Journal making workshop

I went to a journal making workshop the other night. It was hosted by my local church and I'm absolutely delighted with my little album, the more so since my hands are really quite bad at the moment.

There is some sort of inflammation going on in there - my hands are dry and the fingertips are red, slightly swollen and cracked... how nice!!! (And no, I'm not going to post a picture!!!) Thus far we've been unable to determine the cause, it just happens from time to time.

I had a bad reaction to the glue as well - when the stuff had dried and I tried to peel it off, some of the skin came off right with it so I went to work yesterdy with thick plasters around five of my fingers.

Still, it was worth the effort and just being there to experience the friendship and fellowship was delightful and encouraging. I'm generally trying not to let my health interfere with the fun things in life - God always reminds me that we can know HIS blessings even in the midst of our suffering and just seeing that these ugly hands can create something so pretty is awesome!

For my album I simply used commercial wallpaper to make the outside cover and the inside lining is a vintage sewing pattern. After we had been taught the basics (how to cover the album) we used our own creativity to actually decorate it and embellish the inside pages. The whole process took about two hours, but I could have carried on all night .

I used all sorts of decorative papers and fabrics and embellished the journal with buttons, ribbons and little charms... it was great fun and all ladies made really stunning pieces, the theme of every journal being 'A pattern of good works' from Titus 2:7.

I hope I'll get around to making some more to give away as presents....