enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

autumn minibook update #4.

Big update today.

Someone mentioned last week that this book is turning more into an art journal than a scrapbook and I couldn't agree more. While it was my intention to make this book more textured, I think the "art journal" mood is coming out of the season & dealing with Paul's deployment. My past attempts at art journaling haven't always been so successful but I hope this one countinues to work and inspire me.

Some of this update was done in the moment. Other pages are done all at once when I have a chance to print photos and do some computer journaling. I am going to be working on adding more "right this second" pages because I think it's an important time to capture.

Pretty simple. I used a lot of these text pages in my summer minibook. For more information about the text, check out the video in this post. I printed that photo as a square at 2.25x2.25 and then just freehand cut so it fit inside the patterned paper.

Self explanatory - this would be my "in the moment" work. :)

And the follow up... It was important to for me to show in the book that I got through those rough couple days so I jotted that down as well as this quote. I picked some favorite instagram photos from the past few weeks for the next page. For a tutorial on how to get your instagram photos in a 4x6 inch grid, check out this video.

This is the first of two "glittered" pages. When I picked dark papers to work with in this book I knew that would allow for some fun embellishment techniques. There is a short video at the end of today's post that shares how I used glitter to create patterns on the dark papers.

I sewed tulle from the tutus on to the cream tabbed page. That frame is cut from a sheet of Amy Tangerine for American Crafts paper and adhered right on top of the tulle.

Pretty self explanatory. That label is from Paper Source, but was discontinued a few years ago.

I sewed fabric pieces from my quilt onto the scalloped page and used the white quilt block in the photo as a journaling spot. I wrote right on the photo with a Sharpie pen.

And my second glitter page. This was a fun one that I wasn't sure would work out. I am so happy it did. The text on the left is from this morning's blog post. That crocheted flower came from the pixiepetals etsy shop a few years ago.

using glitter in the autumn minibook by elise blaha

Above is a video where I show a quick tutorial for how to get glitter incorporated on your minibook pages. And let's not talk about the awkward screenshot vimeo captured.

Still need an autumn minibook? Pick one up with a copper or white cover. Working on an autumn minibook? Join the flickr group and grab a badge for your blog! See all posts about this book here.

And, good news :

If you think you're going to need additional pages for this album, I have a few bonus paper packs available. I had limited supplies for these, so when they are gone, they're gone. Click here to shop them. Thank you!

oh, september.

You were my empty month. 

You were my clear calendar page.

You were the month that I didn't know how I was going to get through.

Because all the other months?

They have plans.

Their calendar boxes have text in them.

Those other months have plane tickets bought and road trips scheduled.

They have holidays to celebrate, friends to visit, apartments to pack up & redecorating to do.

You, September, were the dangerous one.

The one where the weight of this deployment could have become too much.

But I think you knew that, September.

I think you realized the propensity I have to panic.

I think you knew I needed this month to buoy me through the remaining five.

It was a little messy for a few days, but you pulled it out.

You made sure we had glorious weather.

You brought with you a few new opportunities.

You encouraged new hobbies.

You stabilized Paul's internet connection and made video chats possible.

You tapped the shoulder of a friend and got her to come visit for a weekend.

Oh, September.

Not only did you get me through it,

you made it pretty enjoyable.

Thank you.

anticipating that come home day.

A very sweet reader just sent me a link to this amazing "coming home" video. This young couple was separated for seven months just like Paul and are going to be and had their reunion filmed. I really loved it and encourage you to watch if you have seven minutes. But beware, your keyboard, shirt and face will soon be covered with tears.

Or maybe that's just me.

getting started on the quilt.

I had to make a choice this week about which fall project to tackle first.

And the quilt won. Mostly because I am going to be traveling for a lot of October and figured the sweater would be a good adventure for while I am up with my parents in Sacramento. I am hoping to find a knitting/yarn store near them to ask for help and get started. I really appreciated all your advice last week on knitting - I'm excited.

And I am also really excited about this quilt.

I picked up fabric, a rotary cutter, cutting mat and ruler a few days ago. Cutting the fabric was easy. I made blocks that were 5x11 inches (if I did it again, I might go smaller). Sewing the blocks into strips was also easy. Getting the strips to all line up correctly? Not so easy.

But of course, I knew that would be the case. I have some practice with carefully lining up fabric from when I made our chevron headboard, but that was on a smaller scale and I was dealing with pre-printed fabric. Not Sewn-by-Impatient-Elise fabric.

I bet you can guess where this is going...

And you're right. I'm rolling with it. Imperfect match-ups and everything.

When I sewed the first two columns together I realized they were a bit off. And I took an hour break to decide if I was going to rip it all up and start over or if I was going to press on. Because OH MAN, I wanted them to be perfect. But DUDE, I not want to start over.

So I compromised with myself and I focused harder on the other strips. I am working on keeping my seam allowances the same. I am ironing every seam. I am pinning as much as I can. And it's improving. It's not perfect and it's not going to be. (And I know the puckering and wrinkles shown above are probably making quilters out there cringe. I'm sorry!) But I love the subtle fabric colors. I really love the style. I think it's going to be rad with our headboard and I know it will set the tone for our next bedroom.

And my other quilt, from last January? I'm still a fan. It's going to stay in the rotation for sure. Maybe for summer? We'll see.

Anyway - lots to do. I am about 50% done with the top. Then I need to get the layers and actually quilt it all together. I have a plan for how I am going to do that and it's different than the hand-stitching from last time. It might be too ambitious, but I think it will work out anyway.

Hopefully I'll have more to share next week.

Tomorrow is the last day to shop the print & poster sale.

I still have seats available in the Blog 2.0 workshop which starts Monday. More details here.

stop, drop & cook.

I was reading blogs this morning and saw Summer's post on zucchini chips.

"Rad," I thought, starring it for later and making a mental note to pick up zucchini at the grocery store tomorrow.

Then I realized I had everything for these in my kitchen.

And for the first time ever, I got up from the computer and whipped up a recipe immediately after I saw it. These took about two minutes of prep time. I don't have a dehydrator, so I just stuck them in the oven at 190*F for about an hour and a half. I am sure I could have shortened that time by just baking them instead of drying them, but this worked for me and they were super good.

Thanks, Summer.