Vintage Writer's mini album, journal, portfolio

 As a writer, I always need a notebook to jot down my ideas. plot strategies and sometimes entire paragraph's and every writer likes something really special to put their hopefully future published ideas.
So I chose to make a sort of vintage writer's portfolio which can serve as both journal and photo album. The cover using a brown and ivory paper sports the perfect typewriter magnet up oin the corner and a Graphic 45 typewriter tag is attached as well. To the side is a fussy cut vintage fountain pen and a mini mini book I made. I couldn't find any small books so decided to make one. the title says pages de journal (journal pages) and it has a a cover that looks like leather but is really handmade mulberry paper over a metallic copper card stock used as book board. and inside there are 12 small ivory linen pages. the book opens and can be written in, and closes with a metal wire clasp, as does the portfolio although the metal wire is twisted steel and bronze wire.
I made this journal using the instructions offered by Steffogal1 on her expert you tube video for her "super cute and fast journal. I used papers, materials, ephemera, pigment inks and techniques from Graphic 45, 7 Gypsies, Tim Holtz, Prima, K&Company, and Recollections.
Inside the 12 pages of this 7 by 3 inch portfolio, you'll find to do lists, many pockets, envelopes and a library card holder, and tucked inside are lots of photomats and tags to use for notes, even a handmade bookmarker.

On the first inside page, I added a smash to do list over a brown cardstock background. A lower border of metallic copper card stock which I embossed with my Tim Holtz cogs and gears folder and then cut with the Tim Holtz pennant edge die. Inside the border I tucked a tag I made with vintage vellum newspaper with news and advertising for London events.  Every writer, needs to keep up with the news!  How many novels are written just at the inspiration of some headline or even tiny footnote?
On the third page, I attached an enveloiped and tag I made from K&Company julianne paper stack.  the handwritten paper was perfect.  I then added a seal of a griffin with some deep red sealing wax. and a jaunty top hat in the corner shows our writer is one his way to hunt for inspiration.

The third page has a silver metallic folder with a ocket watch as a reminder that time is of the essence as Arthur Conan Doyle would have Holmes say, and tucked in the pocket is a bookmarker I made with another vintage s style Tim Holtz embossing folder.
The fourth page has another journlaing spot with a typewriter, reminding nay to be author that they must write, writer, write! A book page by Grapohic 45 tucked into a lower border emphasizes the sentiment.

The fifth page boasts a number of Graphic 45 cards and tags from both the Communique as well as the Botanicabella collections.  An elaborate Victorian  advertising for tthe best fountain pens is tucked into a corner pocket and an illuminated book page is tucked further back.
On the sixth page, I used a tag from a tag pad from K&Company's Halloween tag pad, covered the words, "witches brew" with a pen nib illustration and added a pocket at the bottom which holds the title page of a thesaurus, as important to a writer as Watson was to Holmes! A Smash sticky note with a pencil, is another reminder.

   On the seventh page, a border holds a tag I made, and a metallic copper photomat and behind is a larger metllic silver photomat - because each author should have photos of their characters if he chooses to base them on real people - which I must confess I do, or at least an amalgamation of real people. which IAs inspiration there are Victorian advertising cards, a vintage newspaper list of news and events, scraps of handwritten letters, old advertising and document cards. 
Now the 8th page is tricky, for here you'll find a fold out envelope pocket holding a photomat with a smash lightbulb sticky note on it as well as lavishly leather covered book illustration.  And below is a secret pocket made from a tag designed by Debbe Anne Parent owner of Vintage Garden Ephemera. When you turn the page you discover the envelop folds out bearing an true vintage label (not a reproduction) advertising spiriteaux from France, because as many writers know liquid inspiration is one of the cures for white page fever.

And then as you turn the page you discover the back of the eyeglass tag is a pocket accented with and embossed border and an arrow reminder to look to the next page. And tucked inside the pocket is a black photomat.  
The final page sports a library holder marked with an"Urgent" sicker, since as we all know it's time to finally submit that manuscript to a publisher b y the agreed upon and all important deadline!  Before computers, emails and the internet, the tedious process must be undertaken by hand, printing, packaging and sealing a writer's child, his most important document up until that moment in his life which he must then mail, with insurance and document information because heaven forbid it never reaches the editor's transom.  I have to say, the old methods of submitting a book to some publisher in New York or London was such a nerve wracking ritual and I do believe its important for every writer to go through such a character-building initiation - because when they receive that acceptance letter - the joy is so much the more intense, thanks to all the pain and waiting suffered beforehand. 

Family mini album portfolio

My daughter as a mother of two girls, is very involved with her family.  So what better theme for her boudoir journal than the joy and love a family bring to the world.  My eldest granddaughter, Kendall, constantly tells her mother she loves her - through notes on a wipe board on the fridge, through texts, and of course hugs and kisses. She also leaves post a notes here and there and creates a magnet heart out of her younger, one year-old sister, Deven's ABC magnetic blocks on the fridge. So there was no debating a theme when it came to my design of my daughter, Beth's boudoir journal. 
The only challenge was a difference in our styles.  I'm all shabby chic and Victorian business with my head in the past or steampunk's future past, and Beth is a minimalist, contemporary woman who prefers neutral colors over my mauves, browns, cobalts and teals.

I have to say this was simply mini journal I ever made.  I can't count the times, I had to snatch my hand away and return a wonderful item to my stash.  Her life is very busy since she works at our local hospital shortly after adults with brain or spinal chord injuries have come out of ICU. That;s is one active world - so when she comes home, while she prefers peace and quiet, she has the home of a very active family. As a single parent she doesn't have much time to herself so I was hoping this simply boudoir journal was small enough that she wouldn't feel too overwhelmed  to use.

I chose a green botanical graph paper paper from a  K&Company's small designer paperstack by Brenda Walton. Then I accented the cover with a green polka dot edge border cut with a Tim Holtz die and tinted the edges green. to keep to her a simple theme, I added a :Family is life's Blessing" embellishment and simply the letter "B" for my daughters first initial hidden in the foliage.

The second page has a pocket made from a seven gypsies paper over a K&Company paper from a stack I've had about five years - I can't remember the name.  I found a tiny scrap that says "I" along with the hart symbol and added it to a top edges border and beneath it added a word sentiment, "scribble daily and have random thoughts." The tag inserted in the pocket is made with metallic copper card stock. The 3rd page is more of the copper cardstock but this time, I embossed it with a Sizzix swirl die and tinted it with purple Perfect Pearls.  On top is a Smash memo list.  I love the little light bulb!   

On many of the pages, I designed all the word sentiments to mean something when read in order such as "Discover, Quick! Quick! Write that good idea down. Happiness.
A pocket and tag I made with paper form the Julianne paper stack takes over much of this page, along with a rondelle which reads "The best thing to hold onto in this life is each other.  The fourth page starts off with some open stock Recollections paper and another Smash list to which I added the recommended "Remember This"  And beneath that I added a quote by Mother Teresa,  I cut from a bookmark,"Small Things doe with great love bring joy and peace."

The fourth page layout I did in greens and browns, since my daughter loves neutrals.  The focus and fun on these pages are tags made by Debbie Anne Parent  over at Ephemera's Vintage Garden.  there are tow different kinds the dramatic mandala flowers and the beautiful dictionary birds. I made a simple pocket on pg 4 and used a stylized belly band on page five made with a Tim Holtz die cut.
The fifth page has another belly band I made with two different card stocks and word sentiments "Together" and "Good Times" and page six Has another Smash to do list and at the bottom I added the word sentiment "Love" which I cut from a 2011 Christmas card.

The final page has a key on brown background and a pocket made from a Julianne paper, along with another Ephemera's Vintage Garden garden ephemera tag and a copper tag and the final page is made with the a family word paper from open stock at A.C. Moore and the pocket is made with some handmade mulberry paper, a border, and the two words "Cherish" Laughter" finalize my thoughts on how our family strives to be.

Absinthe boudoir journal and mini photo abum

The mystique of absinthe... how do we describe it? How we do we capture its essence of the Green Goddess? Well you can start with this Absinthe Boudoir journal, a place to schedule tastings, record favorite brands, list your favorite bistros, cafes and pubs which offer absinthe brands from around the world and right at home. This a compact, ribbon-tied mini journal and photo album combined is where you can record dreams, jot down memories, keep lists, contacts and quotes, save notes on tastings and write your experiences while visiting with The Green Fairy. and write drafts of letters. There are plenty of pockets and envelopes where you can tuck away small trinkets or love letters, lots of tags and photo mats for photos

I made this journal using the instructions offered by Steffogal1 on her expert you tube video for her "super cute and fast journal. The 7 1/2 by 3/12 boudoir journal is the perfect size to slip into a handbag or keep on a bedside table so as to remember all those brilliant ideas, storylines, plans and fantasies that are part of the absinthe drinker's experience. As with everything mysterious, you know you may forget them if top much times goes passes. And this is one of the Victorian, Turn of the Century, Art Nouveau, Steampunk journals, I have up for sale on my Etsy page at Gail Gray Studios.

The style of this "Absinthe is a blend of Art Nouveau, Steampunk, Victorian, Fin de siècle, French and a bit shabby chic - after all who has much to spend after imbibing in absinthe. C'est la vie!

Inside, tucked away in pockets and envelopes, a mini notebook and on the backs of tags, you'll find directions to accomplish that ghostly louche, absinthe quotes, advertising labels and illustrations of absinthe art and advertising, a list of famous absinthe drinkers, a place where you can list your favorite absinthe haunts and more. And there's lots of room for you to add your own notes on the experiences and history of the absinthe culture.

In this journal, I incorporated papers, materials, ephemera, flowers pigment inks and techniques from Graphic 45,     7 Gypsies, Tim Holtz, Prima, K&Company, and Perfect Pearls, Ranger, Recollections. Like the Victorians, I'm a great believer in reusing everything from advertising labels and items to scraps and fragments, left over from other projects or stuffed away in my stash.The first and second  pages shows some advertising from the hey-day of the Absinthe rage in Paris and beyond, as well as a pocket topped by a photo of the louche - when water is poured over a cube of brown sugar to cause the green absinthe develop a ghostly white mist floating in the body of the liquor.  Tucked inside the pocket is a vintage spiriteaux tag. On the second page is 1835 painting of La Fey Verte by Albert Maignan's 1835 over a metallic copper embossed and textured background made with a Tim Holtz embossing folder and by Sizzix machine and below is another embossed page depicting a sun in an art nouveau style accented with an absinthe label.

The third and fourth pages include a long vertical slide out pocket which holds a photo mat or a place to jot notes on tastings or brand. As an embellishment I added a Graphic 45 framed Art Deco woman.  The fifth page is made with a brown background emblazoned with keys and inserted in gutter holder is a photo mat and notebook where to list famous absinthe houses and local pubs, bistros and cafes which serve absinthe. A coiled paper flower competes the effect.

The fifth and sixth pages focus on the dreamy effects of absinthe, with ta pocket and a journaling tag, and an enveloped and a journaling tag/photo mat.  The envelope can be sealed for those special private entries. w pockets to record dreams, memories, and encounters before the Green goddess whispers in your ear and all is forgotten. Textured and embossed papers were used as well as a Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante postal stamp.

The final two pages include a tag from Michael's dollar bins and a Smash note keeping page simply stating "Yes!"  Yes to favorite brands of absinthe!  Yes to absinthe invitations!  Yes to new absinthe friends!  All proclaimed by the vintage painting of a beautiful art nouveau woman hoisting her glass in a toast.

Fun Steampunk boudoir journal

Once again, I made a boudoir journal using the directions offered by Steffogal1 super cute and  fast journal. Since I'm an avid steampunk participant, working on a steampunk book and having appeared on authors and art panels at Steampunk Cons, I'm always looking for new ways to create using the steampunk/Victorian theme. Since my main character Cecilia is a frisky and curious character - always looking for something to get into, i w3anted to highlight the more flirtatious and playful parts of her personality in this little 71/2 X 31/2 journal.  
This was so much fun to make, touching on both the steampunk and Victorian aspects of my steampunk novel in progress, Orchidelirium.  I often find that producing art is a good way to help flesh out scenes and chapters for my novel.   And since I mentioned before, like the Victorian, I love the idea of recycling advertising illustrations in art so this one has a lot of Trader Joe's illustrations - they are just too cool to leave in the ad flyers or throw in the trash.  I stayed with a muted color scheme in keeping with the Victorian era and of course added a pallet of browns to emphasize the steampunk element.  For the background pages and pockets, I used papers from K& Company's Julianne and Vintage Garden paper stacks, as well as some stock Recollections papers from Michael';s and A.C. Moore.

 In addition I used materials, flowers, ephemera, and techniques from 7 Gypsies, Graphic 45, Tim Holtz, Ranger Inks, Recollections, Prima and K&Company. Once again I've added lots of pockets and tags where I can tuck away notes about Cecila's character development or plot ideas. And there are photo mats where I can add photos of miniatures of some of the sketches I'm doing of my characters.  And of course, had a blast adding feathers and bling to each page.

On the first page, I used a Julianne paper from K&Company then added a corseted steampunk woman  as the main illustration.  I love the steampunk twist the Graphic 45 designers did on the Victorian corseted woman making her appear as if she just left the Upper Air Market, a wheel of streets, something like a steampunk version of Montemarte, which is suspended high above ground where rogues, dealers and thieves meet at the cabarets and in the shops selling rare black market merchandise.
However, Cecilia, as botanist at Kew Gardens, she   is just as much a Victorian lady who has a great deal of fun flirting with the men, although she's committed to Nicholas, a rather unconventional inventor.
The reason I love making these books so much is because they remind me of the Griffin and Sabine series where art and letters tells the mysterious story of the two main characters and actually holding the letters makes the reader feel as if they do are there - in the story living it out.
On the first page, we have the carriage ready to take her off on an adventure and here she has plenty of room to jot down new acquaintances, addresses, titles of musics, names of music she likes and of course any new botanicals she might come across.  And of course, she loves to tuck away invitations to the theater, or those new fangled moving pictures, appointment cards with her designer and that new photographer with his fancy camera, as well as invitations to picnics, teas, dances or tennis.  And lets not forget a gentleman's calling card - there's always a place to slip one in to keep safe.
On the second page, she's recorded illustrations drawn by that wonderful new artist in the area of her rowing on the Thames and enjoying tennis with Nicholas when she can steal him away from his laboratory and workshops.
On the third and fourth page, she loves to recall that wonderful party, where everyone took turns displaying a talent, reading poetry, singing, playing the piano or acting out a hilarious skit - one young man even performed magic tricks!  Cecilia displayed two of the new floral additions to the greenhouse - a rare and potent poppy and a newly discovered rose, discovered growing wild on a side of a hangar just outside of London in Staines where they build airships of all things!  but how she discovered this is a long  and dangerous story, indeed.
And then as we come to the end of the day, Cecilla reflects and unwinds, steps out of her corset into a loose fitting cotton work dress and goes into the greenhouse to choose flowers for the arrangements she'll make for tomorrow's festivities.

Myth and Goddess Boudoir Journal

I haven't posted recently for three reasons - one is that Loner aka Jeff has the next book of his Appalachian Trail journal that I made and I need to photograph it before talking about it on here. Secondly, I've been spending a lot of my time on my large 12X12 altered art Steampunk journal #2 after attending the Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza and being totally blown away by the inventions, costumes and  I've mostly been making Christmas presents so haven't wanted to post about them until after the recipients receive their gifts.
But now I'm making some journals to keep, some to sell on my ETSY and some to save as presents.
 I'll start with one I've made for myself.  I often make books for other people and never get around to making one I'll keep, but I gathered enough ephemera to make one of the useful journals that Steffogal1 taught in very user friendly steps in a you tube tutorial. 
First she offered  peek of it in this video and then she did a tutorial on what she called a super cute and easy journal.  I love the style so much I've been making them like crazy.  Most of mine I call boudoir journals because they're the perfect size to perch on a nightstand. Don't we all need a part diary, part mini photo album - to capture those thoughts and ideas when we have a few moments of alone time? Boudoir journals are ready for , dream recording,  romantic memories, jottings, list-making and of course, photos of your people, secret admirers and legged loves!
This was an important project to me at this stage in my life, as part of the focused Jungian studies I'm involved in right now. It was also part of my therapy following my doctor's diagnosis of my fibromyalgia early last year and an escalation of the chronic neuroimmune disease in July. And I'm sure the tragedy in Newtown, CT, brought to light how death and loss, while integral parts of life, forever change our perspective on life.

 I started off with  a sheet of the 12X12
Engraved Garden Designer paperstack from K&Company. 
I just love this page with the crow. I've always had an affinity for the crow as a bird and The Crow both James O'Barr's graphic novel and The Crow as the movie, starring Brandon Lee were parts of the goth culture which was a rather important part of my life. The movie came out during the heyday of when my publishing house, Shadow Archer Press was publishing our goth culture magazine, The Howling.  Many of our staff and friends were huge graphic novel fans of such groundbreaking graphic novels such as James O'Barr, The Crow and Neil Gaiman's/Dave McKean's Sandman and we couldn't wait for the film to be released and had planned a huge gathering to all attend the movie in goth garb. But then we received the news of Brandon Lee's tragic death on the set in Wilmington, North Carolina (which I visited about ten years later.  I always become fully immersed in sub cultures and had done a lot of research on why O'Barr wrote the graphic novel and how director, Alex Proyas interpreted the story from his own personal perspective. The Crow resonates with me in many deeply personal ways and has been one of my totem animals - maybe as far back as when I was a child, and my father died four days after a fall from a tall building he was working on in Boston. 
I wasn't  allowed to grieve, except secretly because my mother thought it best not to talk about my father or his accident. I believe that America is amiss in rushing the grieving processes, major transformational stages of life. Periods of grief tend to teach us a great deal about loss, but also about love, depth, the true value of people as opposed to material things, as well as leading us to appreciate what's essential to a soulful life.
So for this boudoir journal, I tried to find items that spoke to that process as we travel through the various stages.
First of all I cut the page to 7/1/2 by 3 1/2 inches and then did the scoring and folding to make the booklet. I first added a cemetery sculpture of a mourning woman which I made with a Tim Holtz  fragment. I love using fragments because they're so easy to use to make small pieces of paper into artwork and add a 3 dimensional feature to any project. The woman in mourning further emphasizes the message of this journal.  The Victorians were students of mourning rituals and had many including photos of the deceased, jewelry made from lock of hair from the dearly departed, and other traditions which we might consider macabre.  But to them it was all part of the healing process.
On the second and third pages, I started out with a pocket made from a 2001 note card by Robert Frederick Ltd. that I couldn't bear to mail away, depicting John William Waterhouse's beautiful Pre-Raphaelite painting The Lady of Shallot (1888) - this has long been an important painting in my search for soul and meaning as it represents one must set forth into the unknown despite the dangers which might be encountered.  The painting was based on Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem, written in 1832 -  The Lady of Shallot, where a maiden is locked in a tower and can only view a knight who rides by in a mirror. Once the mirror cracks, she feels she must go seek him our and sets of in her boat, dressed in white, floating through water lilies (both symbols of innocence seeking Camelot.
Our red-headed young woman does encounter love but loss, as well, as we all do. Inside the pocket is a tag from Michael's famous dollar bins. On the next page is an area to jot down quotes or thoughts above a photo of a statue which is in my Garden - to me she represents Demeter or Ceres - the goddess of growth and fertility, but also the mother of Persephone or Hecate who must bear witness to her daughter being abducted to the underground (our subconscious) by Hades (Pluto).
The fourth and fifth pages are about growth, blossoming, blooming to full flower and adulthood,  Life seems vital and vibrant, alive and alluring.   The poppy foil and gilt envelope from K&Company Julianne paperstack holds a tag for photos or writing and the book of  stems, leaves and flowers above offers room for photos.  On the 5th page the botanical from the  paperstack tag barely hides one of my sketches of a nude woman who learns to be vulnerable under the enchantment of new experiences, offerings, pleasures.
Below is a photo of the page with the photo book and poppy envelope opened, displaying the magenta colored striped tag inside  the enveloped.

On the 6th and 7th page, I chose a Steampunk woman holding a crow, from Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante Collection, This woman is mature and decides to live a bohemian life given over to art, writing, reading and music. She holds the crow, a reminder that death must be acknowledged, and how its acknowledgement proves life as something sweet and precious - something important to savor each and every day. I made the art noveau tag from metallic copper heavy card stock using an embossing folder that came in a set.  I can't recall who made it though. It was a great set with four different tags or panels all in the Art Nouveau style.  To add inspiration for soul searching I added a "Mirror, mirror on the wall" type photomat accented from the 2011 Halloween tag stack by K&Company as well as a metallic copper and blue paisley border by K&Company. 

The 8th and 9th pages represent two more stages of a woman's life, first her abduction again to the underworld, an experience which is re-enacted over and over through fathers, boyfriends, lovers and husbands. Because women experience emotions so deeply leading in their ever-present  internal life, they sometimes feels they must give up parts of themselves to be committed to a relationship or to marry.  The 8th page with it's hues of reds and oranges represents all the intense emotions connected with these colors, passion, lust, anger.
I was so excited to spot the Trader Joe's Apple Cider one shipping trip and besides salivating over the idea of cider, I knew the illustration would have to have a featured place in one of my projects. The label is easy to remove (no glue on most of it)  and has a great texture. The illustration depicts these emotions in a unique and powerful way - the man is leading the woman up a ladder - to the heights of passion and life experience, but she refuses and struggles to escape because she's afraid of losing herself.
The tag just below, is from the Julianne K.& Company paperstack   and it's complex busy pattern, overlaid with gilt foil swirls shows how the spirals of life can be hectic and confusing and I tucked it into the bottom border of a bowed Cupid's mouth which is closed and silent.The background of the page and tag are both softer in hues of pink representing that behind all the emotional entanglements and doubts, order can bring order  out of chaos but our woman isn't ready just yet.

On the 8th page, she does indeed lose herself - in a wonderful way - bearing children - and this page shows the joys of motherhood and how losing oneself to the innocence of children, as presented by thew botanical card in the background of a lily, tells a different story. Another tag made of lime green cross-hatched card stock once again depicts the colors of  young life, but the crosshatching on the card shows how those lives Are 9intricately woven together from now on.
The final two pages represent the woman who has come to terms with her life.
On the 9th page I added another photomat from the 2011 Halloween K&Company tag stack and made a pocket from teal card stock, tucking in a card made from a piece of Recollections open stock paper from Michael. This tag: deeply-hued, voluptuous, abundant, rich in color, shows how the reds and pinks are deepened into mauve and burgundy through experience, reflection, insight and resolve.
On the 10th page, once again, I used a Robert Frederick note card of Proserpina by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This goddess, also know as Persephone, Rossetti saw as the empress of Hades - queen of the underworld, who has become adept at exploring her subconscious depths. She is no longer an unwilling victim, but  now a mature and resolved woman, aware that to be fully authentic, she must also reside in the liminal world of Hades for half of her each year to become a fully authentic individual in her own right. She is adept at delving into the past and her subconscious through dreams, stillness, silence or meditation, and she'll continue to partake of the pomegranate because such journeys to the depths are imperative to soulmaking.
I tucked a tag I found at the side of the road once while walking - a scientific specimen card of the lunar, a perfect addendum to tuck into the Proserpina pocket as a symbol of a being whose greatest insights are discovered in the depths of the dark.