Crys (@bigbrightbulb from bigbrightbulb.com) ordered my Time Flies journal from my shop last week. She said she wanted a place to write her haikus. And this is the first one she wrote:

O Alexia!
Bless your busy mind & hand
You make Happy, too

Thanks Crys for the lovely haiku! It made me happy.

I’m in the process of creating more happy, so keep an eye out at my shop.

I swear I have a good excuse.

You see, this Tree – a red oak – was uprooted during a horrible storm with winds reaching 75mph last Monday April 13th (tree with a capital T since it’s 100 year life-span and 15-ton weight sort of make it a Tree). It fell in the direction of our neighbor’s house. It did not land on said neighbor’s house (that would have been bad for them, but easy for insurance to cover). Instead the Tree got tangled up in a pine about 1/2 the girth of the Tree and stayed there all week while the pine slowly kept bending under the weight.
All week our neighbors did nothing while we were stuck trying to figure out how to take care of this Tree. Insurance wouldn’t touch it since no buildings were damaged. Our neighbors wouldn’t touch it because it was “our Tree” although the law in GA says that what falls on your land is your problem…

Four tree service quotes later we found a service that would take it down for $1200 LESS than everyone else was quoting and wouldn’t completely screw up our lawn with a crane. It came down on Thursday. I suppose it would have been sooner if a) the Tree actually fell on our neighbor’s house and b) if there weren’t 17 kazillion other trees in the Atlanta area that fell.

Hubs and I ended up borrowing money from my dad to pay for this tree removal since we were not prepared for this in the least. It’s scary when you know something needs to be done about a precarious situation but you don’t have the funds to accomplish it. The Tree came down on Thursday, and the large parts went to a craftsman. I’m glad the bulk of that gorgeous red oak went to a good use.

Where that huge tree stood for 100+ years is now a bare patch of earth with roots sticking out of the ground. The last barrier between us & our neighbors has fallen and we’re not too happy about that. How does the saying go….? Good fences make good neighbors? Well, we’re going to put one up. As soon as we have the money.

We were supposed to drive up to New Jersey for Pascha (Greek Easter) on Thursday but that’s when the tree service folks came to remove it. So Easter was downsized… I made some killer lamb chops, but nothing could possibly compare to what my family had without us…

So it’s been a rough week, and I’m still coming down from it… I have 3 shows in May as well as my first Tiny Art Make & Swap class at the local community center, and I have a feeling I have overbooked myself. I’ll try to make it here more often but I can’t promise.

Send some vibes this way if you can – I’ll need all the positive energy I can get to push through the rest of this and next month.

New journal. Original painting on cover

Originally uploaded by emberlexi

I think I’m going to keep this one (like i need another journal). I spent 3 hours on this last night. I took 2 canvas boards for the covers, painted one with the houses, the other with interference blue paint. Used Golden Paints and a charcoal pencil for some depth. Inside is a mix of papers I had – Fabriano artistico watercolor paper, blick’s all-media paper, Stonehenge, and manila file folders.

I tried out some new book cloth – it’s starched with no paper backing. Not sure how I like it, but we’ll see how it holds up.

I’ve also ordered the 1000 Journals book from Amazon. I’ll post a mini-review when I’ve had time to digest it.

Here’s a great video on how to start art journaling:

Flurrsprite
Roska
Yatsu
Subu
DecklededgeBindery
YellowcraftyChick
Arrrt
Moonbindery
KupoKiley
MyHandboundBooks
Temno
TheCraftyKitten
RePaper
JennysBooks
LadyArtisan
Jellygnite
Tomoebookarts
Scodioli
MoonlightBindery
LifeStoriesBooks
ThisisBexx
LostmyMarbles
DevilsParadise
LolaLuv

More coming soon!

Spacey Soft Journal: a pocket-sized journal, 4 x 5 inches, soft vinyl cover, 160 pages.

These were fun to make. The Spacey journal I made in response to some folks not wanting to “ruin” the painted cover journals I make. I figured I’d find a way to keep my style but add a bit more durability, and on top of that, a bit of waterproofing. I know I’ve spilled more than my share of coffee while writing. The vinyl on the Spacey Journal cover will provide an extra layer of protection against rogue spills.