Sweet Rose, Book

Welcome.  If you stopped by yesterday, then you know that I really enjoyed myself with the current sketch from Mojo Monday.  I layered strips of trim with strips of paper to create  'rectangle' shape.   And, I did it again!  This time I used only trim.  

The lovely ladies over @ the Shabby Tea Room have this great inspirational photo, to guide your creativity.  And I just love it!

This photo is very inspirational.  I just love the weathered wooden structure, and the bike.  It's so sweet.  The banner and flowers really add a softness.  So, I set out, back into my craft room I went, and crafted another piece.  {smile}

So, this sweet little piece isn't a card.  I altered a mini composition notebook.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  Because this item will most likely travel along with you, I kept the front cover as 'flat' as possible.  But you know me, I'm no good at CAS (clean and simple).  This is about as much as CAS as I get. (smile).

Recipe:  Well, like so many (ok, 95%) of my crafts, I started with the beautiful heavy weight card stock from Stampin' Up!.  This sweet, soft, grey-ish green, is actually called Moss.  It is a retired color from several years ago, and yeah, I still have a few large scraps!  Anyways, I used this color of card stock for the spine of the notebook, as well as the matt for my sentiment.

The worn wood, botanical pattern paper is from a new purchase, by Our Daily Bread, Shabby Rose.  The paper 'pad' is 6" x 6", so I only used two sheets.  Yahoo!  One sheet for the front and back covers and then another for the lining inside the covers. {smile}

I added three different lace trims to the right front cover.  The strips of lace I had on hand were a bit too long, so I did a fussy ruffle machine stitch to help shorten their lengths.  There is a cream lace trim on the bottom, then a white lace trim over that.  And finally, a thin cream crochet trim on top.  

I hand stitched a trio of pearls onto the lace.  Two at the top and one at the bottom of this lace strip.

For my sentiment, I stamped this definition 'original' in going gray classic ink (slate, is the new name for this color), by Stampin' Up!.  I stamped the sentiment onto very vanilla card stock.  I wanted some  softer than stark white.  I used my small scallop rectangle die to create the shape.  I matted in onto a scrap piece of moss card stock, and then onto rose red card stock.  I wanted a pop of color that is in the roses.

To help give my piece a rustic look, I did a simple criss cross stitch with cream twine at opposite corners of the sentiment piece.

Then to finish off my notebook, I added a pen nib.   But the metal pen nib looked to plain, so I tied on a multi-loop bow made from some strawberry bakers twine, and hot glued this piece to the front of the notebook.  [I used hot glue, to give this embellishment a bit more 'staying' power.]

I used some cream twill ribbon, to hold the notebook closed.  I think this textured ribbon helps give a rustic softness to the notebook.  And finally, I had to include a pen.  I had a scrap piece of a blue pattern paper laying on my craft table, that really 'matches' the blue in the main pattern paper.  So, I rolled up a piece and stuck it into the barrel of the pen.  Now, who ever carries this little notebook, along with them, will have a place to jot things down, and an instrument to do so.  {smile}

This little treasure will be for sale at this years Spring Craft Fair @ La Cueva High School, in Albuquerque, NM.  On the first Saturday in May, 2015.  Hope to see you there!