collectionary update

Next week at this time we will be far, far away - probably the farthest we've ever been. The collectionary pages are getting ready to be filled with new sights, sounds and smells!

The background is made from a Panera Bread bag, once again... I just love this texture, nice, thick craft paper with interesting patterns, which require adding lined paper. These pages also allow me to use up some items from the tiny scrap box.

Got a cool new stamp recently - an antique teapot. Gotta love the dollar bins at Michael's.

The image on the left is a little scrap of Nativity-themed Christmas paper; the buildings totally fit into the upcoming visit to Turkey and Israel, at least I imagine so.

These pages are based on a big brown envelope which used to contain a magazine I subscribe to. Nice stamps, all the way from Polska!

a new collectionary for the new year

After a flurry of Sunday School crafts that stormed through my craft table, the time has come to focus on some other items. I've started with the first pages of the new collectionary which will travel with us to Israel. I always write a few intro pages after the dates have been settled, tickets purchased etc.

I had to do it by the end of December so that I could use the expression "L'shanah haba'ah birushalaim" - Next year in Jerusalem :)

The pages include a bunch of pictures from travel magazines, a teabag wrapper (since the Mount of Olives theme matches perfectly), a credit card flier (that;s the hat image), miscellaneous scraps and a printout of the itinerary. Can't wait to go - but then there is so much to do before it happens!

pasture and palace

In preparation for the Sunday schools this weekend, the craft table (and the craft floor, as it turns out) are covered with David-themed items.

David the Shepherd will appear with his sheep in green pastures by cool waters, with sheep and a scary lion and bear. Then the kids will be making their own sheep, which will mostly consist in attaching cotton balls to their bellies.

David the King will reside in a palace, which looks like it needs some more decorating. Even though I think the kings in those days more likely lived in stony castles, we'll stretch history for the sake of prettiness here :) The kids will also make crowns for themselves and participate in a royal feast.

For the David-the-Musician episode, the kidlets will decorate lyres (which I still need to make) and create little books showcasing the themes on which he was singing: creation, Israel's history, life as a shepherd, prayer, God's word, life at Saul's court.

Also on the table - there is a stack of cutouts prepared for the initial pages of the Collectionary that will cover the Middle East trip - we purchased the plane tickets on Monday, so it would be good to start. 

So glad to have a helper on the craft table - I couldn't possibly do it all by myself!

Canada Collectionary

We returned from Canada a few days ago and my Collectionary - travel journal written on the road - is pretty much ready! 95% of the process takes place in the car; the passenger door in our Impala is equipped with a couple of very convenient box-like spaces, where I can keep tools and pieces of memorabilia. I was never able to finish a journal if I started working on it after we had returned, and this new method is amazing!

Almost nothing is forgotten, since it's put down in writing right away. I also stopped pack-ratting larger travel brochures, which don't necessarily relate to our trip as a whole; I cut what I need and toss. Another advantage is that I had a reason to buy a bunch of cool pens - Sharpies and others :)

Here is the cover that I put together yesterday - the background is made from a Lake Superior map, and the images came from miscellaneous travel brochures:

And here are a few spreads:

On another note - I signed up for another craftshow (beginning of November in Elmhurst), so I will be working on the little purses again!