Happy Fall

Hmm, it's been six months since I last posted.  And since I decided to post more often.  Typical of me! 

So many changes for me this year.  Not really the kind of changes in my life plan either.  But I keep going with the flow.  I'm wearing down with all that flow, though. 

Today I woke up to ice.  It's still fall.  You can tell by the color of my maple tree behind all the ice.  I don't like hot weather.  I tolerate winter because it usually doesn't last too long in central Kentucky.  But ice before Thanksgiving (and the promise of a little snow later today) is not my thing.  I'm turning into my grandmother, who wore a sweater year round.  But I'm thankful I have electricity.  And internet.  And groceries.  Wish I had an extra phone charging cord, though, because mine died and my phone is at 25% battery.  It's been turned off, in case I need it.  We'll see how important it is in my life!

Here's my world today...

Stitched Cover

I haven't posted the cover I made for the journal I am using for 2018.  I made the cover to fit the larger size 12-month Hobonichi.

I made this after taking an online class with Mary Ann Moss called Stitchbookery.  I've always liked her no-rules fun classes, and I adapted sone of the techniques for this particular cover.

The base of the cover is a medium weight canvas, which comes in a pad (Fredrix brand).  I cut a piece to the size I needed, then to that I sewed all the elements I used.  The spine is lightweight leather, and the rest is a combination of scrapbook papers, vintage postage and envelopes, old photo, and map.  The cover folds inward to make two end pockets into which the Hobonichi end covers slide.  The cover could be reused - "could", but if I do this again I'll probably make a new cover, just to have something different.

Here are some pictures:

Hobo Travels

Happy 2018!  I see the year is moving right along without any interference from me.

I once again went through my selection process for a planner/journal for the new year.  Actually, this process started about the middle of last year. The system I set up for last year really wasn't working for me (I'm starting to think it's ME, not the planners!) 

I have looked at the Hobonichi as well as Travelers Notebooks that everyone raves about.  I decided to try out a Hobonichi, the small version that contains 6 months of planning and calendar pages.  I found a pretty good deal on eBay and placed my order on June 2 of last year.

Things did not go well, as evidenced by these pictures from my "scribble notebook" that I keep for note-taking.

 After almost a month of waiting, and receiving no explanation from the seller other than an invalid tracking number, I gave up.  Ebay was really on top of the problem and promptly refunded my money to my PayPal account.  I used those funds to re-order the Hobonichi directly from an Etsy seller in Japan.  Since I paid the premium shipping price (to expedite the shipping to the states), I also ordered a rubber stamp shaped like a postal scale and some washi tape.  Might as well as it didn't change the shipping price.

I had the new Hobonichi in just over a week.  Much better service than the eBay guy!

I played in the Hobonichi off and on the rest of the year, but not as much as I had planned to.  It was enough to learn that I liked it for certain things, and I decided to order a larger version for 2018, which I did. 

I have to compliment Ebay on their handling of the first order.  They were very prompt with everything.  They even gave me a $20 credit for my trouble, which I turned around and used to buy the Jane Davenport tins of watercolor (both of them), that had just come out around that time. 

So, in conclusion, I have learned... that... I need more play time :)