Ocean Colors Palette - A new Journal / Photo Album Cover

I was asked to create a cover for a photo album, sized 8" x 8" square. Instead of using my regular silk sari ribbon style textile art for the cover, I decided to get creative and try something new. In preparation for this project, I had rummaged through all of my fabrics and built up a huge pile of batiks in the "blue/green/teal" colorway. Because I just couldn't choose, I decided to use about 15 of my favorites!
Here is the resulting design:

This journal cover is embellished with tiny shell beads, swavorski crystals, and beaded elastic bands around the spine - plus, a few of my favorite fibers. If you look at a close-up photo of the far right-hand side of the cover, there is a little metal tag which reads "love" nestled among some of my favorite beads:



Orange & Yellow "OWL" Composition Book Cover

Last night I completed a little gift for my middle daughter - she LOVES orange and yellow, and she absolutely LOVES anything featuring owls. : ) I know she's going to be thrilled!!

This is a standard composition notebook cover (so it is easily refillable), with five special fabrics - three on the front, the lining, and the pockets which the notebook slips into. I chose some vivid orange and yellow batiks, and decided to feature this sweet multi-colored owl print fabric - it was just too adorable!! : )

It's all tied up with a pretty little satin ribbon with owls printed on it - seemed to be the perfect finishing touch!

A couple of things I did differently from my "usual" quilted notebook covers:
The spine is a fancy fabric trim sewn vertically along the halfway point between the two sides. Makes a nice finished look on the "bound" edge of the notebook when closed. (Just have to have something like this that matches the color of your fabrics!! Mental note...find more wide fabric trims...)

Also - this time instead of wrapping fibers and couching them down, I used some special orange metallic ric-rac, some yellow and gold braided trim, and some very fancy ribbon-embroidered trim along the wavy edges of the fabric seamlines.

I can't wait for my daughter to see this!! : )  I'm making several of these to have personalized gifts on hand, and for listing on etsy - it's really fun to coordinate the fabrics and trims - instant gratification type projects : )

If you'd like a personalized notebook cover featuring YOUR favorite colors, theme, or size of notebook - just contact me at heather3stars@yahoo.com - I'm always happy to help : )

~ Enjoy!! ~

Starter Art Journal Pages

I haven't posted in a long while, as I've been VERY busy with several different projects - one HUGE one which I'm extremely excited about - and several other smaller ones.
It's about time for me to post something new!!

Here are a few things I've done over the past couple of weeks:

First, I created a "Starter Art Journal" for a friend on etsy. She had previously purchased one of my silk sari ribbon album covers, and wanted an "artsy" inside for it as well : ) So - I tore, layered, stitched, ripped, assembled, and even pre-painted a few pages - adding edgings here and there, hidden pockets here and there - it was a pretty fun project, and made me miss my art journaling - I'm inspired to get going on that again for myself now! : )

Here are a few of my favorite pages - I ended up making three separate "books" which were about 10 pages each. I included all sorts of different papers - ephemera, graph paper, maps, brown paper bags, and of course all the specialty papers I can't resist - mulberry, lace paper, handmade papers, textured vellum, transparencies, botanical inclusion paper, etc.

Lots of texture, ripped edges, layered pages, and a "variety pack" of cool papers!

Most of the pages were stitched by machine to create "blocks" - pre-prepared for art journaling - just add paint, stamps, writing, photos, ephemera, calligraphy, embellishments....when do you STOP, really??!

Some of the silk sari ribbon projects I've done lately - pillows, journal covers, and wall pieces - end up with nice little edges that get trimmed off. I love to recycle these onto journal pages - it looks as if I spent hours creating a special border for this page! Really, it's just a "trimming" from a previous project - it's great to NOT waste anything!!

Mmmmmm, handpainted papers - botanical papers...combined with brown craft paper, bits of black, and a sponged edge - ink through sequin waste ribbon creates the dots...woudln't this be a fun journal to begin working in? WAY better than starting with a blank page! : )

Sew around three sides of a commercially printed transparency, and you have an instant "pocket" for photos or other little goodies like love notes, ticket stubs, etc.

Aside from these little "starter journals" I also made a few more sheets of "Confetti Fabric" - Purple, Red, and Aqua this time. The red piece actually includes pieces of red holiday tinsel - the kind sold in the big packages to use as gift basket fillers. I really liked the festive effect it gave - and I'm considering some Christmas cards next year using more pieces like this! Very sparkly and shiny : ) Maybe even Valentine's Day cards!! Then I'd get to use them much sooner...

(One of my earlier posts shows a step-by-step TUTORIAL on how to make this!)

My last little project to report for today - I finished up a quilted & embellished art journal/calendar cover. This one was to be "Light Blues" - but somehow evolved into an "Ocean" theme - mainly because I bought these adorable fish beads and *needed* to use them on something!! : )  The fish looked a little lonely though - and sort of out of place - so then I gave them a habitat. What was fresh on my mind, but confetti fabric! I've found a new use for it - tear a chunk off and place it at the bottom of a journal cover. Instant glorious underwater scene! I'm really happy with how this turned out! This was a piece of confetti fabric I made a few months ago, featuring aqua, teal, and yellow. I did quite a bit of overstitiching to add more greens and blues to it - to help it blend in with the fabric colors. I've never featured a piece of my own original textile art on the front of one of my journals before - but I think this might end up being a new trend of mine now!

I probably won't be posting much over the next couple of weeks, becuase I'm working on a HUGE 60" wide by 33" tall art quilt, featuring a gorgeous garden in Colorado. I'm just THRILLED about this project - however I will need to focus almost all of my creative energy on it for awhile -

I'll post photos of that project soon!

Purple, Silver & Gold - Sari Ribbon Baby Album

This is a special album cover I created for an etsy order - featuring the layered silk sari ribbons and loopy spine trim. The purchaser wanted this album cover for a 12" x 12" album, for her first baby, and requested purple since she didn't know the gender of the baby yet.
Donna at Field's Fabrics helped me out quite a bit with selecting coordinating fabrics, as I was a little stumped on how to include silver and gold - as I haven't ever really combined the two colors together! She was a huge help to me (I love shopping there!) - and I'm so grateful!!

Here is how it turned out! : )

~ Thank you for looking! ~

Latest etsy project - French/Parisian Inspired Journal Cover

Recently I got an order for a custom journal cover which was so fun, I just had to share.
It is "French Inspired" - and I was given a specific color palette to work with: pale pink, black, and silver.
It was a LOT of fun to work in this range! And I love how "Diva" the results are - which is exactly the kind of effect she was going for!
(Here is a link to her website - where you can see her GORGEOUS hand-painted furniture - it's amazing!)
http://www.trulyscrumptiouss.com/

This customized cover is made to cover a 12"x12" journal/photo album, and features layered/textured sari ribbon fiber art for the main background. In the center a wavy-edged inner "frame" is created using pink textured silk, with glitzy silver metallic ric rac edging - all around the central embroidery, which is "The Family Of" - then the family's name - all free-motion embroidered in a fancy swirling script text. The cover is also adorned with large, trailing black rose appliques, which have satin-stitched vines/leaves, and large organza petals with ribbon-embroidered centers for the roses. It is all topped off with small pink swavorski hot-fix crystals to add some sparkle and glitz, and a dozen different coordinating ribbons adorn the spine to add a romantic feminine touch as well as tactile interaction.
The result is a truly gorgeous, one-of-a-kind, completely customized piece of art to grace the cover of a very special photograph album, art journal, or book.

Here are a few photos of the finished cover:

I am happy to create another custom art journal cover,

either in a similar theme/color selection, or in your own colors!

Please email me at heather3stars@yahoo.com for details,

or visit my etsy store at:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/heathers3stars.

Color Palette Challenge - Cream, Olive, and Rust

My friend Rosanna asked me to create a special art journal for her friend's birthday. Rosanna already had an art journal I had made using the silk sari ribbon, frayed and sewn in rows in layers with beading - for her friend she wanted something similar but with a completely different color scheme. I gravitate towards bright colors - and a lot of them! - so it was a real creative challenge for me to use a specified set of colors, but it really inspired me to begin thinking more about the colors I don't normally use. The more I worked with this color set, the more I liked it! Plus, it feels very "fall" - and fall is definitely here in Michigan. I'm happy with how this turned out - and I'm already thinking of ways to incorporate these colors into my other pieces - I love the sophisticated effect they have!

I rummaged through my fabrics and supplies, and discovered that I didn't really have very many materials to work with in this color range - I had a LOT of of fun shopping and picking up some fresh new fabrics and beads - here are the supplies I ended up working from. I share these photos because maybe now this color palette will inspire someone else as well! : )

Last but not least, the silk sari ribbons! : )

Here is the finished art journal:

Front Cover - Layered Silk Sari Ribbon stitched in rows, embellished with beading, along with black stamped letters on canvas - all layered onto a colorful batik, then candlelight silk dupioni, and an olive/cream foliage themed batik background.

Ribbons on spine laced through grommets inset in the spine, which not only looks pretty but is functional too as it anchors the inner rings which hold the inside pages.



Close-up view of the silk sari ribbon panel - it was difficult to choose which beads to use, because I love them all! : )

Inside front cover - customized label.

Inside pages - a "variety pack" of special papers, including handmade, vellum, metallic inclusion, botanical inclusion, foiled, stamped, glassine envelopes, and handmade paper.

My art journals are available for custom order at:

Heathers3stars shop on etsy

~ Embrace the colors of fall! ~

Custom Creation for Etsy - Silk Sari Ribbon Journal - "Passion" Theme

A wonderful, very friendly and inspiring artist contacted me via etsy to create a custom order for her - an art journal that would be used for a round-robin style collaborative piece.

For now I am just going to post photos - however soon I will modify this post to include ALL of the details on how I went about this project. : )

I would love for any of my followers to visit the etsy page (at least!) of the artist who commissioned this art journal - she has amazing, whimsical style artwork!!  Please visit Rosanna's Etsy Shop - and see her website links also - fabulous work!!

Here are the photographs for now (I'll update soon, I promise!!)

Inside front label page, with contact information for the owner of this new journal:

Heavy Textured Watercolor Paper - Cut in varying sizes to allow overlap and texture within the journal:

Colorful Inside Pages - a variety of different types of papers

A Close-up of the Silk Sari Ribbon Textile Art on the front cover of the journal:

A better view of the spine - and the silk ribbon which holds the inside rings in place:

One last photo - a different view of the front:

~ Thank you for looking!! : ) ~

Foundation Pieced Quilt Block Journal

Today I wanted to try using some leftover fabric scraps AND try a "real" quilting technique. I've been browsing through an old crazy quilting book again and again, admiring the embellishment stitching, but I've never put much thought into the construction of my own quilts - just fused and layered things without any special construction or techniques otherwise. So I chose to try "foundation piecing" - my block turned out a bit wonky and not exactly like the book showed, but I'm still happy with the end result! Since I only made one block to start, I turned it into a journal. I think it would be neater if I could make the lines on the "flower petals" a little wavy, and combine 4 blocks to complete the flower - I might give that a try someday.
But for now, I have a beautiful new journal!! The edges of the block are trimmed with silk sari ribbon (again, I *love* the stuff...) and the journal cover fits a standard size composition book, so it's refillable.

Silk Sari Ribbon Journal

So last night I was busy ironing and flatting piece upon piece of silk sari ribbon - it is so beautiful, in every way. Colors, vivid...texture...torn edges...how can anything NOT look fabulous if it is made of this wonderful stuff? I decided to start with a smaller piece, so I fused a piece of black cotton to some stiff interfacing then began sewing vertical strips of ribbon, rows of them, then using smaller and smaller pieces, layering and sewing over the original strips. When that piece was finished, I had to decide what to make!! I figured a journal is a good starting point to play with to see where else it might take me. I added "Journal" stamped out on canvas in little sewn blocks and then painted over with acrylic paints and fabric markers. I added a loopy fringe along the border for touching and playing with as I write in the journal. It is very tactile, and I wanted to include some of it in its raw form to be able to touch and pet! The final addition of scattered colorful beads was like adding icing to the cake of lustrous color - I'm hooked on silk sari ribbon now!!!