Honoring a Music Legend With Custom Guest Books

Canadian jazz musician Oliver Jones retired last year and gave a farewell concert. I was honored to provide two of my 6x4 Art Deco Advice Books to commemorate the occasion. Concert goers were invited to leave their thoughts and well wishes in the books. 

The notes of appreciation from fans for Mr. Jones's legacy of music and entertainment added a special touch to the celebration.

I love this picture of Oliver Jones holding my guest book! What a treasure it will be for him to read through the notes and know what an impact he had on his fans.

Here is a sample of Oliver Jones' music:

Read more about the musical farewell tour here.

3 Ways a Handmade Guest Book Can Make a Wedding Special

Handmade items can add a personal touch to your themed wedding. As you capture memories from your big day, your guest book will be among the few things you will have as a keepsake.

Here are three reasons to consider a handmade guest book for your wedding.

1. You can have something made which matches your theme and/or colors. Finding an off-the-shelf guest book that matches the theme of your wedding can be frustrating! Choosing handmade will give you options which are more likely to match your theme. Here are just a few examples of themed guest books I make:

Silver Paisley on Purple Guest Book: great for a purple, Indian, or paisley themed wedding.

Sand Dollar Beach Wedding Guest Book/Photo Album

Or have something made especially for you. This customer and her fiance are pilots and wanted their guest book covered with aeronautical charts. She sent me the paper and I used it on both the inside and outside covers.

2. You can personalize your book with a name plate or personalized page using whatever text you want. Many couples put their names and the wedding date but some want a favorite scripture or quote also.

3. A handmade guest book offers you flexibility with the pages. Do you want black pages? Fewer lined pages and more photo pages? Or all photo pages for a photo booth? I offer all these options for most of my guest books.

Make your wedding day special with a handmade guest book you will treasure for years to come!

Dare to Wreck This Journal!

I came across a book by Keri Smith called "Wreck This Journal". In it she encourages artists to explore and be fearless of mistakes.

When I first started keeping an art journal I was afraid of "messing it up". I overthought my pages and found it paralyzed my creativity. I overcame that fear when I actually did mess up a page by dropping an inked stamp. It landed where I didn't want it, of course. I faced the challenge of trying to "fix" the mistake.

Once these random mistakes happened a few times (dripping paint unintentionally, misspelling a word, etc.) I became more confident in my ability to roll with it. In the page above, I misspelled "when" (how do you do that, right??!) so I just painted over the area. The ink beneath still shows through a little, but I've learned to tell myself it's okay!

So my challenge to you is dare to wreck this journal! 

You can find it in my shop here.

Inspiration for an Art Deco Wedding

Considering an Art Deco theme for your wedding? Step back in time with a Gatsby, roaring 20's style and make it an unforgettable one for your ceremony and/or reception.

Here are a few of my favorite Art Deco inspired items-

Pocket Fold Wedding Invitations Set in "Deco Scallop" by punchpaper

Black Onyx Teardrop Earrings by theDeerCreekHouse

Art Deco Guest Book in Black and Gold by EmersonBindery

Bridesmaids Flutes / Champagne Glasses by WaterfallDesigns

Each of these items can help make your wedding day special and leave a lasting impression with your guests. 

How To Stay Organized When Planning a Wedding

Feeling overwhelmed planning your wedding? You may have heard the saying, "How do you eat an elephant?" One bite at a time!

A good wedding planner breaks the process down for you into manageable steps. Here are few things to remember when tackling this.

1. Establish a timeline to help manage the process. Most start a year in advance with quarterly, monthly, and weekly tasks. Many vendors will need to be secured months in advance.
2. Rely on your vendors to help guide you through the process. This may be your first time but they do it all the time and will be able to tell you what questions you should be asking.
3. If you're fortunate enough to have family and friends willing to help delegate specific tasks to them. Follow up to keep them accountable for the items on which they are responsible.
4. Don't forget about post-wedding checklist items. Dealing with the aftermath of the wedding festivities involves thank you notes, following up with vendors, and preserving your wedding gown.

I designed my wedding planner binder to help keep you organized throughout the process. It includes suggested questions to ask when interviewing vendors and venue sites, checklists broken down into monthly tasks (and weekly/daily tasks as the big day gets closer), and a place to keep notes, brochures, business cards and fliers. Everything you need to get started is all within this stylish and practical 3-ring mini binder which is the perfect size for carrying to appointments.

Handmade Watercolor Art Journal Featured in Gift List

Thankful that Vianna Szabo Fine Art featured my handmade watercolor art journal
in their gift list for artists. Start unleashing your creativity at https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmersonBindery

Creative Art Journaling: Christmas Eve Magic

In honor of Christmas Eve and in tribute to the Nutcracker 

I present my latest creation:

I miss that magical time as a kid waiting for Santa, listening for reindeer hooves on the roof. It's fun to relive it through your kids, but now as mine is older I miss it again.

I used black gesso for the background with a coat of blue acrylic paint. I stamped a tree in brown acrylic paint in the background and accented the page with swirls stamped with Brilliance gold ink. The words are in Brilliance copper ink.

The wedding photo was taken by a friend of ours, Mark Collie who owns Quiver Tree Photography. It is so beautiful and magical, it looks like something out of a fairy tale!

Creative Art Journaling: Starry Night

 It's been over a year since I made this fabric art journal using upholstery scraps. I have been working on filling it with things that inspire me and experimenting with new techniques. 

The pages are so full now I can barely get it closed. 

Here is a glimpse of the artwork I've been doing inside it...

One of my favorite paintings is Van Gogh's Starry Night. 

I was inspired to try my own interpretation of the artwork

using acrylic paint on gessoed cardstock. 

I added glitter to the night sky and Ranger's Stickles to the moon and stars.

One thing I love about studying art is finding things in the painting I never noticed before. I discovered the rolling hills and the little town under the night sky once I really examined Van Gogh's work. This exercise has given me an even deeper appreciation for this piece.

How Other Artists Are Using My Watercolor Art Journals

When the journals I make leave my studio for their journey to their new home, my hope is that they'll be used and not just sit on a shelf to look pretty.

 When a customer sent me these pictures of what she's been doing with the art journals she bought from me I nearly jumped up and down with delight!

 So pretty!

 I love looking at work spaces, too.

You can find blank watercolor journals similar to these in my shop here.

Rustic Country Chic Guest Book or Photo Album

This book has been patiently sitting around my studio waiting for me to finish it,

which I finally did this week. Yay me.

It was a case of "am I finished with this or not?" It seemed like it needed

something else. The poor book was relegated to the shelf for 3 months

before I figured out what it was.

 

Beads! The magic touch.

 

 

I didn't want to overload the book with beads...just a subtle something extra,

so I put just three on every other thread.

 

 

I had a lot of fun stamping on the pages and making little pockets and envelopes.

 

This book would make a perfect guest book or photo album for a barn-style, forest theme, wild west, or vintage wedding. You could also use it as a journal for everyday or travel. It can be purchased here.

 

 

Art Journal Using Upholstery Fabric Swatches for the Covers

Years ago I found some upholstery swatch books in a thrift store. I've been hoarding them ever since, which not unusual for me. I have oodles of fabric, ribbon, paper, beads, sequins, stickers, magazine images...and so on. I even kept the extra wooden reeds from when I cut the length of my roman shades. I must have 150 sticks in my attic. What I am going to do with them all I don't know, but you never know when you might need a stick for a project!

Anyhow, I thought I would finally put to use all the little scraps of upholstery fabric by making journal covers with them.

The design process takes me forever, partly as I have to organize all the little scraps by color first because I'm like that. Then I have to find the exact right combination of colors and patterns.

I sew all the scraps together and sew a lining on the other side, taking care to remember to include the elastic loop on the back for the button closure. It's a real nuisance if you forget this step as you have to rip out the stitches to slip the elastic in between the cover and liner and sew it back together. Not that I am speaking from experience. ;)

Then it is text block time. I added lots of different colored paper pages and little swatches of scrapbook paper into my pages. I discovered when working within this journal that the colored paper was a moot point as I gessoed all the pages and painted on them, so it really didn't matter what color the page was to begin with. Oh well.

I stitched the pages into the book using a sort of modified longstitch/pamphlet stitch and added a button from my grandmother's collection.

 Ta-da! Finished product. I am about halfway done filling the pages of this book.
Here are some of the pages:

I am making some fabric journals to share and will post the link when they are ready in my Etsy shop.

Here is one ready to ship! https://www.etsy.com/listing/251497590/travel-or-art-journal-with-upholstery

Rustic Wedding Guest Book: Peony Blossoms on Blue

I have been experimenting with hand painted covers a lot lately. This pretty little book has a hand painted border in charcoal gray to coordinate with the cover paper (designed by Amy Butler).

 I also painted and distressed the inside covers. The brown kraft paper pages are hand torn.

The lace bow is removable if you prefer the cover plain. This book can be purchased in my shop here.

Mini Guest Books for a Teenage Boy

Recently I was commissioned to make these mini books for use as guest books at a bar mitzvah.

 

The boy was into music so I found this music themed paper in my scrapbook paper stash.

I stamped and embossed the drum set on two of the books to coordinate with the covers.

 

 The inside pages are blank and can be filled with notes, signatures, and drawings.

Maybe even photo booth strips could fit inside, depending upon the size of the strips.