Halloween Howl, Day 1

Hurray!! October is here. I get to start opening my Halloween Howl artist trading cards from my friend, Joy. The anticipation is half the fun, of course, but the time has finally come. We will open one card per day for the whole month. Here is the Day 1 card.

What a beautiful background paper. The tiny gems in the centre of the little flowers are the perfect finishing touch. I have a witch die very similar or the same as that one only it is a bit smaller. This is a great start to the month!

Above is the card that I sent to Joy. The backgrounds for most of my cards are created with craft paint and a gel plate. Then I cover them with a piece of used dryer sheet to give them texture. I added a bit of gold leaf to this one. Boy is that stuff ever challenging to work with! The effect looks better in person though.

The Finished Journal

When I first started making this journal, I did not have a specific theme in mind, but when I found the fairy card in my stash that perfectly coordinated with the fabric on the cover, the decision was made. It became a fairy journal.

The journal has two signatures with 48 pages front and back in each for a total of 96 pages. There are tuck spots, pockets, flip outs, tags and journal cards throughout. And there is plenty of writing space for the lucky recipient of this journal to share their dreams, motivational quotes, random thoughts or memories.

I hope that you enjoy getting a peek at some of the pages.

Carrville Public School – Class of 1946-47

My aunt sent me this photo that she found on a Facebook page called Richmond Hill/GTA - Then and Now. It was labeled as ca. 1949 but when I enlarged the photo, I can see that the sign says clearly says 1946-47. The one room school was once located just west of Bathurst Street on the south side of Carrville Road (today's Rutherford Road), across from the church and cemetery. The school had a wood burning stove with a steel grate around it, and only the teacher was allowed to add wood, for there were far too many injuries otherwise. The school was torn down years ago, and a house replaced it.

Four members of my family are in this photo. In the back row second from the left is my father, David Barton. His younger brother, John Barton, is seated in the front row fifth from the left. Two of their first cousins are there too. Bob Middleton is in the front row fourth from the left and his sister, Marion Middleton, is in the middle row seventh from the left. They are all gone now but what an interesting glimpse of them in their younger years.

All Dressed Up

Here is a photo of my father, David Barton, with his brother John (on the left). They are all dressed up for some occasion but I have not quite figured out which one. My first thought was that it was the day of their sisters’ wedding. That would have made Uncle John almost 11 years old and my father almost 14 years in June 1949 when that wedding took place. Do they look that young in the photo below? I’m not sure they do. The other family occasion that comes to mind is my Aunt Marion and Uncle Jim's wedding in 1953 when they would have been 15 years old and 18 years old.

I’ve asked a couple of relatives if they have any photos of either day with them in it but nobody has seems to have any. For now, it will have to remain a mystery lost in time. Either way, they both looked quite dapper in their suits, didn't they?

Both weddings took place in Carrville Methodist Church (eventually Carrville United Church). Like a lot of small community churches, membership declined drastically over the years and it was no longer sustainable. The building itself was sold and is now a Jewish community centre. Three generations of our family are laid to rest in the cemetery to the east of the church.

Birthday Celebration

Here is a photo of a family celebration for my first birthday. I assume my mother took the picture since she is not in it and I’m sure she would have been there. *smile* The party would have been in October 1957. I love looking at these old photos.

From left to right…Ida Amelia (White) Ash (my maternal great grandmother), Myra (Middleton) Barton (my paternal grandmother), Marion (Middleton) Ash (my aunt), David Barton (my father) holding me, John Barton (my uncle, my fathers’ brother), Jim Ash (my uncle, my mothers’ brother) holding my cousin Donna, Jack Barton (my paternal grandfather) and in the forefront is Bob Ash (my cousin, son of Marion and Jim). At first, I was not sure where this photo was taken until a couple of relatives told me that it was my paternal grandparents' house. Of course it was, my parents and I lived there until we moved into our new house in Richmond Hill in 1958.

Old Family Photographs

I am currently going through some old family photographs and plan to document what I know or remember with each one. I hope I don’t bore you with my ramblings. Here is a photo of my paternal grandmother, Myra (Middleton) Barton with my father, David Barton, when he was very young.

My father must have been two or three years old at most, and he was born in 1935, which means the photo is from 1937-1938. I’m guessing here since there is no information on the back of the photo. See the cheeky expression on his face? And look at that head of curly hair! I always wondered where my eldest son got his curly locks as a young child. Now I know for sure.

That image of my grandmother is as I remember her. She was always wearing what she called a house dress. They typically were a shift style dress (like the pattern above) with buttons down the front. They were always floral designs. She did have a sewing machine, I wonder if she made them herself? I really don't know. It wasn’t until much later in her life that I ever saw her wearing slacks. I want to find a place that can clear up the graininess, bring it into sharper focus and enlarge both photos here.

Making a New Journal

I purchased this book at Dollarama some time ago for $3.00. It’s part of an urban fantasy series for ages 10-13 year olds but none of that really mattered to me because I planned to deconstruct it, alter the cover with fabric and turn it into a junk journal. It’s a nice small size, 7 ½ inches by 5 inches with a 1 inch spine. I wish now that I had purchased more of them at the time, but hindsight is always 20/20, isn’t it?

First task was to remove the text block, then cut out any images I might want to use and harvest words or phrases I can utilize for later projects. Next, I had to choose the fabric I wanted to use from my stash. I cut a piece the size I needed and ironed on the thin interfacing to the back to give it strength and also prevent the glue I would use to from seeping through.

Then, the tedious task of gluing it onto the book cover, starting with the spine, began. I used 3-in-1 glue which is good on multiple materials. Slowly I moved from the spine, across the front and back smoothing out any bumps with the bone folder for a smooth even finish. I had to wait for it to dry before mitering the corners and folding the fabric to the inside of the book and gluing it down. Once again I used the bone folder to smooth it down evenly.

Book corners were added for decoration and also to protect the corners from wear and tear. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Now to choose the papers I want to use and get them ready to sew into the inner spine that will be glued into the book cover. Stay tuned for my progress.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

I thought I would try again this weekend to coffee dye some copy paper for upcoming journals. I was not going to do it outside this time. Aside from being way too hot, I did not want papers blowing all over the place as they were drying again.

I began on Friday evening, two pages at a time since that is all my indoor drying rack will hold. Rather than hanging over them begging them to dry quickly, I just walked away and did other things. The next time I was in the kitchen I would turn them over and head off to other tasks in the house.

The progress was slow but steady. By Saturday evening, I had lots of pages coffee dyed and ready to go into the book press to flatten them. I continued to coffee dye on Sunday and have managed another stack of papers ready to put in the book press.

When not stressing about getting ALL the paper coffee dyed NOW, I have come to appreciate the saying ‘slow and steady wins the race’. I accomplished more than I expected. I won the race.

Coffee Dyeing Paper

It was a warm day yesterday, really warm, but there was a bit of breeze in the morning. The perfect day for coffee dyeing paper outside on the front porch, I thought. So, I got all my supplies out, the clothes drying rack, a TV table, a bin with coffee in it and some security envelope papers to start with.

Well, it did not go quite as expected. The breeze, while pleasant, also blew the papers off of the clothes dyeing rack as they dried. They were scattered all over the porch and some even ended up in the grass in the front yard.

Anyway, I did manage to get them all coffee dyed and dry enough to put in the book presses to flatten them. Twenty-four hours later, see some samples of them below. I will use them for collages and embellishments in future journals.

I was hoping to do some full sheets of copy paper for journal pages to, but that will have to wait for another day.

Looking for Paper Ephemera

I am searching for vintage paper ephemera. I am having little to no luck finding any. Sure, there are a lot of sellers who sell ‘vintage’ receipts, letters, postcards, tickets, etc. that they have found and scanned to sell but printing off digitals does not feel 'authentic'.

Where do these junk journal makers find all this great stuff? Old hand written letters, postcards, tickets and vintage books are the kinds of things I'm looking for. I don't know of any antique shops in my area that might sell this. More importantly, I'm not sure how much is a reasonable price to pay for this kind of ephemera.

I wonder if estate sales might carry some of these things. I never thought of that before. The thrift stores will likely have vintage books but not the other items I'm looking for.

If anyone out there has this type of old paper ephemera that you are willing to part with, keep me in mind.

A Poem for My Son

I’m finding all sorts of goodies while sorting through old boxes of stuff. I came across a copy of a poem that I wrote for my oldest son many years ago now. He was in grade school, maybe 10 or 11 years old. He came home one day bemoaning the fact that he had to write a poem as his homework that evening.

He complained that there was no way he could write a poem. I assured him that he could if he tried. He looked me square in the eye and asked me if I could do it. I had to admit that I could and proceeded to start writing something down. I hate being backed into a corner like that by a child. Here is that poem…it started out slow but I picked up momentum by the end.

We both got a good chuckle out of it, and then he went to his room and started writing. I wish I still had a copy of the poem he wrote. It was about our cat, Jack. This cat had personality and was quite the character. His mother was a black and white long haired cat. His father was clearly a Siamese cat. And as you can see, he was quite mischievous.

The poem about Jack, as I remember, was equally as amusing as mine, and he received high praise from his teacher the next day. He also took a copy of the poem I wrote to school without me knowing. The teacher called me later that day so we could share a laugh together about it. Nice memory.

Random Craft Stuff

I found a video from ten years ago that explained how to do the string art scalloped circles so all the string does not meet in the middle. It is quite simple actually. The video was posted by a YouTube content creator who was quite popular with my craft friends at the time. It is likely where the person who sent me those ATCs nine years ago learned how to do it. This one was done last night with crochet cotton.

While sorting through old boxes, I found knitting pattern for a Barbie doll dress that I was clearly trying to adapt from an existing pattern. I am going to test is out this week. It should not take long to make. Once I confirm the accuracy of the pattern, I will type it up and save it. Page two is completely hand written right now.

Another video I watched the other day showed how to use nail polish to make marbled buttons from plain uninteresting ones. You add a couple of drops of three different colours to water, swirl them around with a toothpick, then dip in the button. I want to try this. You never know what you will get, they will all be unique. The will look similar to this stone that was created using the same basic technique.

So, as you can see, I have a lot of big plans for crafting in the near future. I will share as things are completed.

String Art

I was looking through some old ATC trades recently and came across these ones I received in 2016. Wow, was it that long ago? It must be as that is the date on the back of them. I was fascinated with the string art on them. I did try my hand at it when I first received them using a small scalloped circle punch I had but never pursued it after that.

A friend recently reminded me about the string art and suggested I try it again as I was looking for something new and different to do. So, I went searching on Amazon for some scalloped circle dies and found a set from a company I never heard of before. I ordered them. They were not overly expensive and I figured if they did not work, I was not losing much.

Turns out, they work fabulously! I cut a few out of card stock to experiment on. I actually glued two scalloped circles together to make them sturdier. I tried a couple of test pieces. For the yellow one, I used red sewing thread. On the black one, I used a fine yellow yarn. The middle is a bit dimensional on that one but workable. I'm going to try using crochet cotton and embroidery thread also. Metallic thread or yarn might be fun too.

I have to figure out how to wrap the thread or string so all the intersections are not in the middle. That will be my next step. I will share the results when I am done.

Getting Back on the Bandwagon

I really need to get back on the decluttering, organizing bandwagon. My brother, who was off work for six weeks due to medical reasons, kept himself busy going through and getting rid of a lot of accumulated stuff downstairs. I can’t even remember how many times I took him to the dump to get rid of things!

My progress has been slowed right down since my recent fall at work. Most of my injuries have healed but the knee is still very unhappy and bruised. I’m so afraid of falling again, that I have been extra careful. I was lucky that I did not get really injured this time. I don’t want a next time. I may not be so fortunate.

There is one box ready to drop off at the thrift store, mostly clothes that my granddaughter and I do not wear anymore. Hopefully, that gets me back on the bandwagon. My brother wants to have a yard sale this summer so some things will be set aside for that. A yard sale seems like a lot of work though. I hope it is worth it in the end. Anything of mine left will definitely be going to the second hand store. I will not bring it back in the house.

Autumn / Halloween Journal Cards

I found some free autumn images on a Facebook group I belong to. I copy and pasted four to a page in Word, to get four journal cards per page. I took the file to Staples to have printed on their colour toner printer. My printer at home is an inkjet and does not print colour pictures very well.

After tea/coffee tying the pages, the colours were toned down and muted a bit. This fit perfectly with a Halloween theme. The images were glued to black card stock next. I added teeny, tiny diecut bats on each of the cards.

Coffee dyed paper was added to the back of each one and I stamped a different image on each with archival ink. I love how they turned out!

Creating With Used Postage Stamps

Over the years, I’ve accumulated a lot of used postage stamps. The first thing I ever created with them was postage stamp mandala. What is a mandala, you ask? We often associate the word mandala with the circular designs that have repeating colors, shapes, and patterns radiating from the center. Mandalas can be precise, carefully measured, geometric, and perfectly symmetrical, or in contrast, free flowing, organic, and asymmetrical.

Here are some of the first ones I made with used postage stamps.

I was inspired to try this from a couple of ATCs that I received in a swap.

By using the same stamp design you can get a totally different look depending on the way you orient them.

I made a whole bunch of these ATCs for a group swap, one for each member.

Here are some other ways that used postage stamps can be utilized in projects much to the horror of some ardent stamp collectors. Let’s start with Christmas gift tags.

Artist trading cards.

Mini journal cards.

Dangles to hang on junk journals. (These were made by a friend.)

I have SO many used postage stamps, mostly hoarded over the years that I’ve decided to see how many other ways I can use them in my crafts this year. Just while writing this post, I've thought of a couple more ideas.