DIY junk journal, Guest blogger, a Challenge & a Giveaway!

Hello friends!
I've been out for a while, I hope you don't missed me too much :). Today, I'm a guest blogger at my friend Yvonne's blog,  Do More With Less. She has great eyes for colors, texture and blings and I'm forever loving her bold, happy artwork!. 

So for this fun assignment, I made a  junk journal, out of mostly ... junk :). Well, treasures actually. And, I'm hosting a challenge there as well. Come take a peek HERE and have a chance at winning my little give away!. 

Here's what I made;

My small junk journal, measures only 6" X 4" in size.

Front cover, with pressed flowers.

I 'trapped' flowers by stitching around a plastic folder to keep them in-place.

Delicate nature.

I LOVE using different textures and materials in my projects. Read more on how I used up papers & fabric scraps, making this junk journal at Do More With Less. Time to rid off that junk mails and unwanted flyers, don't you think? :).

The back cover. Botanical specimens are beautiful against any printed pages.

Stitching specimens is the funnest part of making this journal, really :).

I picked up various leaves & flowers while out walking. Pressed them underneath heavy books (or better, bricks) for about two weeks. The heavier, the shorter it takes :). 

I LOVE junk journals. Why?. There are NO RULES!. Mismatch everything. Go wild :). Tear & distress. It's raw and fun. Endless list of embellishments; store bought, hand-made, re-cycled things, your children's precious artwork, your little doodles, secret love notes etc. 

Lets see some of the pages inside this junk journal;

Ripped pretty prints from magazines as embellishment.

Stitching on frayed fabrics make your journal looks organic.

Plastic inserts with embedded pretty things. You may add buttons or pictures in it too.

Pencil doodling on fabric.

Mini herbarium, don't you think?.

More 'trapped' plants.

I added a pen holder, salvaged from an old diary :). Handy to take notes later.

 Simple embellishments: tags, postage stamps and washi tapes.

Embossed scraps :).

Are you ready for a challenge??. You are welcome to create ANY projects, but you MUST include some stitching in them. Whether it hand-stitching, or machine-stitching ... anyway that strikes your fancy :). Link your projects to the guest blogger post and I'll let Yvonne choose a winner :). 

I'll send one lucky winner, a junk journal kit. So you can make one yourself :). 

Would you like to win this junk journal kit? [I'll mail to anywhere in the world:)].

Come, put your creative hats on and play along!. Good Luck!. And thank you for reading my post today. Hope you'll join my challenge :). Once again, hop on to Do More With Less, link up your creations there. Can't wait to see what you make!. HUGS.

would it be cool to live in a giant terrarium??

Sweet friends,
The rain storm had just passed. You do NOT believe how loud the thunders were and so scary lightnings!. And the wind!. I was praying hard that the wind would be gentle on the trees, I hate seeing them fell. And then my poor cats, ha ha. I don't think they are that brave :). Now, it is cool & nice. However, I did enjoy a sunny morning today. The light was stunning and I quickly grabbed my camera. Seeing these plants & trees make me feel like I'm living in a giant terrarium!. Semi terrarium. [the building has only two sides of large glass walls]. Funny, I blogged about making tiny terrariums just days ago. 

I'm sharing some photos from the food court, next to my apartment building. [which is why I never have to cook, you see. LOL]. It seems like I'm the only one who is so crazy of taking photos outdoors, around here!. Are they THAT busy? :). Or am I THAT nuts?. I hope they think I'm a journalist :).

A wild banana tree grows so close to the glass wall beside the West staircase.

Thick ground cover, overlooking the power plant. It is always shady in this part.

A papaya tree. No clue if it is female, or a male tree. I can't see the flowers.

Papaya tree close up.

This is the glass wall on the other side. See what I meant by living in terrarium? :).

A glimpse of my apartment building, on the right. Love the woody area behind it which I fondly called a forest. Yup, that is a coconut tree :).

Wild banana trees on the foreground. I saw someone cut up the leaves one year. Bet they were for some Indian banana leaf restaurants somewhere :).

When it rains so much, even the pavement is pretty with moss.

I don't know what these tiny plants are. I took home a piece for my window garden :).

So, that's it. Good job that you'd stayed this far :). I hope you'll have a great week. HUGS.

beautiful fabric finds

Sweet friends,

I went to the flea market this morning, looking for some floral fabrics. Can't be happier when I found these silk hankies and crocheted cottons. All of these for only RM$5.00! (RM = Malaysian Ringgit, that's about US$1.50). What a steal :). I need lots more for making fabric books, though.

Love the soft petals.

Cherry blossoms with gold centers.

I think these are some kind of fabric coasters or food covers.

Simple embroidery never fails to impress me :).

Wish I could crochet these scallops.

This one has stain on it, which make it extra special :).

I'm hoping to share more of my flea market finds with you in the coming weeks. A little gem every now and then. I used to be impulsive when I go junking, but now I'm training myself to be more selective and STICK to my budget! LOL. Until then, have a great weekend!. HUGS.

faux terrarium, oh so fun !

Dearest all,
any sign of warm weather yet? :). I enjoy tending my tiny, potted, windowsill garden lately. Added two more new plants and potting some veg seeds. [Wishing all the luck in the world for them to grow]. We have great weather lately, sunny mornings and afternoon rain showers. Perfect for gardening!.

Tiny, faux terrarium :). That's a quarter for scale.

Today, I like to share another fun & simple craft. I've been wanting to make a fairy garden :). And making this tiny terrarium is the beginning. There is nothing living in there, except a moss-covered pebble :).

Materials for building a faux terrarium. 

[Craft wires and moss-covered pebble are not shown in the picture].

Dried ferns. They'd been pressed under thick books & bricks for two weeks. 

I used a tiny pie tin as the base and tied it up to a small glass bottle with a craft wire. That way, they'd be sturdy and not wobbly. But first, I applied a generous amount of mod podge (or any PVC glue) to stick the ferns all over the bottle. Then dried thoroughly. I love the slight opague tint on the glass bottle from the glue.

Real ferns, roots and all.

I collected some moss-covered pebbles on my walk yesterday. They were for my garden, but I thought adding a tiny one into the glass bottle would be cool.

Tiny moss garden in a bottle.

Hope you can see the moss. If I had super powers, I would make me tiny enough to get in here and read a book for a while :). To be surrounded by giant ferns!.

Then, I stamped dragonflies all over the glass wall with brown Stazon. How fun that they're visiting :).

Stamped dragonflies.

 This is a perfect little gift for any garden lovers, plants collectors or just anyone who love curiosities :). Easy maintenance, no need to water at all. Well, maybe a little mist now and then for the moss :). A good idea to place it on your work table, it'll be handy should you need to look at something green :). In my case, I placed it next to my potted plants on the windowsill. Hope the fairies would find it, amusing :).

Fairy terrarium, amongst my potted plants.

So, be inspired with all things green this month!. If you need more ideas of botanical-related crafts, take a peek at my post here; Inspiration Botanical. Have a great week!. HUGS.