HAPPY New Year!

Here's an old-timey recipe to welcome in the New Year and decade:

So THAT'S how people heated up  their luke-warm drinks!  Toddy Rods. COOL!

DIY Embellished Paper Clips

DIY Candle Prezzie

How to Print on Fabric

Booksmith Memorial Journal for Uncle Stephen

Booksmith Guest Book

This is a Booksmith guestbook that I made for the funeral of a friend who passed away suddenly on Monday.

It is also a Traveler's Notebook (as per usual)!

Music scrapbook paper and the pockets are from a butterfly scrapbook pad that Gladys gave me.

His name was Les and he was the husband of Gladys, one of the knitters in the Knitting Guild. He was a dear, sweet and kind man. He was hilariously funny and always had a smile. "How are you, darlin'?"  he used to say with a hug. Many of our conversations were after church in the parking lot or at a function. 

I had run into him and Gladys at the Dollar Tree. "We're just in here for a couple things," said Gladys. Les was trailing behind her with his arms full and was balancing some tissue boxes on top as she added something else. I said, "Ooooh, I like that pattern on the tissue box."  The next conversation I had with Gladys was, "Listen, Les has been saving you those tissue boxes.  I got a whole bag full of them!"  So I incorporated one into the first insert:

There are 4 inserts with room to add more. This is the center of a Cursillo gathering that Les & Gladys went to last month:

I cut out this photo printed on cardstock of Les & Gladys with Sandi,
Tammy, Betsy, & Linda all friends from St. Luke's who served on that weekend.

This is the photo behind that:

View of the river from Chanco on the James.

Back of second insert on left, cover of third insert:

Here are some photos from that insert:

With church friend Larry, who died a couple years ago.

Back of TN:

 I pulled photos and graphics from Les's Facebook page, the Cursillo site, and the church Facebook page. I did 4 inserts with different themes: the first with the photo of Les was spiritual and encouraging things that Les had posted, the second was all about Cursillo, the third one was his love of animals, and the fourth was humour-based cartoons and graphics.  Here are a few of my favourites and they give you an insight into his personality:

And finally:

I am so grateful to Nik the Booksmith to have been able to make something special for Gladys. THANK YOU!!!  Click here to learn how to make your own Booksmith journals.   For a free course on how to create Traveler's Notebooks, click HERE.

Printing on Fabric

Materials used (some affiliate links): Muslin fabric (from Joann's or Walmart) Rustoleum Matte Clear Enamel spray double-sided tape HeatnBond Iron-on Adhesive Ultrahold: https://amzn.to/2IGFmRQ Pellon 931 TD Fusible Midweight Interfacing https://amzn.to/2KkrnnV Pellon SF 101 Shape Flex Iron-on Woven Cotton Interfacing https://amzn.to/2IJoKc8

Mrs. Lady Eliot

Latest journal flip-thru:

New Fern Traveler's Notebook

Video flip-thru of a TN I made using the latest Fern Specimen Museum Slides digi-kit from Nik The Booksmith:

Fabric Traveler's Notebook

This is a quick flip-thru of a TN I made using some swanky fabric from a designer friend and a new, non-fern, digi-kit coming out. The "butterfly" is actually a moth!  

DIY Paper Notepad Tutorial with Free Graphic

Here's a free graphic to make your own. Just right-click and save:

The butterfly (actually moth!) is part of an upcoming digi-kit.

2019 Gratitude Journal

Flip-thru of Gratitude Journal:

Original Booksmith Pride & Prejudice journal:

Fernie's World: A New Journal & Series

This is a new Booksmith journal I created around the theme of ferns, and includes the first story of Fernie's World, a new series. It is also a Traveler's Notebook and comes with:

*4 inserts/notebooks: one lined, one drawing paper, one "eco-printed" green dyed paper, and a Junk Journal insert with a combination of lined, ink-stained, fern-imprinted, ledger and music paper. Paper is all 32 lb. paper and is fountain pen/rollerball friendly.

*The first chapter of Fernie's World is included as a booklet 

*An ephemera packet: cards, fabric, lace, washi tape, music paper

*Gold fountain pen, ink cartridges & ink blotter page

To construct the journal, I combined The Adventures in Booksmithing course along with The Hollow Back Binding course. To learn how to make your own Booksmith tomes and a whole lot more, here's a link to her FABULOUS online classes: Nik The Booksmith's Booksmithing courses.  Here's a link to her Nik The Booksmith YouTube channel for more tutorials and inspiration.

To learn how to make your own Traveler's Notebooks, here's a link to my Ledger & Lace Teachable classroom for a free course.

Here's a video flip-thru of the journal: 



Here's the story:

Here's Nik The Booksmith's Fern journal of AWESOMENESS:

FERNIE'S WORLD

Chapter 1

Fanny was unintentional in her pursuit of ferns. It was her nature--and curiosity of Nature, that led her into the woods with her father, a botanist, and her older brother, William. Her father was more intent on the measuring and preserving of botanical specimens with their proper Latin names, and William was more interested in the artistic rendering of the landscape. Initially it was to stay out of the way so that Papa wouldn't leave her behind with Nurse and her younger siblings. She was not to touch any of the plants with which he was working, and she was not to stand in William's view. 

On a hot, sunny day by Queen's Brook, as Papa collected and William sketched, Fanny grew weary from the heat. "Fanny," said Papa, "Fill the water flask for us, please," as he handed her his field flask. She followed the path down to the creek and filled it. At six years old, she was happy that she could be helpful in such serious, scientific endeavors, if only to bring water. She took a long drink, refilled the flask, and brought it back. "Here, Papa." 

Papa took a drink and handed it to William. She was delighted that they could forgo the social propriety of cups, and be "heathen Barbarians" as her mother called them when they were out in the Wilds of Nature. As Papa wiped his brow, he said, "What did you notice at the creek?" 

She knew he was asking a botanical question, but she was more impressed with the frogs that had jumped into the water with several "Plops!" at her approach.  "I saw several Amphibia of the Animalia kingdom," she answered. 

Papa laughed. He looked down affectionately at his daughter with her damp forehead and flushed cheeks.  "Perhaps you will find something of botanical interest in the shade by the brook," he suggested. 

As she settled on a large boulder with a mossy patch, she noticed that flowers weren't growing in this part of the landscape. In fact, it was cooler and darker and somehow greener. She brushed her hand through the lush moss and gently rested her cheek against it. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the earthy fragrance about her. No flowers here with their wafting, sweet scents. 

She opened her eyes and stared intently across the creek, waiting patiently for the frogs to reappear. As she did, she took notice of the ferns; how beautiful and abundant they were!  She felt a slight breeze and watched as it rustled through the ferns to make them sway and dance.  How delightful!  

"Papa!" She called out, forgetting to be quiet for the frogs. "What is the botanical name for ferns?"

Papa smiled and called back, "Pteridophyta!"  

She sat up and ran back to her father with gleaming eyes.  "I suppose," he said, smiling and reaching into his field satchel, "You will be in want of a proper sketchbook."   

And so it began. 

To the Artists

My friend Betsy forwarded me Eric Rhoads newsletter, Coffee with Eric and his blog post, Doing Your Soul Work.  I just LOVED this quote!

Public Domain bird graphic from The Graphics Fairy.  Feel free to use!  :-)

I'm reminded of the story of John Rzeznik of Goo Goo Dolls telling the story of writing Name.  They were a punk band, traveling around in a van and he was approaching 30 and thinking about getting a "real job," and maybe going back to college. Or plumbing school, because apparently he's really good at plumbing, which back in the 80's would not have wowed me, but now I just think, "Oooooh, bathroom remodel!"  :-)  But I squirreled. Anyway, he was having that what-should-I-do-with-my-life? conundrum and sat down on the sofa, and wrote Name, which was their first song on the radio and the rest is rock-n-roll history. 

Here's a clip of him telling the story, but this video is too adorable not to show:

And how could we not include Seth Godin on a conversation about art?  :-)

ANNOUNCEMENT! Ledger & Lace is on Teachable.com

This has been a labor of LOVE, combining my passion for Traveler's Notebooks and teaching.
Here's a video explaining the two courses I have in the Ledger And Lace Teachable online classroom:

Here's a link to the classroom: https://ledgerandlace.teachable.com/

Weekly Spread

This is in answer to Grace's question on her latest video. This is the kind of weekly spread I use in my personal planner. I fill in the dates each week; E.g. 1/22, 1/23, etc. If I have anything time-based, like appointments, I write them first at the top part of the box. Mostly I write the priorities of the day; what I absolutely want to have accomplished at the end of the day.

If I have a packed schedule, I'll do a daily page. Otherwise, I just use bullet points for the day. You're free to right-click and copy this to print out for personal or commercial use.  :-) 

Lindsey Zenor Quotable

"Crafting refreshes the soul. Crafting builds you up. Crafting helps you get through the hard times in your life and it is because I believe that we have been created by our creator to create. If you think about the creator of everything, how he made these gorgeous flowers and these gorgeous meadows, and these rivers and these waterfalls and these canyons; the BEAUTY that He has created in the detail . . . the Bible says that He has placed eternity into the heart of man and I take that to mean that God has put a little bit of himself into us and that is why we love to create. So it's NOT frivolous and the people that try to tell you it's a waste of time or not worth it and they don't understand, that's fine; they can view it that way but you're the richer for it. I really believe that. I think it enriches your life."

Lindsey is an artist and journal maker, Etsy shop owner of Nevermore Creations and fellow Booksmither. She's creating a new consignment shop on Instagram, Nevermore Creations Marketplace to feature work from other artists who want to sell their journals. BRILLIANT idea and so generous and kind of her.

Here's the full video:

Here's a video of the journals in the marketplace so far:

GORGEOUS!!!

HAPPY New Year!

Here's a sweet card from The Graphics Fairy:

And here are a couple book pages of poems from old books:

All images are in the Public Domain which means you are free to use as you wish for personal or commercial use.