Poor Formulation of Process

I love the fact that I can walk into my craft room and usually find what I need to make me happy.  I have a tenancy to get into a project with a full head of steam and then out of the blue, or poor formulation of process, I need something...a certain size of paper, the right color thread, a hammer, ect.  Because I have been blessed with craft store gift cards over the years, my wonderful family have greatly assisted me in setting up an art stash tailored to my tastes.  I am a very lucky girl.  This came into play last weekend.  Our book making club has been invited to have a show in March with nature as part of the theme.  With this moving around in the back of my mind I plucked a couple of magnolia leaves to play around with.

The pages are from a book from which I had already re-purposed the cover and ripped to follow the leaf shape. I used the coptic stitch to hold the signatures together and a simple stitch to attach the leaves.  As I worked through the process, the pages felt like they needed a little something, so I scurried to my stash and pulled out my box of soft chalks.  I used these to add a bit of pop to the text paper and edges.  It finished it up nicely and I like the way it lays open with out any effort.

Now for the poor formulation of process...Our show is not for weeks and weeks, so how am I going to keep the leaves looking fresh.  I have already noticed some degeneration so I feel it will be a lost cause. The pages are shaped to fit the leaves so I am in kind of a pickle.  I feel the way to handle it will be to take bi-weekly pictures to show the degeneration process and just pretend that was the plan all along.

As January rolls around and New Year's resolutions beg to be made, it is time to take stock of what is important.  My resolutions this year are simple...take time to taste chocolate not just gobble it down, look at the stars while taking the dog out for his evening constitutional, and really stop to look at the beauty in things be it a flower or a busted vase.  So far, so good. We all have enough worldly pressures so placing more on ourselves, especially in the sun deprived, dreary cold, seems very counter productive to me. So it is off to enjoy a chocolate chip cookie and a partly cloudy night sky.

Find what makes you happy and enjoy!
Hilari