recycled/reusable journal wrap ~ nellie wortman's workshop

i stumbled upon nellie wortman's etsy and saw a kit she marked to purchase only if we're joining the online workshop.

a few clicks after, she brought me to the artful gathering.  the things i find when i'm not looking; it's exactly what i'm looking for.

without further ado, i registered.  i wasn't quite up to soldering yet, so i signed up both of nellie's classes. since my armory of vintage fabrics is inadequate and i'm not all set to cut up tattered clothes, so i checked out the kits as well.

i was in the middle of  assembling a christmas album when i received the kit.  guess what...goodbye papers and hello fabrics; and new tool to draw with...sewing machine.  of course i will eventually buy one of those savvy jenome, once i decided which one i need.  for this project, i managed to use a beat up portable machine.

not a bad free motion sewing upon layers of layered fabric and some hand stitching for someone who's clueless about sewing. 

the train on the spine was what first caught my eyes on this project.

added a pen pocket on the sleeve and a few finishing touch to the inside.

although it's not quite visible but the stitching went through the back, so a focal point is added just enough for the curious to peek.details like this made a piece remarkable.  after all, it's a handmade work.

i embellished the pocket using ali edwards stamps and embellish your art wendy vecchi.

another wendy vecchi's—the bird, and tim holtz's stamp on the back sleeve.  originally it had a strap of denim behind the saying, but it didn't look quite done and worked.

the full look on this book jacket is just adorable, isn't it?

having never sat on a sewing machine for more than 5 minutes, i was quite surprised at how fast i did this project.  other than a couple of pin pricks and a few  minutes to read the machine's visual manual, i managed to finish everything in one sitting. i was too excited, i didn't think of practicing on another scrap of fabric first.

suddenly, i lost interest in my new cakewalk stash.  a collection i've been waiting for and was ready craft into a tier cake album.

looks like a busy crafty weeks ahead.  a two days tropical travelogue workshop this weekend and a possible two days catch up for a couple sisters who couldn't make it due to the loss of their grandmother.  since i'm going to singapore next week, i signed for sharon's antique store class.  by the time i'm back, nellie's not your ordinary photo album is starting.  on top of that i have a couple of projects from michael's workshop that i have yet to build once my supplies shipment arrived.  it's going to be my first year since i got my beagle max that i could make an ied holiday trip.  i have michael's alchemist construction starting right in the middle of that trip.  now that i think of it, i might skip that trip for a super crafty and trafficless week.