My Blog | Julie Dawn Designs

May 29, 2022

Collaged Journal Covers

There are a couple of things that I really love when it comes to journal making – one is the chance to combine fabric with paper and the other is the chance to collage.

Collage was how I first got started in art. To be honest, I don’t draw well. I can sketch, but it takes me forever so that is how I started with collage. I realized that I could make a flower, for example, out of paper scraps far easier than I could draw or paint one.

Now I found a way to use collage in my journals. I make these adorable, one signature journals that have a fabric base which is then covered in a decorative scrapbook paper or other decorative card stock type of paper and then I build a collage on top of that for the front cover.

These are relatively quick to make compared to some of my other journals and it’s also a great way to use up fabrics that I can’t really use for covers or something else.

It’s really hard to pick which one is my favorite and I’m also happy to report that all of these journals were sold at the recent Craft Guild Spring Show.

Until next time….

May 20, 2022

2022 Craft Guild Spring Show

I recently participated in the spring show. Since I sold 40 journals in the fall show, I decided to pay for space for two tables this time and make as many different kinds of journals as possible before the show. I also made two different kinds of bookmarks for the first time.

Here are pictures of my tables. I apologize for the not so attractive background, but the sides of the large show tent are clear so you can see the cars behind it.

I sold quite a few bookmarks, so that might be something I have on a regular basis now. The show organizers told me that it might be time for me to think about purchasing a craft tent. Apparently, it’s cheaper to be in the show if you have your own tent than it is to pay for table space, if you are going to need more than one table.

I’ve started looking at craft show tents in my price range and it really is daunting. It’s always really windy here now and that requires you to have extra tent weights. Many people make these themselves out of pvc pipe and concrete mix. That looks kind of difficult and I’m not sure how heavy those are. Then you need to figure out how to hang them from your tent . I also need a tent that can be put up and taken down by just me. That narrows down the choices quite a bit. I found one that said it was a one person set up tent, but it was almost $500 which is way more than I want to spend right now, especially considering I can only do two shows a year currently.

I think I’m going to find one and purchase it over the summer and then practice setting it up by myself a few times in my backyard. I’m still researching the tent weight issue. Most of them come with four tent weights that you fill with sand, but it’s so windy now that those won’t be enough to keep your tent from blowing away apparently. I guess I better do more research!

March 11, 2022March 11, 2022

Winter keeps hanging on

I’ve lived in Texas all my life, and I remember a time when living here meant that snow was pretty rare. Things seemed to have changed in the past two years. Last winter was one that I don’t care to ever repeat. Temperatures hovered around zero and below for days. There were power outages, millions in property damage and deaths. We were fortunate and were spared the worst of it, but it was very, very stressful.

This winter has been milder in comparison, but we have had snow twice already, and even though it’s almost the middle of March, temperatures have fallen once again and snow and a wintery mix are in the forecast. Spring can’t come soon enough as far as I am concerned.

So here are a few pictures from the winter of 2022, along with a couple of crazy cat picture thrown in as well. Enjoy!

If you click on the links below, you can view a couple of videos as well.

Snow Day 2022

Jasper in the snow 2022

January 23, 2022

Sunday Afternoon Vibe

It’s been cold here lately, probably not compared to a lot of places, but for Texas. Today finally warmed up to 64 degrees with very little wind. Cooper decided to take advantage of it.

It’s such a weird way to lay, with his belly pressed up against the cabinet. All I can come up with is that the sun had warmed the cabinet and this way, he is able to get sun on his front and his back.

We have really old windows with zero UV protection, so the sun can really warm things up inside. I wonder if he is going to be disappointed when we get the windows replaced next month.

I’ve been hard at work on more journals. The latest one was really a challenge. I finished the cover without too many issues, but then when I went to put the signatures in, I realized the pages were all about an inch too short. I ended up having to add an inch of some sort of embellishment or a tab to every page to get them the right size. Once that was done, the signatures almost ended up being too thick to fit inside the journal. I finally got it finished and photographed today.

This is another I made after taking the online course The Beauty Within. I really enjoyed the course and it’s really fun to take a hardcover book and flip it inside out and turn it into a journal.

This is the first one I made from the course.

Now I’m on to the next one. I haven’t decided what type it will be yet. I still have a long way to go to get enough to sell at the Craft Guild Show in April. I wanted to make enough so that I would need two tables, but junk journals take a lot of time to make, so my next one might have to be something a bit less time consuming.

December 3, 2021December 3, 2021

Work in Progress and Other Things

I’ve been struggling with making more journals lately. I’m working on them, but I kind of hit a wall for a bit. I guess life got in the way with Thanksgiving and kids and all that entails.

There was a lunar eclipse that I really wanted to see, but it turns out it happened at 3 am, so I didn’t want to see it bad enough to wake up that early. I might have caught it if the cat had woken me up at that time, but this was one of those times he chose not to. I did get a couple of shots of the full moon the next morning.

These aren’t the best pictures, but they are better than what I usually get with my phone. It’s really hard to get good pictures of the moon for some reason and I have an iPhone 11 Pro, so I thought that would make a difference, but it really hasn’t.

After the slump I had, I did start working on some new journals. But first I needed to replenish my dyed paper stash. I used the dipped and sewn dyeing method because it’s faster than the dyed and gone to heaven method, but it’s still a process. Fortunately we have warm, sunny weather this week, so I decided to take advantage of that to dry the papers.

These papers are going to be used in three travelers journals I’m working on. I recently was asked if I wanted to sell some of my journals on consignment at the gorgeous Sky Pony Gallery in Willow Bend Mall. I gladly accepted, but now I need to make even more journals than I had anticipated so that I have enough for the gallery and for the Craft Guild’s Spring Show. So I guess it’s back to work for me!

On a final note, the geese are back. Yay!

They are funny to watch because they have no fear of the golfers whatsoever. They just go where to want to no matter who is in their way!

Bye for now!