About Me

My photo
Shoreline, CT, United States
I would love for you to join me (a retired senior)in my zany crafting adventures with quilting (waaaaay too much fabric); scrapbooking (will I ever catch up?); redwork; counted cross stitch; crossword puzzles; reading; and cooking.

Friday, December 13, 2024

2025 JUNQUE JOURNAL, et al

 

Above is my 2023-2024 
Pita cracker box 
Junque Journal glue book
which I have shown before. 

A few of you asked to see 
more of my process and the book..

I have added tabs to all the pages,
some fabric and some paper...

As you can see here:↓↓↓
It has gotten really CHUNKY!!!
↶↶↶↶
I only have about 5 pages left to
the end of the year...

But  by using my journaling cards I
will be able to work until
January.

Here is where I am today--
you can see the pockets with the
journaling cards in them:
It is so chunky that I had to hold it
open with my Father's 
old glass paperweight...

*******************
And......
So, I have put together
what will become  
Volume 2 of my Pita Box
Junque Journals.

[I like using these boxes as it gives me an
excuse to get these from Trader Joe's and
eat up all the yummy crackers--haha]

It has four "signatures"* --
in this one instead of the 5 in my first
to keep it from getting so "fluffy"!!
:)))))
[*FYI: groups of pages 
sewn into the spine...]
👀↧↧👀
You can see them here sewn
into the spine....

I've distressed all the pages--
which are scraps, and coffee dyed
computer papers, and a 
bit of everything really;)))
[hence "junque" journal title]

I am getting ready to work on the pages here....
The front cover inside Title Page
ready to be decorated
and 
here is the first page that I
have begun to work on:
You can see that this is just a scrap
of paper that I partially coffee dyed and
stencilled with dots....
The lady has become my "signature" stamp 
that I will feature throughout...

Here is my "messy" work table with some things
in progress...
Above my work table are shelves holding
a lot of the supplies that I use most...
And 
that old lunch pail on the top right
was modge-podged by my Mom--
and I truly cherish it...
holding all my glues...

So you see
the acorn doesn't fall 
far from the
tree, 
does it:)))

I am working on learning a bit of
Mixed Media in this old book...

working with stamps, sprays,
 stencils,  and 
some watercolors...

I will remove these pages and most likely 
use them in my Junque Journal 
next year...

Hugs, Julierose,
La Blageuse
(junque[journaling-euse)






















Thursday, December 12, 2024

SMALL CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS, et al

 

Here's my "little" Christmas 
montage right by my recliner
in our tv room...

This gorgeous lavender plant
was gifted to me at 
Thanksgiving by my
DIL, Lindsay,
pictured on the left 
below with my daughter on the right.

[!!ITS SCENT IS WONDERFUL!!]

My beautiful "girls"...;))))
💓💖💕

Every day, I drink my 
Yorkshire Gold Tea
[my favorite of all]
in this lovely Pfaltzgraff 
Christmas cup
during December:

So pretty!!! ;)))))

And
Look what I found at the
grocery store this morning:
↧↧↧↧
Aren't these adorable cookie plates???
[or in my case they will hold
the  fudge I make
each year...😋😍]
{Plus, they were a "Two-fer"}
**************************
:)))L O O K E E -- L O O K E E :)))

My Amaryllis is looking hopeful....
more green showing....
fingers crossed....👏👍

I am not doing much of anything in 
crafting these busy days.
But....
 I feel so much better
today--hoping my cold 
has 
finally
ended.
*********************
Just a bit of news from 
Our House on the Hill..

hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse
("Jingle bells, jingle bells...
da da daaaah da-da!!"-euse)







Friday, December 6, 2024

WINTER HAS ARRIVED, et al

 


My version of a Jan Patek pattern from last year...
this is hanging on my dining room wall to
herald the coming of Christmas
and
with this really cold North wind and
actual (be still my 💓) snow flurries
yesterday!!!:))))
I had a lot of fun making this one--
especially that little flying Angel..

**********************

We lit our little Maple Sugar scented
candle and placed it on my
little Christmas Ojos mat
and watched the sun go down at 
4:20 yesterday with early
darkening skies and wind lashed
trees...

***********************
I spy some little bits of greenery on the base--
just maybe (fingers crossed) my amaryllis
will bloom?????

*************************
I call this "Christmas Strawberries"
I began making these a while back
after seeing Melisa's  quilt
(click)
So....
I drafted my own pattern 
(shamelessly copying hers--
she ok'ed it hahaha).
**Note the skewed strawberry cap on
the topmost one--should I undo it??
Or just let it go its own way???
Her full sized quilt is such a beauty,
I couldn't resist trying a few blocks...

**************************
A sure sign of winter is my 
December Daily Journal [above]
making its debut
that I
work in every year....

Here are a few pages to be 
journaled on....


They are all made from magazine images, my own
stamped images, and various scrappy leftovers
which include any junk mail and scraps--

Only my "Rudebecka" Reindeer is made
from fabric and one of my dies...

I add lots of sparkley stuff for fun....
(you can click on images to enlarge)

********************
Both Tom and I are under the
weather with head colds..
so we are mostly napping and
taking it easy...
Until next time..
hugs, Julierose,
La blageuse
(sniffling-and-sneezing-euse!!)













 



 


Wednesday, November 27, 2024

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

Here's wishing all of you,
my wonderful blogging friends, 
Very 
Happy Thanksgiving!!
💝💛💝

Hugs, Julierose,
La Blageuse
(celebrating-euse)

Saturday, November 23, 2024

CAN I SAVE IT?, et al--{a catch up post}

 

I totally forgot (👽) that I had stored my
last Christmas' Amaryllis in my
dark front hall closet over the Summer....
👀👹💀👀

While scrolling through my photos, which
I transferred onto my new phone. 
(Tom and I got each other new
phones for Christmas this year)

I saw this picture:
Y I K E S ~~
I even forgot to water it.....👹

Will it come back to life for me
this year????

Stay tuned--
And....is this even the same
plant????

Because  I have had various 
amaryllises through the 
years....?????
[this picture is dated 2018]
Had I kept it this long???
S  I  G  H...
*******************
And.....
A few of you asked to see pictures of
where we walk by  the CT River --

Here is the view from the parking lot:
Such a lovely spot....can you make out
the benches provided for seating??
[the bridge on the right is I-95 passing
over the river.....]
(click)
&
Here is the start of our stroll:
Right by the riverside....

Looking ahead we can see the old (1907)
railroad bridge which they are in the 
process of replacing:

Next we walk by the CT DEEP installation
on our right...
That day we saw our Coast guard boat
sailing by....;))))
↓↓↓↓
Tom was very excited to see it this close up...

Here you can see the State's 
informational sign,,,,
detailing all the wildlife in this
protected spot....
[and the ecological barrier the
construction people have 
erected behind it].

And now....
the bridge is opening to let
boats through to the open waters
of Long Island Sound and beyond...
[you can just about make out a couple
of workers standing right there]
(click)
and we say "farewell" to the 
Coastguard as it sails under
the opened bridge....
while those workers watch....
↧↧↧↧


We continue our stroll here on our
way under the bridge....
the boardwalk
continues way out to a bird watching
platform here.....it was way
too windy to venture all the way
out that day...




It is a lovely spot ==
the sunlight on the marsh
grasses is always a lovely site
💚💚💚💚

We don't know
how long this area will remain open while 
they are working on the building of a 
totally new RR bridge and 
walking area...
.But 
they are slated to finish by 2031.

So who knows when this area will become
closed to the public....????
Maybe this January????
sooooo,
We are walking there as much as 
possible --weather permitting...

The area is about 10 minutes 
down the road from us--so very
convenient...

*******************************
Here are my cacti for those of you
who asked to see them 
in situ:
They sit in our north facing window in 
our tv room.....

Above is the latest one I purchased
 that has
already lost a couple of 
bi-color peach/rose
blooms....

My little pot cherub is waiting 
patiently for this one to 
set bud.....

And in the corner sits my
"old faithful"
spider plant ....


***************************
Yesterday I sewed 4 little 
blue & white 9-patch
blocks and set up 
4 more....
Using up some mini charms 
Ready to be sewn.....
*****************************

I hope you are having  wonderful 
pre-holiday weekend...

We are pretty much prepared 
for the T-day crowd except
for a bit of last minute
shopping this coming Monday....

Hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse
(puttering-around-euse)






























Saturday, November 16, 2024

FINISHES, ET AL

 

My "Flowery Snowballs" is finally bound!
and....
Here is the reverse fabric

I really just love the funny jumping froggies;))))
[click to enlarge]

And below is my 1st trial run on this pattern--
a smaller, square SNOWBALL piece.
The snowballs are plain here.
This will fit my cocktail table 
perfectly!! It sits right
in front of our fireplace ;)))

And the reverse:

I've had this fabric forever...I love paisley
fabrics....
This one has a lovely, muted pattern...

I was able to use up a whole lot of 
scrappy, little
squares in these two pieces.  

*******************************
I have to tell you that----
I really had to push myself to 
finish these up for some 
unknown reason...
Not much "get up and go" lately..
.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I have been doing some work in my
Junque Journal...

Here are the next couple pages
all prepped for journaling...

I made the  little white ruffle 
for the smaller page
from my white scrappy bag
of leftover fabrics....

The little pink card 
near my little angel 
is a flip out 
for journaling
on the back..

And
Here are the next two pages 
I made a little "flowering chapeau" for the
girl on the right...
and there are a lot of journaling cards
in the pockets on both pages...
these will most likely get a few more
embellishments--some
fun, sparkley stuff;)))

and.....
I have added tabs to all the pages...

I should have enough pages 
until mid-December
when I will switch out to my next 
volume....

**********************
I just thought I would "drop in" 
today as I did have 
those two little
finishes for you...;))
I have been a bit blue lately...
💙💙💙💙💧💧💧💧

I will be back after the
Thanksgiving Holiday

[everyone is coming here this year
lots and lots and lots of prep work
going on ....haven't done this in
a very long time...I even had to
order some more serving
dishes....S I G H ]

Hugs, Julierose
La blageuse
(resting-still-euse)