Caribbean Themed Art Journal

I haven't had much time to do any art journaling lately, but I can show you some themed books I've done in the past. This one was inspired by a few trips my husband and I have taken to the Caribbean. Now that the weather has turned chilly I'm once again dreaming of sunny beaches to warm my cold toes!

I used a paper sample book and decorated the pages and the covers. I took an old paint sample strip and glued it down to use as a pocket for my three little bird tags.

Hubby and I posing on a rock with the cruise ship behind us.

A scrap of batik fabric and a polymer clay tile I made.

A tribute to some of the people I've had the honor of calling friend
who have since gone on

It was nice to relive moments spent in the Caribbean on this nippy autumn day. Unfortunately my feet are still cold. Time to get out the heating pad!

Art Journal Spooks

So I'm a few weeks late getting this Halloween book posted, but better late than never, eh? ;)

Here is a Halloween-Gothic-Spooky art journal I made from a paper sample book.

I love working in these books because of the different textures, sizes, and weights of the papers inside.

Unfortunately, these little sample books are hard to come by if you don't know someone in the printing business. I'm working on making some myself and will put them in my shop as soon as I get around to it (and you know how THAT goes!!).

I burned the edges of the "bewitching picture" with a lighter to get a ragged, darkened look. Take care when doing this technique that you don't burn the house down! I keep a fire extinguisher in my studio just in case.

I used a lot of hand carved stamps to decorate this book. The flies, bats, and thorny briers in the photos above are all stamps I carved myself.

I'm not sure what happened to the black cat paper...it bunched up there. It looked fine when I glued it down but it must have shifted when I closed the book. The glue must have still been slightly damp.

Another reason I like these little books is that they're great for themed journals because they're just the right size. If they had too many pages I'd run out of ideas for the theme before I got to the end of the book!

I hope you enjoyed viewing my Spooky Art Journal! It was a lot of fun to make and I can hardly wait to get started on another themed book! I'll let you know when I get some blank paper sample books of my own design listed in my shop.

A Happy Mistake

I'm putting a positive spin on the fact that I screwed up one of my books! At least it was one I was making for myself and not a customer's order.

I'm not sure how this happened, but the punching holes were off on one of my templates. I didn't discover this until I got ready to sew the book and the holes didn't line up.

I was able to fudge the center holes but the two outermost holes were significantly off and had to be re-punched, leaving me with an extra set of holes.

I sewed the book anyhow, trying to ignore the extra holes but when I was all finished they were screaming at me for attention. I decided to run a thread through them to make it look like I meant to do that! It adds a unique look to the book and you'd never know I screwed up except for the fact that I just told you!

Books In the Works

Some of what I'm working on in between orders. I think gray is my new favorite color!

Moss and Porcelain Book on the Front Page!

...Third row, last item...

I hoped this book would eventually make it to the front page...it's in about a million treasuries. Wouldn't you know it though, the paper has been discontinued so I only have 2 books available! :P

Incidentally, I ordered some hair clips from HotPinkChick, featured just above my book. I'll have to show them to you!

So In Love

I am totally in love with this new book! I just had to show it to you even though it's still in the works.

Several weeks ago I was unpacking a new paper shipment and these two papers happened to fall together on my work table. I had one of those "Ah-HA!" moments and made a mental note to myself to pair those papers together for a book cover.

What do you think I should call it? I was thinking of something like Chocolate Mint. Yum yum!
Any other thoughts? :)

New Designs- Name Plates and Monograms

Okay, so these really aren't new, exactly. I've been doing name plates and monograms for a few years now, but this is the first time I've listed them as an a la carte item!

This monogram I did almost two years ago now. I'll be doing some new samples in the next day or two. Provided my nice natural lighting cooperates with me (it's cloudy right now) I should have new pictures of my monograms to show you.

Note 12/1/10: Here they are, ready and listed on Etsy!

Where Are They Now?

I thought it would be fun to do a little posting every now and then to showcase the travels my books have made. It's been a while since I did a feature so I thought I'd show you this purple book, which is now in Scotland.

What makes this custom book different is the black pages. The customer wanted to write in silver on black pages which will look simply stunning, in my opinion!

I had never done black pages before and had to special order the paper. I ordered enough to do a few more books also. It won't be a standard offering in my shop but I might do a book here and there with black pages. Or, if anyone requests black pages I am ready!

A Sneak Peak at Some New Books

Just pulled these out of the book press this morning. I finally found some excellent navy, blue, and turquoise papers! And a new yellow, which is a difficult color to find also. Yay!

Guess what I'll be doing all week? (Besides getting the house ready for holiday guests!)

My Poor Thumb

I have been making books for sale for over two years (for myself, much longer) and this is my first major injury. Up until now I have prided myself on being so careful.

Mr. Bump by Roger Hargreaves 

One of my favorite stories from childhood, most likely because I can relate to him!

I work with a lot of sharp tools--rotary cutter, utility knife, guillotine style paper trimmer, needles and awls--and aside from the time I stabbed myself in the hand with the awl, I have been limited to paper cuts. Until now.

I was cutting some book board (for no one in particular, just stocking up, lest any of my customers feel guilty!) and one piece in particular was giving me trouble. I tried cutting from a different angle and WHOOPS, got my thumb. Thank God for fingernails or I would have cut the entire tip off!

It feels a bit tingly and is getting in my way something terrible. I can't tie ribbons, I'm having trouble punching holes in my text blocks, and sewing books is quite a challenge. Every night I'm so fed up with the bandages I unwrap it just to get some relief (and air to the wound). And wouldn't you know my shop has been busier since the injury than it's ever been! I like to be busy but prefer the full use of my digits!

An Experiment With Posies

If you've been reading my blog for a few weeks now, you might remember a post I did about a month ago on these crocheted posies. I sold out of my first batch and have since added some more in my shop.

I want to show you what I did with the main posy in the above picture...

Ta-dah! What do you think?

I'll be offering this mini book for purchase in my shop. I just love working with these little petite books! They're so much fun.

I was thinking about why I enjoy creating the little books so much better than the large books. The only thing I can figure is that with the large books I feel like I have to be more formal--now who made up that rule, I'd like to know? :). However, with these little books, my goal is to use the scrap papers I have laying around and play with fun embellishments like the posies, so I feel less restricted and able to experiment. Maybe I'll get brave enough to try something fun on a larger book!

Where Are They Now?

I thought it would be fun to do a little posting every now and then to showcase the travels my books have made. This book, Honey Indigo, made its first stop in Australia and is now on a European tour! It will showcase memoirs, snapshots, and ticket stubs from the trip. *I'm a bit jealous of this book*  Oh well, I'm proud to have something I made traveling around the world, even if I'm not going myself!

New Beginnings

I have a momentous announcement to make...After much thought I have decided to open a new shop.

...introducing Emerson Bindery!

My new shop has actually been open for a month now, but I've kept it quiet except for a few friends. I wanted to wait until after Christmas to make my grand annoucement.

I will be transitioning all my books into Emerson Bindery but plan to keep UberArt open for other projects.

Why you might ask, after over 200 sales and the numerous front page features, would you decide to start all over again?!

One of my front page features from June 3, 2009. My book is the first item at the top left.

When I first opened UberArt in November 2007, I chose the name because it would encompass anything I wanted to do. I had no idea what exactly that was though! I tried books, jewelry, note cards, and polymer clay flower pots (!!!) before I stumbled upon the guest book market. In December 2008 the guest books hijacked my store and things took off!

I have thoroughly enjoyed making books and will continue doing so, but I also want to explore other art forms. I didn't feel it was appropriate for me to lump them altogether in one shop, so I considered opening a new shop. But then, what to call it??

UberArt seemed to fit the bill for the new items but wasn't very descriptive of my current line of guest books. Instead of opening the new shop for the art, I decided to move the books instead. Thus, Emerson Bindery was born!

I will let you know when I introduce new items in my UberArt shop. I have big plans there!!

Blue and Brown

The EtsyBloggers Team is featuring a blog carnival with the theme "favorite color combination: what do you make using those colors?"

One of my favorite color combinations is blue and brown. Ironically those are not my personal favorite colors, but I do like the way they look together. (Obviously, given the number of designs I have created using blue and brown!)

Color Experimentation

Wondering what you can do with all those blank pages in your journal? Well, I was too. Ironic, isn't it, that I make and sell journals and my own are sitting on the shelf empty and neglected. Last night I pulled my paints out and started filling the pages of a lonely journal that's been sitting on the shelf waiting for inspiration. My artistic soul has been starving for some playtime!

I've been going through old Somerset Studio and Expression magazines before packing them away in the attic to make room on my bookshelf. Somerset Studio has a article in each issue called "With one palette" where they experiment with four colors in each single piece of art. I've been inspired to do my own art using those color combinations, so when I saw these paint swatches in the hardware store my eyes bugged out!

At first I thought I ruined this piece by adding the blue swirls on top of the starfish design, but after adding the ecru dots and swishes it really made it pop.

I got the center medallion a bit crooked trying to hurry before the paint dried on my stamp! Oh well, it's all for play anyhow so it doesn't matter (the perfectionist tells herself over and over).

And I really am planning on painting a room in my house...those paint chips may just come in handy!