what's with all this journal business

i love journals.  i love to journal.  i always have.  i've always written in some form or fashion.  poetry, journaling, prayers, doodles, lists - i just love to put a pen to paper and see what happens.  right after high school i had a series of journals that i filled almost daily for about 3 years.  if something wasn't in those journals, it didn't happen - in my head, at least!  also during that time a friend and i started doing "i believes".  we each had book filled with things we believed - pretty much just a list, but they spanned from serious to silly and philosophical to funny. 

a couple of years ago i saw on the internet where someone was taking paper and fabric and recovering journals. i made a couple for myself and then some for gifts - and i was pretty much hooked.  this past january i took an online course on art techniques and journaling that i talked about here and since then i have been exploring the many. many ways of art journaling. i love the idea of doing art "for my eyes only" and i really feel like i've gotten more confidence to do other artsy things through some of the things i have done in my art journal.

right now i have three journals "going".  one is the first journal that i embellished a few years ago - i write all kinds of things in there - prayers, lists, ideas, and just general stuff about what's going on.  i also have my art journal.  this is the one that i started in january during the class.  i paint in it, mod podge paper, fabric and other things in it, i write and draw and collage - pretty much anything goes in this book!  i love that it won't close all the way.  i love that there are "blank" pages that i have painted or mod podged a background on, but haven't completely filled up - i will get to them!!

this is the other one:

(pardon the bad cell phone pics)

this is one that i covered just last week, and i really liked it, so i kept it for myself instead of adding to my stash to sell. 

simple, solid colored fabric (in fact the blue is actually a napkin that i got for .25 at a Dillard's that was going out of business in St. Louis).  the inside pages of the journal have yellow circles on them, so the yellow dot ribbon works perfectly.  this book is my "sunshine" book.  only happy things inside. 

just planning to fill it with happy words of inspiration, scripture, songs, etc.  and when i'm having a gray day, i can open this and get little dose of sunshine!

if you want to journal - do it!!  there is no right or wrong way to do it.  do what works for you.  paint, write, draw, cut pictures out of magazines, whatever!!  it really is theraputic!! there are tons of blogs with journaling tips and prompts to help you get going if you are new to journaling or are stuck.  go to pinterest.com and search "journal" or "art journal" and there sure to be more than enough results!

do you journal?  how? 

kacymade

i FINALLY got it in gear and started my craft business.  it actually happened officially on Sept. 14 - when i opened my shop on etsy.com.  then on Oct. 15 - i was part of an open house, which was my first actual event.  it went really well, and i sold quite a bit of the stuff i made - and i've continued to sell over the last few weeks. 

what i am selling right now are paper and fabric covered journals, pleated tote bags and painted/collaged canvases with words, scripture or songs on them.  i think i am most surprised at how well the canvases sold, especially since including them in the shop was kind of after thought because i had found the canvases on sale at Michael's a couple of months ago.

here's what i like about having this business thing so far:
- i have an excuse to craft everyday!  last week i went days without making anything and i kind of started shaking a little bit...i. need. to. craft.
- so many people that i love have supported me for a long time, have encouraged me to do this, and are supporting me in it.  it makes me feel loved.
- i am using up (slowly but surely) the completely inappropriate amount of scrapbook paper i own.
- as i told a friend of mine after the first show "people are paying real money for crap i made!"
-did i mention crafting everyday - yeah - that's a good thing!

here's what i don't necessarily like about this business thing so far:
- the "what if no one likes it?" thing that constantly runs through my head.
- feeling like any second i am not crafting i am wasting - even when i stay up until 11 and 12 most nights.
- not selling anything on etsy yet.  i plan to really dig into that after my next two events are over - we'll see!
- so many ideas, so little time (always a struggle for me)

all in all, i am very excited that i have taken this step.  i am thankful for the people in my life who encourage me along the way.  i am anxious to see what God has in store for kacymade - and just enjoying creating =)

a math problem

+

 +

=

the land of the free

As I was reading Tatertots and Jello the other day, I came across this really cute idea for a 4th of July decoration.

Isn't that cute!?! She used a  personal letter as the background and a map for the stars.  So neat!

I liked it so much, I decided to make a version for my house:

I found an image of the Declaration of Independence on the web and faded it out a little.  Then I just put the text over the image and printed it out.  I used my Creative Memories star punch for the stars and just sewed them right on the paper.  My background is just some rippled paper I had on hand with the red paper Mod Podged on that.  I had the frame left from this party, and I just painted it white.

Here you can see how the stars stand out from the paper - so festive!

Happy 4th of July!

for the love of a chair

A few Friday nights ago I started a project that I've had in my head for a long time...and it involved this:

 and some of these...

and this:

 and tearing off lots of this stuff.

You see, I've had this chair for several years (it was my Grandmother's, and one of the great pieces I got when she passed away).  I remember the chair always being in her bedroom.  Those green striped things up there - well, those are part of the chair, and that's the original fabric - great, right?  It's very soft, almost plush, and it just reminds me of my Nanny.

When I moved into my condo, I wanted to have it recovered to match my living room.  That's what the gold and red fabric is.  I have to be honest, I never loved it that way.

A while back, I found a remnant of fabric at Brentwood Interiors (half off because it was already cut), and I immediately thought it would work for the chair, which by then was living in my bedroom.

So I finally got the nerve up to tackle this.  And here is the finished product:

 The tearing apart was some serious manual labor, but it wasn't difficult.  The painting was easy, and actually all of the fabric that was attached to chair was not bad at all. 

I had two problems:

1. Piping - not hard to make, but very hard for me to sew correctly.

2. The Cushion - see this curve?

 and how it fits around the chair back there....that was some tedious stuff, right there!! 

Don't look to closely, it is so very far from perfect (in fact the more I look at this picture, the more I realize I want to go back and see if I can make that piping look better), but I'm glad it's re-covered, and I look forward to making this little corner of my room a place where I can sit and read, do Bible study, and pray.

And I'm happy to say I love this chair again!!

I'm linking up to:



my not bummer summer

 Yes, I totally stole that title from this movie (which looks cute, by the way!)

In this post I mentioned that I didn't have any special plans for the summer.  Since then, summer fun lists have been popping up in the blogosphere like cicada posts on facebook - and that's a lot! Understandably, most of these lists are for children who are out of school for the summer, but who says kids get to have all the fun!?!  So - I came up with a list of my own, and I've posted it up for all to see, so there's no going back now!

Here ya go:

Girls Night - dinner and movie

Dinner Party at my house

Day Trip(s) - I've already taken one with Mel a couple of weeks ago to Louisville (much fun!), but I have a couple more in the works.

Weekend Trip to the Beach

Beach Theme Party

Scrapping/Crafting Weekend(s) - I have this one for sure planned already, but I would really like to set aside some chunks of time to work on a couple of other projects.

 

Make Pajama Pants - this has been on my mental to do list for some time, but I'm terrified of making clothes for some reason. I got a bunch of fabric at a sale last summer and I have perfect piece for some pj pants, so I'm going to try it out!

Take in some Sights of Nashville - I'm thinking the Frist, Hatch Show Print, exploring the "new" East Nashville, and maybe even a Segway Tour of Downtown.

Take "my kids" bowling, skating, and/or a movie - just hang out with the cool kids I love =)



Read some Summer Books - I've gotten into listening to audio books, and I really miss actually holding a book and getting lost in it for a while. I found the first book in the Dorthea Benton Frank "Lowcountry" Series at McKay's this past weekend, so I'm starting there!!



So, there you have it!  And in the words of Judy Moody herself:

"I want more thrills - you can't have a not bummer summer without them!"

the bags

i've been wanting to post this for a while, but wanted to wait until all of the graduates had gotten their bags.  all but one have been received, and i hope to get that one to her on sunday.

just to recap - the girls picked out the fabrics and the pattern of bag they wanted.  i am pretty pleased with how they turned out.

this is ashley's.  this pattern was a bit tricky - that curved part of the band was a bit tougher than i thought it would be!!  this was actually the second of this pattern i did, so it went much faster than the first.  i love the way it turned out!

 they all look wrinkly (is that a word?) on the inside because when you make a bag that's lined, you have to sew the top part together with the whole thing wrong side out, then you have to turn it.  since there is stabilizer ironed to back of the fabric, that turning process makes it all wrinkly.  it has been my experience that once the bag is used for a while those wrinkles will smooth out.

 this is allison's bag - same pattern as above.

 close up of the button and evidence of the trouble i had stitching that darn curve =\

 i love the girliness of the outside and then the playfulness of the peace signs inside.  that button was a fluke find, and i think it works perfect!

 this one is kausha's - as her mom was able to identify just from the fabric pics!

this is the bag that i have made previously, the amy butler birdie sling pattern.

 this is a big, roomy bag.

 another birdie sling bag - this one shannon's - the music girl!

 she will be able to fit all kinds of college stuff in there!!

 this is kayla's - the only one i haven't delivered.  i have to say, pattern-wise, this is my favorite - the one i would most like to make for myself.  it's a big bag, also, and could be used for a tote or a purse.  there is a cute band on the top that comes to a point where the button is - another new thing for me was making that point, but i like the way it turned out!

five fun bags for five awesome girls!! 

i will miss having them around all the time, but i know they are going to do great things in college and beyond!

ready for some summer fun

I don't have any big vacation plans this summer, but I'm still ready for those lazy summer days and all they bring. Longer days, holidays, eating dinner outside (once the cicadas are gone), garage sales, and a little crafting, of course! I whipped this up the other night to get my house in the mood for summer fun!

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