What is a “Junk Journal”?

And why am I excited about it?

To put it very simply – it is a book made from materials that might otherwise be thrown away as junk.

So that includes:

• old books (perhaps with broken spines, or scribbled on pages or just on outdated subject matter),
• bits of wrapping paper or gift bags (maybe like me, you save even the small scraps “in case”),
• notebook pages (I have numerous notebooks that are only partially filled),
• Bits of wallpaper or sample swatches of papers,
• fabric swatches or leftover bits from sewing,
• cardboard from packages like cereal boxes,
• tissue paper saved from presents received or leftover from presents given,
• tickets, receipts, tags, leftover embellishments from scrapbooks…
• and whatever else you might have saved for an art project.

Making the “books” is an adventure in whatever direction you want to take it in, and you can choose a theme (for example: gratitude; or dream diary), or let it be a random creative energy that takes you where it will.

You can make them as ornate or plain as you’d like. I’ve even seen some that were made on top of those toddler cardboard books – some of those are amazing. You can try your hand at making “pop-up” pages, or add pockets to some of the pages.

You are free to do whatever you wish, the only rule is to enjoy yourself!

I’m pulling together pieces to use to make a junk journals. In the photo you can see a bit of dollhouse wallpaper (the brick) and a rubber stamp (I have a bunch of different ones to play with) and an instruction booklet that is on matte paper which I have removed the staple and plan on using to print some patterns on for a page or two. There are some old art pieces done on thick watercolor paper, which I may use to make a cover.

You don’t have to make your junk journal from scratch, though. Some folks start with a spiral notebooks and embellish/collage on the pages and cover, to transform the notebooks into wonderful journals of art, poetry or goals.

Pick a theme, gather your junk, and enjoy. There are a plethora of Youtube videos on how to do it – search on the term “Junk Journal”.

Stay tuned, I’ll share what I wind up making!

P.S. I am looking forward to playing with gel printing to embellish some of my pages. It is going to be so much fun!

Art and Experimenting

I don’t always like the results of my experiments, but I always learn something from them. When I am sketching, drawing, painting or whatever – I try to share the ones that I don’t care for as well as the ones I am proud of, so that anyone considering playing in these particular techniques know that not everything comes out perfectly.

I know people who try a craft and immediately give it up because their first attempts are not perfect. Well, guess what? Even when you have years of experience doing a craft, sometimes it comes out crappy.

I recently finished a commissioned coil basket and it inspired me to try some different coiling. Here is the result:

I did a loop back and forward again, I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either. I like aspects of it, and will probably do this some more and with larger pieces. This one is five inches long, four inches wide and three inches tall at the highest end – two inches tall at the low end. It is the right size for bangle bracelets to be stored in, or wrapped candies, perhaps. I like the color switches. And I am happy with the jewelry finding end piece.

Next up, I am about to play around with making junk journals (upcycling materials is the best part of any of my crafts).

Wish me luck and stay tuned if you want to see how other projects turn out.

Upcycling

I know it has been a while since I have regularly blogged. My husband has had a lot of health challenges that took up most of my attention (as has the dog – a diagnosis of Cushing’s Disease that was incorrect, and the meds nearly causing his adrenals to shut down – he’s better now, but has lost most of the use of his rear legs – which is difficult, as he is a very large dog – 140 pounds).

I have been doing a lot of work for a new nonprofit organization – Creative Roots Foundation – and am on the board as well as being the corporate secretary for the org.

I have also been crafting with mostly upcycled or gifted materials and yarns. I recently finished a commissioned yarn and coiled rope basket.

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I hope the recipient enjoys the use of it. It was a delight to make.

I also hope to make more of the coiled rope and yarn baskets, this year – and have started on a new one already.

It is a pleasure to match different yarns, sometimes yarns that you could not imagine looking good together, in fact are magical when coiled together. I’ll share when this is finished.

Hoping you all have a wonderful day – and are enjoying April.

List of places that take back for recycle

I was on reddit this morning and stumbled on this list that a wonderful person had compiled – it is in a Google Doc and here’s the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kscXoiRmDO-yLuNwCajQ4S4xe6uCErerGc6HkcgoOxM/edit?usp=sharing

It details the item and any conditions on how they are to be returned and the link to the recycle program, so you can see how to return such items as used toothbrushes, and the foil drink packets and straws that are so popular for children’s fruit drinks.

Some companies only take back their own products, some will take any brand – all the details are in the spreadsheet.

Hopefully you will find this helpful!

Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.com

Warning: Serious Topic Ahead

Today I want to talk about misogyny. Which as you may know is a strong prejudice against women.

What many of us forget is that women can also be prejudiced against other women, and this can be somewhat subtle, but it is there. And perhaps they don’t even recognize it as such.

For example: I am fairly technical (think “super user”) especially after years of working in Technology in both the support and development areas. People think nothing of asking me for help. Other women will ask me for help. If I can help I usually do.

These same women will PAY a man to help them, while fully expecting me to do it for free. If they ask a man for help, they offer a payment. When they ask for my help, it is usually in the context of weird flattery – but only once has another woman offered to pay me for my time and expertise (and I adore her for that).

Why do we as women, value our sister’s time and expertise less than we value our brother’s time? Have we been conditioned by society and our culture to do so?

Here is another example. For awhile I did websites for people. My male clients never balked at my reasonable rates. My female clients nitpicked every little thing, and often argued about my rates. One of these was such a “Karen” to me, that I relented when she said she’d find someone else.

I was horrified when she went to a guy (I had trained) who charged her twice as much as I did, and provided her with exactly the same thing that I had offered her – and she had nothing but sweet things to say about his work.

His comment to me (yes, he still came to me for help once in awhile) was that she just didn’t seem to like other women. I have to agree. Subtle misogyny.

I watch sometimes in restaurants, when “Karens” are being horrible to people, and many times it is another woman that they are being mean to…

Please – if we are ever to gain respect, maintain our agency, and control over our physical selves, we need to stop being prejudiced against our sisters or our brothers or anyone. We need to take people as they come, value what they have to offer, and at the very least – show the respect that we want to receive.

Life is…

I think the quote (which may or may not be attributed to John Lennon) is “Life is what happens while you are making plans”.

The past six months or so, have been filled with “life” in spite of my plans. Good thing I always have contingency plans, however, I have had to pick fewer of them because of all the “life” happening. 

Suffice it to say, that even though I am helping my husband through what he calls “his warranty is up and his parts are all failing” – which has been a cascading domino effect of medical issues, I am still here. Most of my focus is on his health, and on our dog’s health, and then, on my own.

I did manage to finish writing an urban paranormal fantasy last November for NaNoWriMo; and get it edited and published in December. (“An Amulet of Souls” is available on Amazon). And I have about half of the second book in the series (a plan) done, so that’s something.

Most of the other projects are sitting around in states of being that do not include being finished. But such is life. And perhaps I will have the time and energy to get them completed. Or perhaps not. I will do what I can, one step at a time.

I’ve got quite a collection of clothing that either needs to be patched or reused in other projects – and I am looking forward to that. Also continuing to use my knitting looms, and hope to get items done and with any luck – get a webstore up to offer them up. The retail gods are fickle, though, and I am trying to reuse and recycle, which is still harder to market when so many disposable goods are available cheaper than I can offer. But we shall see.

I plan, and take a step. And adjust the plan, and take another step. This week is a collection of doctor’s appointments so just getting this blog post up is an achievement. Finger’s crossed that things will get less entropic. I don’t mind chaos, but entropy is disheartening.

Hoping you are all well, and able to enjoy what life throws into your plans.

It’s that time of year again….

I know it has been awhile since I’ve posted. Sorry, dear readers… both my husband and our dog have had medical challenges this summer… so I’ve been the care giver and medication monitor and administrator for them; as well as chauffeur to and from doctor’s visits and surgery. Add to that the normal challenges of life – leaky roof after a hurricane, and other surprises…and I am lucky to have found time to breathe let alone write.

I hope to remedy that now that everyone is stabilized and on a routine; and to punctuate that, I have begun making holiday presents with my upcycled yarns and fabrics. Some of my yarn was too small to make anything with – so I knitted it up into a small swatch and will sew them together with a flannel or fleece backing to make throws and lap blankets. If the yarn was too small for even that, then it will go to make wrapped rope baskets. 🙂

I do have enough yarn to make a few scarves and some afghans and perhaps a shawl or two – so that is what I am doing…and exploring the different stitches I can make while using the knitting looms.

On a different topic, I had a good laugh when I bought a used cookbook aimed at frugal cooking and planning…it was so old, that the prices it quoted gave me the giggles….for example: a six pack of soda for $2.00 – definitely a trip down memory lane. But some good tips in the book all the same. 🙂

Hope to be writing more regularly now that things have calmed down…it just proves the old adage “life is what happens when you are making plans”. Be well.

It takes a village…

There is a popular concept of “it takes a village” to raise a child. It should also be noted that it takes a village to care for the elderly… and BTW I hate the term “elderly” only because it has a lot of baggage…

In thinking about how people age, and what “safety nets” are available to those who have no huge stockpile of funds/assets and no children (or no children willing to care for them) I ran across this article:

“What Happens to Older Adults Without Family or Money?” written by John Byrne Barry on joincake.com’s blog. It is interesting to note that solo-agers (a term that refers to those who are childless and aging) are about 20% of the baby boomer generation.

So what happens when you are older and have limited funds? Well, hopefully you have friends and a support network, but chances are good you don’t and at some point your choices will be taken from you if you wind up in a conservatorship (i.e. you’ve run out of money and can no longer care for yourself) or you may wind up homeless. I am hoping not the dire extremes, but what I said earlier is important – you need a village.

Preferably one that has multi-generational interaction, because let’s face it youth keeps us learning new things and engaged in the world.

How to create these villages, is the real question…especially since I view us old folks as valuable to the young, we can add value to their lives even as they add vigor and new ideas to ours. With so many issues to tackle, where does one begin?

For me, it begins with a vision… and I am working on it. It includes my passion for upcycle and sustainability, and hopefully it will address some of the issues of solo aging… Stay tuned…and if you have info to add or share – please add a comment or reach out to me at Natalia@serroc.com

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Floating along…

I know I’ve been remiss in writing, here and on Wind in Her Mane, and elsewhere…mostly it is because I’ve been making things….lots of things, some more worthwhile than others, but if I don’t experiment, then I don’t learn anything new, and I am okay with wonky looking projects.

Every time I do something, even when it turns out “ugly” or uneven, I learn more and the next iteration is better, and better.

I am sure that as the seasons change I’ll be back to writing…I have several writing projects that are “in process” with a few chapters done, and story arcs outlined…I’ll get around to them, eventually.

Besides making things (upcycling fabrics and yarns) I have been diligently trying to get my hubby to make decisions around when he will retire (he’s 66 as am I) and where we’ll be living when that happens. I am a planner, and he is not so much (though he is good at it for work, he doesn’t often use those skills for himself). I’ve also been doing lots of research about retirement, and living on a fixed income. I have loads of friends who have already retired and they range from folks who are well off to folks who are barely making it on their combined pension and social security.

This has me thinking about a lot of ways in which single older people or those with no families, or no support systems could be helped. It also explains why so many older people are homeless. Have you looked at rents lately? OMG. Even owning your own home isn’t the cakewalk we were lead to believe in our youth… property taxes and maintenance get more and more expensive while fixed incomes are, well, fixed. God forbid you should have any health issues or pets with health issues!

There has to be a better way…not that I think I can solve the problems of the world, but I am certain I can come up with some small something that might help. Fixing big problems always starts by fixing what is easily fixable, and when people see that, they are sometimes inspired to tackle the larger problems.

Well, this has been longer than I originally intended…but that’s good. If I keep it up I might actually do some work on those chapters that are waiting patiently for my return to them…in the meantime, I will continue making things (rag rugs, and lap blankets, etc etc).

Be well, enjoy, and if you can help a friend, do it!

On the cover…

My last post was about a way to upcycle fabric, and this post is about how thrilled I am to have my item’s photo used for the cover of the Up-Cycled Cloth Collective’s magazine “One More Time Around“. The organization is worldwide, and is comprised of some of the most talented and creative people I have had the honor to meet (even virtually).

If you are interested in upcycling fabric/clothes and keeping them from the already overflowing landfills, this group will give you plenty of inspiration (and tutorials, and encouragement). Check it out!