Monday Morning

Happy Birthday Tori!

Greetings to all,

I have to start today with happy birthday wishes to my sweet daughter, Tori.  She has helped me immensely with  annemadethis, so special thanks and love go out to her this weekend!

And here is a new bracelet, Tori designed and I created.  It is three strands of leather closed with a toggle clasp.  Porcelain and paper beads embellish the leather cords.  if you make this bracelet, be sure that all of your beads have holes large enough for the leather cords to pass through.  You can use a combination of  leather, hemp or even a ball chain to add some variety to the bracelet.

Tori's Bracelet

Journals with hand decorated covers is another great use for recycled paper and embellishments.  It makes a great project for groups of all ages and I thought might work well with some of spring workshops.  The journals start with inexpensive hard cover composition books or sketch books.  You can use any size for this project.  Magazine scraps, colored paper, fabric and even fibers are glued to the covers until you get a pleasing design.  Be careful not to get glue on the inside pages.  Stamping, buttons, beads, ribbons, paints and pastels can be used for finishing touches.  Sometimes I even decorate the first page or add a cute bookmark, just for fun!  Then I put a few generous coats of Triple Thick acrylic gloss to protect it all.  I'll be making a few of these journals for my Etsy shop, if you'd like to take a look.  Here are some examples.

So please stop by my shop annemadethis, I'll be adding some new things.  And like my Facebook page!  If you have any questions about this post, or any others please feel free to contact me.

Thanks for checking in,

anne