Like everyone else in the crafting world I signed up for Mary Ann Moss’ Remains of the Day class back in December. The notice went up at the end of November just days before I left for an impromptu Thanksgiving vacation with my fella to visit my mother in New York City. With the project in mind, I literally scoured the gutters for interesting bits of trash ephemera that would make my weekend in NYC feel more authentic when I looked through what I could only assume would be an awesome scrappy journal.
Cut to July 2010… That journal was never finished. I was just too busy with work and school to have the time necessary for such an ambitious project. I worked at a call center at the time and I put the time to good use between (and sometimes during) phone calls. If you’ve ever wondered what tech support employees do while they are having you reset your satellite box, I can’t say for sure, but if you were speaking with me there’s a good chance that I was painting a background in my art journal or ripping pages from magazines for collage later.
Today I was adding Flickr groups to my profile. I do this every so often and end up adding dozens every time because there are just so many pools of inspiration to look at. It’s practically a sickness. I started looking through the ROD group since it’s been awhile since I’ve really visited and felt the urge to get busy. I’m out of school for the summer and funemployed at them moment so I have lots of time on my hands for something this big. Finally! I have a stack of photos I printed out months ago that need a home. Not to mention my memories.
Here are some of the highlights in photos of this project for me. You can check out more photos with entirely too many details in each description at my Flickr, craftyweasel.
These are what I’m going to use for journaling spots. I’ll probably also use a paper punch to cut out additional tags, but I’ll choose those as I go along.
These are some of the pages I have prepped so far. I haven’t gotten far in the process. So far I’ve just sewn strips to lengthen or widen as necessary. Some of my paper choices seem awfully thin to me. I’ll probably end up sewing on postcards or other cardstock fliers I picked up to add some bulk.
My papers come from all over. I culled quite a few pages from different books that are completely unrelated to New York, used maps, recycled at least one large envelope, some patterned scrapbook papers, and several examples of wrapping paper/wall paper/ contact paper, which I always think of as one item since I keep the rolls together in a box.
When I started this project last winter I was deep in a phase which involved a lot of spray painting with spray paints and spray inks. A lot of pages in my book reflect that. I kinda dig it though. It’s a little dated in the crafting world (unless you are Dina Wakley, then you can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned), but I like the urban feel of it and I think it matches this project well.
I really love this page. I really can’t put my finger on it, it’s really quite simple, but still the attraction is strong for me.
I feel inspired to write more in depth about where I find the stuff I collage with. This particular page is made with a page from an 80’s era fashion text book. I think I might spend some time writing up a post for another day.
As you can imagine, a project of this scope takes up a lot of space. Right now I’ve got all my scraps organized into two boxes that I scored after buying bottled water. You can see the corner of one in the top photo. They are fairly flat which allows me to spread things out and keeps the papers from getting creases. I use them for saving my magazine clippings for later collage and other small treasures and they stack on top of one another pretty well.
When I’m not using the trays I store them both in an old suitcase. They stack on top of each other and fit nicely inside. Then I slide the suitcase back into my suitcase pile. I find that it’s a cute alternative to more clear plastic drawers.
I’m going to spend more time tomorrow embellishing my pages and might get around to binding them together later this week. It’s something to aim for anyway.
last week our class held a similar talk about this subject and you illustrate something we have not covered yet, thanks.
- Lora