RIBBON BOUND BOOK

This little notebook is for a sweet friend who was hospitalized a couple of weeks ago with a brain hemorrhage. She is facing some pretty big life changes, as the doctors cannot operate on her to fix the problem.

For the inside pages, I printed off a lot of Bible verses that were an encouragement to me a few years ago when I was so sick. The doctors held out very little hope that I would even live, but Scripture is full of hope! And the Lord used His Word to comfort me when no one else could.

About half of the pages have verses of encouragement, all relating to God's care and healing, peace and comfort. The other half are blank. I'll be passing the book around at church for friends to sign with their prayers and well wishes before taking it to my friend later this week.



I used a couple different fonts inside.



Here's a view of the pretty paper inside the cover:



I let the paper peek out along the spine for a bit of pop on the outside:

2011 ORGANIZATION JOURNAL

This isn't quite finished yet, but I wanted to share it before we get any further into this new year! The cover was going to be blue and purple...then I went and painted the kitchen red and am now feeling the Organization Journal should match. But four inches of fresh new snow have prevented the trip to the craft shop for the right red paper or fabric for the cover.
Here's the view out my window this morning...all the seed pods wearing their little fur hats!



I chose a basic Composition Notebook for two reasons...(1) I already had it, and (2) it is almost the exact same size as my new iPad Punk got me for Christmas! The carrying case I'm working on will accommodate both iPad and journal, which will come in very handy for when we're out and about. (Will post the case soon, when the embroidery is finished.)

Here's the inside front cover, complete with glued in pocket for receipts, notes, etc., and a handy calendar.



Each section has a tab labeling it. My labels are: calendar, friends, WN (the newspaper for which I write), bible, books & school, misc./fun, home, garden, recipes, shopping, sewing, gifts, and passwords.

I added pockets to some of the sections, so I could stick in magazine pages, fabric swatches, or whatnot.



(Bonus: a sneak peak at what we're thinking of doing to the back garden above the retaining wall this summer!)

FANCY GANTZ RANCH

YAY! The most fun project I've worked on in a long time!



The idea was "hatched" when your chickens started laying eggs! What started as a little egg recipe book morphed into a full-fledged tribute album to your little farm =*)
Hope you don't mind me calling it "Fancy Gantz Ranch." Seemed like an eggs-cellent choice to me.



Heaven on Earth for chickens.



Recipes in the recipe section have all been tasted and approved by the fam!







Jokes have been laugh tested by the kids...projects have not been tried, so good luck with those!



The cute papers, ribbons, buttons and chipboard stickers are from a barnyard set I found at Michael's. (Have you noticed the lack of chicken and egg embellishments out there?)





The covers were wood plaques that came with pitiful little markers for coloring, from the clearance bin at Michael's. 49 cents each! I used paints instead of the markers. Had to draw my own back cover since the backs were blank and the odd shape wasn't conducive to turning the back cover around.



Hope you have as much fun looking through it as I did making it!