to make one for myself.  (Actually, I will be making 9 of these since they are so much fun and I love the antique look!)

I think the definition of a junk journal is to use what you have, rather than go buy expensive pre-printed papers so I looked around and found a set of 9 small (4" x 6") hardback books I had collected almost 30 years go when I was into book collecting.  They have been collecting dust on my bookshelf since then so that's the set I started with.

I wanted to make something that looked and felt old so I decided to "tea dye" some papers.  I loved the way this process crinkled up the papers as they dried and gave some "heft" to my book. The papers I used were copy paper, newspaper, lined notebook paper, graph paper, brown paper bags, tags, dictionary pages, and papers I printed coupons on from JoAnn and Michaels that I never used.

Some of the pages, I further embellished by using stamp ink on the edges.  Others, I left alone.  

After ripping out the original pages from the small book, I reinforced the spine with masking tape and colored the edges with a marker to darken it so it blended in better.  I then made signatures from the papers I collected and dyed and went to the sewing machine to stitch all the signatures to the spine.

I just kept adding signatures until the book spine was full.  Then I covered the inside of the cover with some pages from the old book I had torn up.

All in all, I was very happy with the result!

Now, I'm looking in my bookshelves for more of these small, cute, hardcover books to alter into works of art.

These bags are fast, easy and fun to make!  Great for using up your stash and giving as gifts.  Christmas is just around the corner (!) so I'm in the process of writing up a pattern for making these in multiple sizes.  You can also fill them with lotions, sprays, perfume, liners, shadows, blushes,— whatever — to make this a special gift for families and friends. 

Just email me at [email protected] and type Make-up Bag in the subject line to get my FREE pattern!