#100daysofuseitupkelly - 2021 Day 75

I finally got around to the April book for the Handmade Book Club with Ali Manning and Vintage Page Designs. This is a sewn over tapes binding. Neat story with this one...⁣
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A friend of mine who's father recently passed away posted his entire National Geographic magazine collection on Facebook marketplace. I commented that ... "OMG, I'm a total Nat Geo junkie, but I absolutely don't need these." But she sent me a message that said, "Kelly, please take these! I will give them to you free because I know you will do amazing things with them!"

 

Soon I had 10 bankers boxes full of Nat Geos in my garage. And her dad's collection included part of her great-grandmother's collection, so there are editions back to the 1930s! My hubs and I have been having fun going through them and putting them in order (and he's hoarding the 1960s editions to relive his childhood!).

So as a thank you, I made this book for her. The cover papers are from a 1991 Nat Geo map insert of Germany. It's not perfect (I attached the back cover upside down, but hey! that just means it's like one of those two-sided magazines!) and I love the way it turned out. ⁣Ali's Handmade Book Club is probably my favorite of the groups I'm involved with.  Each month, Ali challenges us with a new book structure, some more challenging that others. I made this one a little differently than the way she taught it, and since I have quite a bit of experience making books now, I'm finding that I'm able to alter want I want to. Next time I make this one, I'll probably do a French link stitch over the tapes instead of a straight long stitch to jazz it up a bit.  See all of my 2021 100 day project posts over on my Instagram feed.

#100daysofuseitupkelly - 2021 Day 65

Definitely being a little more sporadic sharing this year's 100 day project on the blog! I need to build some blocks like I did last year!  This a Day 65 and a good example of how I often work. The first layer of teal and green fingerprints were done with leftover paint from another spread a week or so ago. Then the deep blue flower petals were done with the leftover paint and stencil I used for some of the postcards I created for iHanna's swap this year. Then I just added collage paper, washi tape, and black pen and acrylic marker accents today. I've discovered the Arteza acrylic markers and am really loving them. I imagine they are similar to the coveted Posca paint pens but are much more affordable!  You can see all of my 2021 100 day project over on my Instagram!

#100daysofuseitupkelly - 2021 Day 37

I've jumped into Wanderlust 2021 with Kasia Avery this year.  I signed up for it last year as well and never got around to it!  Thankfully, all Kasia's courses are there forever, so I can go back through when I've got time (always in short supply around here!)  This spread is inspired by Kasia's Week 9 in which she used a magazine image. I admit to being a magazine junkie, though most of mine are home and garden, decorating, art, or good old National Geographic. After seeing Kasia's demo, I might need to go back to subscribing to a fashion mag or two! 

#100daysofuseitupkelly - 2021 Day 22

Sharing a few close-ups of my 2021 #the100dayproject.  This year I've stuck with my hashtag from last year of #100daysofuseitupkelly. I figured it still applied since I still have sooo .... much .... stuff ....to .... use .... up.

I made this fun little house shaped book during a virtual retreat through our Handmade Book Club, with the amazing Ali Manning from Vintage Page Designs. The retreat was led by D.J. Gaskin. See more of D.J.'s work on Instagram @djgaskin29 here. (And did you know that you don't have to have an Instagram account to check out someone's Instagram feed!? Just a link like the one I just gave you!)

This book started its life as a CheezIt Box. Yep, a CheezIt box!  I am all about recycling and repurposing around here, and I love to use snack and cereal boxes in my book projects. 

And what makes this one even more fun is that the pages are cut from Publix grocery bags.  I'll share a few peeks of the inside later. I decided that this needed to be my little house of critters, so I'm hoping to complete each spread with a critter theme. Thanks for stopping in today!