haunted and mysterious. . .

it all began with a wonderful old encyclopedia. 'M' is for Mysterious

i have been plotting for over a year now a book exchange to document all things haunted and mysterious. well, it has finally begun. our books have been mailed out and i am starting to see a few peeks out there. melissa posted today about her book and you can see marilyn's here. still waiting to see where candice and cassondra will post.

for a project i have been mulling around for months you would think i wouldn't have any trouble pulling it off. however, i have had the rockiest beginning ever. at one point i emailed the group and admitted the agony of defeat.
after staying up till 3:30am one night working on my book and then ripping it all apart i finally started over. what started out as a serious exploration of the mysterious has turned into a playful romp into the haunted past.






I have been cleaning up the disaster in my studio today. I had suitcases with all their contents strewn around, teetering piles of things, and bins spilling open as I have been digging. . . .
a neighbor girl wandered in yesterday and said 'how come this is such a mess?'
'because I make messes' I told her. especially when I am working on a deadline.

the cover is from an old encyclopedia with a raised design on the front that reminded me of symbols and signs. i really like the flocked wallpapers i used as endpapers and i only sewed in the page signatures so it would be easy to remove, but i already sent my book off to cassondra, what should i do?? i am wishy-washing drastically on this one.
here are two pages from the serious book that i ripped out. they don't seem to fit any longer but i still like them.
she is titled 'creature of the night' i didn't finish her background.





here is a peek at all the wonderful goodies that came in the mail last week to get us thinking about the realm of the haunted and mysterious. this first goodie bundle is from marilyn. that face really freaked me out, i had to use it on the sugared skeleton!


here is the fun collection of black and white things from cassondra. she printed the old cabinet card photo faces onto silk.


melissa created such a fun package of patterned papers and wrapped it all up in the greatest striped tissue.


candice tied this great black skeleton man on her package. i ate the licorice caramel she tucked in first thing!


Until Later. . . . keep your eyes open for black cats and ghosties, julie


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end of summer flowers

this feels like the last long weekend of summer. already i think my roses are blooming their last wave and it is getting cooler at night. the the late afternoon sunshine has that fleeting golden glow we get at the very end of summer is here. it is wonderful for taking pictures and has a light all its own.
it is a melancholy end. i will be sad to see the flowers replaced by wind blown leaves and frost. so i have gathered a few photos to last me through till spring. . .


pink taffy crocheted flowers with mint green leaf.



one of my favorite little zipper purses. the tiny pom pom is off an old hat


a note i mailed off to a friend


these beautiful wool flowers came in the mail from cassondra! her shop always inspires me and she has the best eye for lovely things.


the page 'blossoming' from a linen book i made over the winter.


aqua blue applique daisies wrapped around an old remnant card from valarie. i nearly fainted when i unwrapped the pink tissue off and saw this. . .


bundle of millinery buds, can't wait to do something with these.


wool bead ring with silver beads and a pink millinery flower. one of the projects in my book coming out in a few weeks. i got my advance copy in the mail and couldn't believe i was finally holding my book!! i took it to art group and we made felt beads. I can't wait to make some more of these rings.