couldn't wait...

Okay, I am so loving the way this is turning out that I have to share it even before it's finished and given away. I don't think the recipient will mind...hopefully it will just make her more excited to receive it...

I have been seeing the neatest mixture of fabric and paper for journals by very creative people out in blogville. It really got me excited to create one (or two or three) of my own. They could turn into journals...scrap albums...or even recipe collections...the possibilities are endless.

I made a couple of pillows as a gift with this great retro fabric and knew it would be perfect to mix with paper into a recipe book. The images are large and very distinct and it just lends itself to this type of project.

Don't you just love this image from Crafty Secrets...the edges were distressed and then I went over them with Colorbox chalk ink Chestnut Roan.

The Moda fabric is full of these great retro kitchen images...

To start the project I painted the chipboard book in Spring Green by Apple Barrel. It was the closest color I could get to the jadeite look I was going for. I used the Chestnut Roan chalk ink around all the page edges.

Then I soaked all the fabric in a pot of black tea to give it a more distressed look, after rinsing it in water I threw it in the dryer to fray the edges a bit...I inked up the red and white polka dot paper from October Afternoon as well. I did all the stitching in layers and sewed on the buttons before adhering it to the chipboard book page.
Can't wait to start on the next page...I think I will make a pocket with a passed down recipe to tuck inside. You know I'll share it with you as soon as it's done!

Enjoy the day...do something creative...it feeds your soul.

Patty