the shabby buffalo one...

goodness, gracious, the months just slip by quickly don't they?  i had some free time one day and on a whim i decided i needed a new journal.  i wanted it to be simple, which is not always an easy thing for me.  most things i do end up looking very neat.  i get that from my father.  he is a very precise kind of guy.  but really, i told myself...you got this.  i worked quickly.  i pulled out a shabby piece of leather - buffalo hide.  it was wrinkly, distressed and dirty on the back side.  kind of like it was run over or something.  so i cut a piece.  i only measured once ok.  i found a rough scrap to use as a closure.  i pulled out paper.  not good pristine paper.  old papers and scraps and things with paint already on them.  i started folding.  not all the same size.  i tore some fabric.  added a piece of lace that was on my table from something else.  

i found a shabby piece of sari silk and tied an envelope in the back to keep notes and scraps for adding in later.  i bound it quickly and simply.  sewed on the strap.  and then i immediately started using it.  like, the minute i was done making it.

i have it halfway filled already.  it's a very free wheeling kind of book.  no worries about "messing it up" since it's already pretty shabby.  i've stitched and stapled and glued.

added dried up leaves and bits of nature.  and lots of string.  i love string.  shabby string.  

and random bits that i've kept around for one reason or another.

the fabric pages are ongoing works.  when the mood strikes.  i just tuck the needle into the fabric and leave it there for next time.

lots of words from books, some poetry, collage, old lace.

experiments, gesso and paint.  don't like it?  cover it up with paint.  and then more paint.

special bits from cleaned out drawers.  reminders.  to create happiness.

to let things go.  to just wing it once in a while.  you know what i mean?