Sound Bites & Snap Shots

Down to the wire, I finished my swap items.  I made little books from recycled materials.  The only thing I ended up buying was a heavy duty thread for the binding.  I chose this project because many moons ago, I found this tutorial.  When I was deciding what to swap, I remembered them and decided it was time. I collected quite a few cereal boxes, Lego boxes, beverage boxes and snack boxes.  I cut them all down to size and then went rummaging for paper.  Every summer the kids bring back home notebooks with many unused pages.  I disassembled several composition notebooks and a few spiral bound ones for the filler paper.  It’s probably a little crazy of me, but I got a charge out of trying to use as much as I could from around the house.    Assembly is quite simple. 

I made all the blocks of fabric, pinked the edges, adhered them to the cover with glue stick and then sewed them down.  I stitched the pages to the cover with my sewing machine (using an 80/12 needle that was too old for fabric but perfect for paper). 

The final detail was to sign the back.

The swap began with Liz who made arm knit scarves.  She has never knit before but had a lot of fun and found the process to be addicting.  You can see she made many more than eight; she made them in short and long lengths and in many different colors. 

Mine is long enough to wrap around my neck three times!

Tiki made homemade taco seasoning.  I opened the lid and it smells heavenly.  The card has the recipe in case we want to make more.  In case we want to make more?  I’m sure she meant, when we need to make more.

Susan created these beautiful beach scenes based on a trip she took with her family to the Gulf Shores. 

Each was done in pastels.  Gorgeous!

Jenni made stenciled mugs.  She used enamel based Sharpies to pen the design and then baked them in the oven. She related that these are an imprecise art as the colors did change a bit when baked.  Mine has a butterfly on one side and a small flower on the other.

Megan is a new member to the group but one would not know based on what she brought to the table.  She made scarves from XL t-shirts and packaged her wares so nicely.  She brought beads which coordinated in color in case people wanted to embellish them further. 

Miss Kim made painted mason jars.  She used acrylic and chalkboard paint.  She intends to use her jar to hold slips of paper with feel good stories on them but the possibilities are endless.  I love a mason jar. 

These beauties were done by Cynthia. They were pencil sketches on watercolor paper. She outlined them with a water soluble marker and then used a wet brush to “activate” the ink. 

Somehow I missed photographing Cynthia with her pieces but she is pictured above with Liz and the arm knit scarves. I chose the Balsam Root which is found on the West Coast.

Lastly, here I am! 

We enjoyed a small luncheon that I prepared to celebrate friendship and Valentine’s Day and then we were off to classroom parties. As the dust settles, I am already mulling over what I will make next.