“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. “- Albert Einstein
I’ve added a few bookish and art items to my wish-list and today I thought I’d share them with you! I hope everyone had a wonderful filled weekend and let’s get into this! As you all know, I’m into history big time. Always have been and I read a lot of material from different sources. I also read a lot of historical fiction for a variety of reasons I’ve blogged before about. Down below are three books I have recently added and hope to get to them in the near future.
The Essential Lewis and Clark by Meriwether Lewis, William Clark
Published March 8th 2018 by National Geographic
With nuanced observations from the star author and historian, here are the celebrated journals documenting Lewis and Clark’s legendary expedition into the uncharted American West, abridged into a single volume and translated into modern English.
At the start of the 19th century, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark embarked on an unprecedented voyage of discovery. Their assignment was to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory and record the geography, flora, fauna, and people they encountered along the way. This updated edition of the captains’ journals combines historical insight from editor Anthony Brandt with the rich detail of Lewis and Clark’s original writing, as well as archival maps and artwork. An enthralling portrait of the unspoiled West, this true-life adventure story is a window to the dawning of America–from encounters with grizzly bears to councils with tribal leaders and perilous mountain crossings.
The Generals: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II
by Winston Groom
Celebrated historian Winston Groom tells the intertwined and uniquely American tales of George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall – from the World War I battle that shaped them to their greatest victory: leading the allies to victory in World War II. These three remarkable men-of-arms who rose from the gruesome hell of the First World War to become the finest generals of their generation during World War II redefined America’s ideas of military leadership and brought forth a new generation of American soldier. Their efforts revealed to the world the grit and determination that would become synonymous with America in the post-war years.
Filled with novel-worthy twists and turns, and set against the backdrop of the most dramatic moments of the twentieth century, The Generals is a powerful, action-packed book filled with marvelous surprises and insights into the lives of America’s most celebrated warriors
Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon
In this epic and haunting love story set on the Oregon Trail, a family and their unlikely protector find their way through peril, uncertainty, and loss.
The Overland Trail, 1853: Naomi May never expected to be widowed at twenty. Eager to leave her grief behind, she sets off with her family for a life out West. On the trail, she forms an instant connection with John Lowry, a half-Pawnee man straddling two worlds and a stranger in both.
But life in a wagon train is fraught with hardship, fear, and death. Even as John and Naomi are drawn to each other, the trials of the journey and their disparate pasts work to keep them apart. John’s heritage gains them safe passage through hostile territory only to come between them as they seek to build a life together.
When a horrific tragedy strikes, decimating Naomi’s family and separating her from John, the promises they made are all they have left. Ripped apart, they can’t turn back, they can’t go on, and they can’t let go. Both will have to make terrible sacrifices to find each other, save each other, and eventually… make peace with who they are.
Here are three crafty supplies I have on my never-ending wish-list and it’s hard to believe I don’t have every single mixed media supply by Tim Holtz! Ha! I use his supplies a lot in my journals.
I have added Dina Wakley Media supplies to my list because have never used her mediums before and I am very interested in her Scribble Sticks. If you have used them before. Let me know what you think of them!
This weekend I made faux postage stamps and had so much fun creating them I decided I need to invest on MaGuo US Postage and Stamps Clear Stamps. I have one rubber post stamp and a clear stamp but they are both Holiday Themed. Having said that, they did do the trick for my project this weekend. I will be sharing more about the stamps I made soon! They are part of another project I worked on and want to wait to blog about them when its’ completed.
Stephanie Hopkins
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Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.
The past few months I have been experimenting outside my norm of creating and this weekend I decided to go back to my roots of creating Mixed Media Art. While I enjoy learning new mediums, there are times I need to be surrounded with familiarity.
I created a master board specifically for my mixed media projects this weekend and I am really pleased with how they turned out. I will use these pieces to add to my Altered Art Book Journal and I still have a few left overs to make a few more ephemeras.
Furthermore, I created a mini notebook for my junk journal and hand-stitched the spin and added a couple of embellishments to the notebook. This piece will be tuck into a small pocket to take out and jot down notes and such. The pages are coffee stained and I used scrap pattern paper for the cover. The thread I used was gifted by a friend whom I’ve been encouraging to venture into junk journaling. I knew that this medium of creativity would be something she would be highly interested in because of her love of reading and history.
Two of the background pieces I made will be for later projects and there here is a piece I am hand-stitching. I do have a sewing machine but there are times I want to be in the present with my thoughts while creating and slow stitching is the perfect past time to do so. I will be stitching around the whole paper. The stitch will create a board to compliment the black coloring I will add.
The master board was created on a large size watercolor paper. The first step I took was to draw a grid with pencil because I used several colors of paint for the first layer and the grid gave me a sense of placement. Then I took scrap paper and dictionary paper and created a collage. The last step was cutting the board to the sizes I wanted to use for my projects. I used Tim Holtz’s Distress Inks and Tombow Watercolor Markers for my inking and doodling.
Left Over Pieces
Be sure to check out Before the Second Sleep’s blog post about new wings and ephemeras.
I hope you all have a creative week ahead and please be safe. -Stephanie
(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)
Last weekend I had a chance to get my craft on and created a few cards and background pieces for an art journal and upcoming art projects. Some of the note-cards I gave to a dear friend that I hung out and toured a few historic homes with last Saturday. I will be blogging about the tour of homes soon here at Layered Pages. I can’t wait for you to see those posts!
I am really into vintage mix media art and I like to collect craft supplies that compliment my taste. Sometimes, I try branch out in other medias-such as contemporary abstracts- but vintage is my first love.
Some of the supplies I used for these pieces are Ranger alcohol inks, Close To My Heart inks, rubber stamps, acrylic stamps, card stock, Paper Studio note cards, Ranger Yupo paper and so on….
Today I am hoping to put some more project ideas together to work on this evening or tomorrow, if I have the time. I am also hoping to start a new book today and maybe go thrifting. I am looking for a few particular brands in clothing for the summertime.
The images you see are taken from my camera on my phone so they might be a bit blurry.
I hope you all have a great Saturday and Sunday! See you back on Monday. Cheers!
Stephanie M. Hopkins
This weekend was pretty uneventful. I stayed home and read. worked on some art projects, blog posts, website content and watched movies. One needs those kind-of weekends sometimes, you know? Today I am sharing some pictures from my weekend. I’m still reading, Gradle Bird by J.C. Sassen and I will be through with it soon.
I love journals. I started back with it recently and I have such a busy schedule right now it helps keep me grounded.
I’m in the process of prepping the backgrounds for #christmastags I’ll be using for giveaways at Novel Expressions #Facebook Page in December.
Link to Novel Expressions Page HERE
My daughter painted on canvas and when I took this picture, she wouldn’t let me see what she was working on! By the way…. she doesn’t know I took this picture. Ha-ha… Her project turned out great.
I created this tag using Tim Holtz distress inks for the background. I am so addicted to his products! They are amazing. I do believe the paper flower is from his product line as well. The picture I took doesn’t do the tag justice but you get the idea…
Two weekends ago now at a book event (BOOK EXCHANGE/MARIETTA, GA) I was sitting with author Kimberly Brock and she said she had a friend coming and her name is Emily, do I know her? I said she sounded familiar…. She sat between us and the three of us were having a great time listening to the four southern authors that were being featured at this event. It just now came to me that Emily is the author of The Weight of Lies! I reviewed that book and loved it. Darn it all, I didn’t get a photo with her! Total fan girl here! I am definitely going to include her in my southern writer’s series here at Layered Pages.
Thank you for visiting with me today and be sure to come back this week for more fun posts.
Stephanie M. Hopkins
This week’s vintage art collage/card turned out great! I had a lot of fun with this project and reflected on its meaning for my life and the lives of others. The month of November is one of my favorite times of the year and this piece shows much of my creative side. Many of you will recognize the mix-media I used for this craft. Among the supplies are Tim Holtz products and The Paper Studio. The background is heavy card stock and pattern paper I punched out into small squares. As you can see, I used layers and added metal and brads.
I’m not sure I will have time for art this weekend. I have several social functions to attend to and I want to get a little bit more through, By Gaslight by Seven Price. This story has over seven hundred pages! Ahem, that is a lot of pages for someone who has a backlog of reviews a mile long and has a millions other things going on.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thank you for visiting Layered Pages this week.
Stephanie M. Hopkins
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