Saturday, January 31, 2009

A Blank Slate

Hello! Hope you are having a restful weekend. I had a migraine today, which forced me to lie down a lot of the day, but I suppose, in a way, that's good. But I did take some photos this afternoon of something I have been wanting to show you but had to finish first! I finally did the writing in it last night and am excited to show you.

It's my own Silver Bella 2008 book! I saved special bits and bobs from the event and set aside vintage goodies that worked with the theme. I am a girl who likes the idea of scrapbooks but has always been dissatisfied by the end result when I have made them in the traditional way. But this was a different story! This is "my thing" and every page was simple, fun and turned out better than I'd imagined. Now that's my kind of project! I want to add some photos of my friends and I in our prom dresses, too, which I only just remembered right now as I was typing...need to do that.

Before I show you the book I made, I want to tell you about the "base" book I used. If you have followed my blog for awhile, you know that I make fabric heirloom books from scratch. They don't look much like this...they are larger, for one, and they are "quilted." This is a simple little 8" x 7" canvas book that I am happy to tell you I am going to be selling from my etsy shoppe. I am delighted with how they work. I can easily sew both fabric and paper to the pages using my sewing machine. It's a "doable" size, too, so if you're like me and get overwhelmed with big blank books, you'll be happy with this fact, as well. You can find these blank books HERE.

So here is what I made with my blank book!
I covered the outside cover with a really sweet, vintage-looking netting. I made the cover design as a separate piece, hand-stitching a photo printed on fabric to this yummy quilted scrap and then adding some vintage pretties here and there. Then I sewed the whole piece to the front cover of the book.

Inside I sewed vintage wallpaper, scrapbook paper and even a piece of muslin to the pages as writing surfaces. I was delighted that I was able to pretty easily write on the muslin with a ballpoint pen! I incorporated vintage wallpaper, muslin scraps from a bag Andrea gave me with my name stamped on it, sketches of dresses by Natasha, a beautiful photo that Jennifer gave all the Bellas and even my ticket for the vendor faire the night of the "prom." I added a little "friend" card I bought on etsy from oneripepeach. It was so fun to finally put all these pieces together! I added in some vintage photos of girls in prom dresses and other sorts of dresses, too, which I have started collecting and can't get enough of. You'll notice that I used a lot of the "decorative" stitches on my sewing machine. I love doing this, especially when sewing on paper.

So that's it! I hope you feel inspired to make something that chronicles a special event, memory or even dreams for the future. If you don't like working in a medium, DON'T! Pick a medium that you LOVE, that makes your heart beat faster when you think about it and that you enjoy every step of. And if you don't know what that medium is, experiment a little! Look up "altered art" on etsy or even Google. Pick up one of the many Somerset magazines in the bookstore or online.
There are as many different ways to create something as there are people in the world, so find what works for YOU!
Have fun PLAYING!
Love,
Cheryl

8 comments:

karlascottage.typepad.com said...

What a lovely momento of a lovely weekend!

roseroomnz.com said...

Its wonderful Cheryl! I have a migraine also:( Rachaelxo

Unknown said...

LOVE it Cheryl!! Perfect idea :)
Hugs,
Amy

Anonymous said...

Muito,muito bonito seu
trabalho fico admirada
com a delicadesa.
Me fala como voce tranfere
a foto para o tecido?
Parabéns!!!

.♥♥.♥♥
Very, very nice your
work I admired
with delicadesa.
Tell me how you transfer
the picture to the fabric?
Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous book Cheryl, you do do your books so well!! Funny I had just written a post about the same sort of thing, finding something that makes your heart beat faster and I think for me this week it is painting even though last week I was so loving sewing up some vintage image shoulder bags.....I suppose we can love more than one medium just the same, we manage to love all our children just the same...there justified my tooing and froing. Great Post!
Kiss Noises Linda Lilly Cottage

Cheryl Ensom said...

Thank you, Girls! Roseny Crisp asked how I transfer the photo to fabric. I use a product I buy in the craft store which is actually fabric with a paper backing that allows it to slip right into an ink jet printer (regular computer printer) so that I can print right on it, just as I would on paper. Super easy. There are lots of products like this and I like some better than others. My new FAVORITE is one that The Vintage Workshop sells. It is actually LINEN and the effect is incredible. I highly recommend it. If you are buying these products online, you can search under "Linen Printable Fabric Sheet" (that's the Vintage Workshop product) or "Computer Printer Fabric" (a product at JoAnn's fabric. If you go with a cotton product, I prefer the "cream" version, as it makes it look older and less new/white. Hope this helps!!! If you would rather not print images yourself, you can go visit my friend, Pat, who is in my sidebar under "Friends and Family." She sells hundreds of incredible vintage images printed on fabric in her eBay store. Her eBay i.d. is summersdarling. I order from her myself and always LOVE her images!

Niesz Vintage Home said...

Its lovely! What a nice idea.

Kimberly :)

Jennifer Hayslip said...

Truly beautiful Miss Cheryl! You are the QUEEN of these gorgeous fabric books!!! :) XOXO