No More Unfinished Business!?!

Sometime ago,  I started to create a my first ever "Chunky Book"... I managed to make a few pages but eventually I ended up putting it on a shelf and pretty much forgetting about it, until now... I really do hate to leave anything unfinished, makes me feel like I've lost the battle between good & evil, for Supreme Creativity... so, I decided to jump back in and finish it once and for all, just like any super-powered Janoodle Warrior must do in these most uncertain of times!! 

Below are photos of my recently completed Janoodle Chucky... as usual, I do believe the pics do not do the work justice... (wishful thinking?? hope I'm not kidding myself!) Someday I will learn how to take a decent photo, but until then... oh well!! I was going to retake a few of them before I did the final post but I eventually remembered (whoops, another Senior moment) that it went postal today, it's on it's way to an unsuspecting soul at this very moment!!

Janoodle Chunky Book - front cover

Solar Explosion - page 1

Windy Wendy - page 2

           

 Nature Unfolds - 2 views of page 3

Snail's Pace - page 4

Magic Genie - page 5

Southern Belle - page 6

One That Got Away - page 7

Left Behind - page 8

 

Back Cover of Janoodle Chunky

My favorite thing about chunky books is that you can add pages anytime... the rings that hold it together can open & close at will... it does make a great gift because you can create & send additional pages to the recipient for any occasion... it's a gift that keeps on giving!!

  

Well, thanks for stopping by to take a peek...

Until next time, Blessings to One & All !!

Fan Out and enjoy the ART around you!!

Today's Show & Tell has been inspired by a recent flashback of my childhood  (far more years ago than I will admit to)... here's a little back story, I will try to keep it as short as possible!

My mother and her older sister were only 1 year apart in age and as far back as I can remember they had an extreme sibling rivalry that lasted their entire life... each one reveled in trying to outdo the other in even the smallest of ways. I remember stories of them competing over who had the smallest waist, 19 or 19 1/4 inches (I do believe this was pre childbirth). They were well into their 70's when I overhead a phone conversation between the two of them, still trying to convince the other that they were the smaller!! In actuality they were very different women, if they would have just taken the time to realize that fact maybe they could have set aside all of the jealousy and enjoyed each other for who they were!! Bear with me, I'll get to the point soon...

I was the only girl in my family, all of the other "cousins" were boys... whenever we traveled back to visit our hometown, Aunt Lou made a point of taking time to spend with just me, her favorite niece. She always wanted to show me her latest jewelry, her very stylish wardrobe and new furnishings... even then I suspected it was more about me reporting back to my mother than it was about quality time with me! 

Finally, today's inspiration flashback... My aunt had a collection of hand painted "Fans" that I loved to look at but could never touch...  I can still see her as she would flip one of them open to fan herself while drinking cocktails in the evening... tres elegante!

I remember after seeing those lovely fans for the first time, I tried to make paper fans out of every picture that I colored. 

So, my journey into the past leads us here... "Janoodle Fans"

Let's get started... Take a look at this short & easy  "You Tube Tutorial"

• 4 in. X 12 in. paper - weight suitable to score every 1/2 inch and hold up to creating your design with your medium of choice ... I used a lightly textured scrap booking card stock, it scored nicely and worked well with my Jacquard Dyes as long as I didn't overwork with too much water! My usual 140lb. watercolor paper was too heavy for getting a crisp fold.

• REMEMBER... paint your design before scoring, then turn over to score on the back side

• [12]   7 inch wooden coffee stir sticks -  natural or painted, your choice

Another brightly colored Janoodle design for my next fan

Fan Back - sticks are glued along every other fold

Finish off by gathering fan at folds... I held the fan in this folded position with an elastic cord while I attached the sticks together. I used a decorative string with beads, the video used a long brad for this step but I made smaller holes... I liked this much better... experiment a bit and you'll come up with what you like best!

 Thanks for hanging in through my childhood ramblings...

I hope this has inspired you to create your own hand painted fan 

or at the least to become a Fan of Fans!!

Until next time... HAPPY ARTing!!!