Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge - June Reveal

It is the last Friday in June... and actually the last day in June, period. 

What a wonderful day, than, to have my reveal for June's Wonder and Whimsy Monthly Challenge! :)

As a reminder, this month's challenge was based on the idea of "Something Old, Something New"... meaning that I was going to attempt to finish a project that had been sitting on my worktable for a long time (something old), as well as to start and finish a project I had never tried before (something new).

...And wow, I had a lot of success with this challenge! So much so, that I actually don't have time today to show you everything I made. That's all right, though--I'll show you one for each category, and hopefully share the rest at a later date. :)

So, first up, one of the three necklace sets I made for the first part of the challenge:

Something Old

I have had this collection of beads on my table for months. I actually bought them on my trip to Maryland back in March--I had great plans for them, but never got around to working with them.

Until this week, that is.

Now, I knew that I wanted to make at least two different necklaces with those beads--one focused on the combination of silver/gunmetal/turquoise, and the other on copper/brass/green. I didn't do both this month, but I did do one of them. 

Guess which one:

...And yes, it involved making my own giant tassel. :)

  
After quite a bit of work (it took me longer to make that tassel than I care to say), this is what I came up with:

I love the way that this turned out. It is a combination of glass, silver plated metal, and magnesite, all wire-wrapped together with 22 gauge gunmetal wire. The tassel is weighty but not overbearing, and has a gorgeous amount of sway to it.

  

Yeah, I'm definitely in love with it. I've been going through my recent jewelry, trying to decide which pieces to sell and which to keep... This one is definitely staying in the "keep" pile. :)

Something New

Up next, the Something New part of this challenge! For this part, I ended up making two things: a necklace, and a papercraft. I'll show off the necklace some other time... For now, though, I'll share something that my mum showed me how to make:

Journals!

Now, to be fair, I've done bookbinding before. This was a new experience, though, because we only used one signature instead of multiple--which makes these more like folios or impromptu poetry journals. 

We also made the covers, which was a gloriously creative (and messy!) process. We painted and sprayed and stenciled heavy watercolor paper, on both sides to decorate the cover and as well as the inside:

Once both sides of the covers dried, we then measured and cut and folded paper to serve as the pages: 

...And chose which color linen we wanted to use to bind them:

I didn't get any pictures of the actual binding process, but it involved poking holes through the cover and the pages, and then using the linen to stitch them together:

My mother's craft table is always so neat and clean, and then I come through
and there is an explosion. Heh. Also, I managed to dye my fingers with all
the inks and paints we used. What can I say--creativity can be messy! :)

All in all, I made three journals. Here are some close-ups for you...

I had so much fun making these! I want to make so many more... and part of me wants to make necklaces in those same colors, too. How fun would that be--having your journal and your jewelry match. :)

So, there you go! Thank you so much for stopping by today to see what I made for this challenge! As I get the chance, I'll share the other pieces that I made, too... And I'm already planning what I'm going to do for July. So many creative projects... Woo-hoo!

Have a wonderful last day of June, everyone! :)