Notes On New Things

Somerset Life is hands down my most favorite magazine. I count down the days to each new issue release and then haunt the bookstores. The first thing that caught my eye in the newest issue, Summer 2008, was a simple, lovely book on page 46. There really aren't any instructions, so I was on my own! The first book I tried was a journal I bought on sale at Books A Million. It had a printed cover and took many coats of gesso to cover it. It looked nothing like the journal in Somerset. I painted a shipping tag with gesso and it was perfect! I was on to something.

Next I dug out a Rusty Pickle chipboard book. I was on the right track, but you could see the brush strokes in the gesso and it wasn't a warm color, it was stark gesso white. I sanded the brush strokes away, learning as I went that a circular motion gave a nicer feel.

It still wasn't right though, it was too white, it didn't have the warm glow or the lovely soft look of the one in the photo. I thought about this for a while and decided to try a paint wash. I mixed a soft yellow and a soft pink acrylic paint, watered it down and brushed it on. Through trial and error, I learned to let it almost dry and then go over it softly with a paper towel to pick up extra paint and smooth away the brush strokes. If you take up too much paint, you can just paint it again, that's not a problem. I even sprayed it with water once and took up all the paint as it was too dark.


Here's a close up for you. I think it has a nice warm glow now, it reminds me of pie crust actually! As you can see it's "The Pie Book", a place to keep all my pie recipes, pictures of pies I've baked, pie stories - all things pie! The words on the book are gesso'd over and hard to read, but it's the pie song from the movie "Michael" with John Travolta (my all time favorite actor, btw). Here are the words:

Pie, Pie, Me oh My
Nothing tastes better, wet salty and dry
Apple and pumpkin and mince and black bottom
I'll come to your place every day if you've got 'em
Pie, me oh My
I love Piiiiiieeeeee

Silly, but cute. Have you seen the movie? You should! It's very good.

Also in the very first picture is a vintage pie bird that I found. If I'm going to bake pies, I'll need a pie bird, don't you think?

It's all resting on a yard of vintage fabric I bought along with the pie bird.

Stay tuned - I have a fun apron in the works!

Hope you have a wonderful day!