After while crop-o-dile...

My granddaughter, Emily, is graduating from high school.  We're super excited to be going back to Chicago for the festivities!  (All photos taken with my Apple Watch.)

As is my custom, I made a travel journal to keep track of all we do and people we see...
The journal is made from a 7x7 child's book from the Dollar Store - sanded, painted with acrylic paints; image transfer, etc.

Cover shows Trump Tower where we will stay while downtown - fantastic location - beautiful hotel

painted pages drying

mark holes for binding

Crop-o-dile hole punch

line up holes with large toothpicks

heavy yarn for ties

using a large straw for wiggle room - tie knot in each yarn piece

inside pages

Journals

When I travel, I like to keep a journal. This is a good way for me to remember the good time I had and also provides me with a place to keep mementos from the trip.

This journal chronicles my trip to France in 2006. I won top prize in the "I Remember Mama" contest, which among other things included a trip for two (my husband and me) to Lyon, France for the international opening of the exhibit. We then spent two weeks traveling around Provence and parts of Italy. The journal is made of painted canvas and cotton. Each day I made notes of what we'd seen and done. The pages are enhanced with embroidery. This journal is one of my favorites. It was easy to work on because I kept the pages separate and bound them together once I returned home.

France 2006 Journal

France 2006 Journal detail

My granddaughter, Samantha, and I celebrated her 16th birthday in 2008 by traveling to Paris and London! We had a grand time. (We probably saw a lot more art than she was expecting.) We saw "Mama Mia" and "Grease" on stage in London - how cool is that! Early June is a good time to travel in Europe. The schools there are still in session which meant the lines for museums and other sightseeing attractions were greatly reduced.

I made us each a journal. The pages were made of card stock. I enhanced each page in Photoshop Elements using pictures from earlier trips as well as family pictures of each of us. I also included envelope-like pages made of vellum to store mementos from the trip. One day I would love to see what Sam wrote in her journal.

Pairs/London 2008 Journal

Paris/London 2008 Journal detail

In 2007, I took a class in the Split Rock Program at the University of Minnesota. Eight of my fellow classmates and I decided to do a "round robin" type journal. Each artist made her own pages out of her choice of substrate. These pages could be enhanced in any way as long as it contained some stitching. It took well over a year to complete this project, but the wait was well worth it.

My journal pages are made of painted canvas.

Split Rock 2007 Journal

Split Rock 2007 Journal detail

I'm taking my husband to Croatia to celebrate his 75th birthday. We leave at the end of October. I've been mulling over what type of journal to make for this special trip. I woke up earlier than usual thinking about it this morning. I'll keep you posted on what I decide!

The Sky is Falling

I love this quote by Robert Genn "mute artists are more consistently productive than verbal ones." Stop talking and just do it!

I try to draw every day. Here is a charcoal drawing using my altered book as the substrate. It's a silly little picture, but it makes me smile.