OK, so, I have been experiencing.....

cRaFT eNVy!

Yes indeed-de-doo I have.

I mean..all the great sites....the painting, the calligraphy, the photography, the sewn journals..the sketches..all of it.

And, if money were no object (yeeeaah, like that's ever going to happen..) I would take each and every class that catches my prolific crafting eye..

But, alas, I have no hen to lay the golden eggs..and, ewe... they'd be covered in..ahh..henpoo,

So I stalk...I Google, I YouTube, I blog-hop, I search, I clip magazines, I ask and most of all, I dream..

..of time

..of supplies

..of talent

..of learning

..of great teachers

And, I have been very fortunate to find almost no-cost ways to learn from the best....their BLOGS :-)

So, this month, it's learning how to create beautiful hand-made journals.

I am trying to use all available supplies (no running to Hobby Lobby to buy the 'latestgreatest" ) and hopefully, ending up with something that I can use, enjoy, share and keep.

On one completely WondERfuL blog, http://marthalever.blogspot.com/ (Art Du Jour) the "lovely & talented" Martha Lever {Hi Martha! Waving furiously from my cubicle at work..} showed a great new tool {at least I *think* I saw it there} that will make your plain, old (new) perfect pages look worn and raggedldeley (my word)..

Love to have it..

...but in the mean time, a sharp pair of scissors, a newspaper on my lap for the scrapings, a patient and accommodating Mr. B, and a re-run of NCIS on TV, I managed to rough-up 24 manila folders into 48 lovely pre-signatures (6 signatures made up of 4 folders each) just awaiting their final dressing of ephemera, scraps, fabric and fun!

So, ta-da..

before...

after...

sideways after....

It certainly does "Plump-them-up" huh?!

Here's an older lunch-bag-one I made a while back...

..and, when I was still in my "neat" phase...(I would totally grunge it up now, heehee)

So, there you have it...and please, take a moment to visit some of my "faves" on my sidebar..you won't be disappointed :-)

-me