Greece Vacation Journal

"It was Greek to me." ---Servilius Casca, Julius Caesar

Recently, I was asked to create a vacation journal for a friend's son and daughter-in-law. They're heading to Greece so the theme of the journal revolves around the beautiful sites and colors of the country!

Used my trusty Bind-It-All to bind the book. 

All the images were found online and printed on a 

pearlized cardstock so they have a little bit 

of a shimmer to them. 

Found the pretty charms at Hobby Lobby.

Back cover. The covers are made from chipboard and

covered with a thinner scrapbook paper. I used some metal 

corners from Tim Holtz to protect the edges and I 

Mod Podged the covers for durability.

Inside of the cover and page 1. 

On the right, I included a kraft envelope covered on the back

with some scrapbook paper. 

I also attached a journaling card

Other side of the envelope and page 1.

The envelope is perfect for holding ticket stubs, receipts,

and other memorabilia.

Next couple of pages. Found all the images online. :-)

Included some familiar sites. The back of these cards can 

be used for journaling or for small photos.

All the main pages are actually top loading pocket pages. 

They'll be able to store more photos or larger bits and 

pieces they collect along the way.

These are my favorite pages! Love how this came out.

The page on the right has a little pocket where the newlyweds 

can insert a nice photo of themselves. 

Also included a mini paper sack for storing more memories.

The paper bag has a several journal tags as well.

Last couple of pages. I made a pocket on the inside of 

the back cover. 

The postcards can also be used as photo mats. 

Another fun project. Hope the kids enjoy themselves!

Blessings!

Millie

Fall Fabric Owl

“A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more (s)he saw the less (s)he spoke; The less (s)he spoke the more (s)he heard; Why aren't we like that wise old bird?”

I haven't created any Fall decorations for a while, so this year, I decided to revamp some of the the things I already have on hand. I really love the work of Dana Engemann. Her patchwork creatures are just adorable and I got the inspiration for my little cutie from her.

 Everything I used came from what I already had. 

My favorite kind of project! 

 The wise "Miss Hootie" is made of pretty fall colored fabrics, 

vintage lace, doilies and other assorted embellies.

Her stand is a small brass candlestick found for .99 cents 

at Goodwill. I painted it and the base with copper and gold metallic 

paints. I arranged a small paper pumpkin, silk flowers and leaves

and an autumn spray on top of a vintage doily I bought this

summer while antiquing down South. 

Happy Fall Everyone!!!! 

Millie

Summer Vacation Junk Journal 2013

We took a road trip down South this summer and I decided to make a vacation junk journal to hold our memories. We stopped at several places along the way so I wanted to be sure to have plenty of room for ticket stubs, brochures, and other items.

Love this ad. It reads, 

"Vacations are for Father but Mother makes the plans."

 Anyone else remember traveling this way?

I inserted photos of various roadside attractions along our way.

So sorry we missed the Stoogeum. Haha!

Quote from one of my favorite movies.

Celebrated the Fourth of July while we were

away so that's what these pages are for.

 Also celebrated my husband's birthday. :-)

Actually got to see this guy and got a shot of my 

boys standing under him. 

 Included this tag for journaling about 

the wrong turn we were certainly going to make. 

Yup. We did.

We took a ton of pictures so now I need to decide which ones will go in! Fun project and it was fun collecting our souvenirs and memorabilia. 

Blessings,

Melissa

Altered Paintbrush Swap

I participated in my first craft swap this month! This was a one on one swap and the project was an altered paintbrush. We had three themes to choose from: Vintage, Shabby Chic, and Halloween. My style is somewhere between Vintage and Shabby Chic, but I asked my partner to create something Shabby. My partner requested something Vintage so off to work I went!

We had to use an ordinary chip brush, 3"-4". After much searching, I finally found a 4" brush. Who knew they were so hard to find around here! Sheesh!

My partner gave me free reign as far as color choice. Starting out, I had no idea what colors to use but after a while, the color palette emerged: greens, browns, and yellows!

The brush went from this:

To this! 

I used some laces, beads, and flowers from my stash 

 as well as some cherry blossoms purchased at MB Treasurista. 

I dyed the flowers with various Adirondack Color Washes.

The pretty lady is an image found online. The "Beautiful" sentiment

was stamped on some vintage looking paper. 

It's hard to tell, but I used a floral mask (also from MB Treasurista) 

and modeling paste to give the handle some texture. 

Backside of the brush. I embossed the handle, then covered it

with gold embossing powder, again, to give it some texture. 

Lastly, I die cut a tag and included my information. 

This was a super fun swap and I look forward to many more! Check out all the very talented folks at Creating the Crafty Life. Blessings!

Millie