Fakin' it till I make it.

Our mantel has looked like this since I took down the Christmas decorations in January.

Not even kidding.
Pretty shameful, eh?
I've been busy. Making books, reading books, eating, sleeping, eating. And just generally having no interest in home decorating projects.
Now that I finished the project I was most excited about in the past couple of months (The NC book) I finally got sick of the living room looking like we just moved in.
So today I ran to Hobby Lobby and grabbed a few sprays of my FAVORITE springtime blossom, Forsythia, and put together a simple Spring mantel.

I like it. It'll hold me over till Spring arrives.
I'd like to find or make a mirror with a chunky, white, antiqued frame to lean against the wall inside that niche. To cover the electrical outlets but still keep them accessible. But that's not a "run out and grab it" kind of project. It'll have to wait for later.

This is what I do instead of blogging....

and it thrills me!
I am making books. Journals. I sew the pages together, make the covers out of paper and fabric, and bind it all together myself. I learned to do it by taking Mary Ann Moss' Remains of the Day online class and I just love it. I've made 4 since January and helped Emily make one too.
I'm obsessed.
So here's the journal about our trip to Outer Banks last year. Some of it will be familiar because I blogged about the first 3 days or so.
I constructed the body of the book out of maps, brochures, advertisements, etc that I saved from out trip. Plus some printables and scrapbook papers, envelopes, scraps of fabric, etc. Then I filled it all up with our wonderful memories of the trip.
It's LOOOOONG. But I hope you enjoy it. I sure did. :)
Clicking on the first pic should enlarge them enough to be able to read. If only there was such a simple solution for my terrible handwriting!

 Did you make it all the way?
You deserve a vacation!