Celebrating September Birthday Month 2022!

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes - Artist and Bricoleur

After a horrible summer of 2022 - that started with the 5-day power outage in July and included the deaths of my father and stepmother within 2 weeks of each other in August - I somehow made it to September.

I celebrated at a weekend scrapbooking retreat with my sister and a crafty friend, Becky, at a suburban Chicagoland hotel. Becky and I went for sushi lunch on first day of retreat. 

My sister, Marcy, and I stayed in a king bedroom suite since we both snore. We enjoyed the indoor pool and hot tub both nights and we both got a 60-minute full body massage on night 2.  Marcy went after dinner, I went at 9:45pm. 

My stress is just melting away - finally!

Becky's sushi lunch

Becky's lunch after

My sushi (lunch and enough for leftovers at hotel later)

My sushi lunch, After

After retreat, hubby took me out on my birthday Sep 27th for late breakfast, a movie and dinner at our fave steakhouse, Longhorn.

Dinner

Longhorn Steakhouse on Sep 27, 2022

Shaky photo by hubby

My surf & turf dinner, After

Hubby, Dave

I'm finally starting to get my mojo back. Energy level is slowly returning. I'm trying to tidy my home studio so I can do some craft projects over my winter hibernation.

Thanks for stopping by - and please leave a comment!

Peace,

LuLu

'Great Birthday Month Celebrations!

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

Traditionally, in September, I celebrate my birthday month. When I was working full-time, I celebrated my birthday week. But since I've retired, I expanded my birthday fun for the whole month. This month I celebrate my 50th and 65th birthdays. (I didn't celebrate my 50th birthday fifteen years ago because, as I was preparing the invitations, the 9/11 tragedy happened. God rest their souls.)

Here are some pix from my celebrations this September! I'm so lucky and grateful to have friends and family like these to celebrate with me!



  Party '1' - Two September Birthday Gals-

 LuLu and Michelle

(Sep 10)

 

 

 Party '1' - Crop at Chris' home  (Sep 10)
LuLu, Chris, Michelle 1, Michelle 2

Sunday 9/25/2016 outside this 'Aussie' restaurant
I had seafood, Dave had steak. Loved it!

Party '2' - Ladies Only Game Night - with my sisters,
Marcy and Angela, and my good crafting buddy, Becky -
on my 65th birthday
at my new studio The SPlayce (Sep 27)


 

Party '2' - Ladies Only Game Night - with Kathy W.

(Kathy modeled one of my scarves I was commissioned to crochet)

at my new studio The SPlayce (Sep 27)

Day after my birthday Dinner - outside

Allgauer's Restaurant in the DoubleTree Hotel (Sep 28)
 

Party '3' - Ladies Only Crafternoon Soiree -

with Chris and Yvette at my new studio The SPlayce

(Sep 30)

 Party '3' - with Yvette (Sep 30)

at my new studio The SPlayce

 

 

Thanks for stopping by - please become a Follower, and check back often. More exciting news coming soon.

 

Peace,

LuLu

 

 

 

 

 

'WOYWW - 18 Sep 2013 - Bookbinding and mini-Giveaway!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

For WOYWW this week, I wanted to show how my 'tidy tidy tour' from last week progressed into a fun  project this week! My first hardcover book project.

This bookbinding project, for a custom art journal, has been languishing all month. Creating a book 'from scratch' takes a lot longer to complete than I'd imagined.

This photo shows the 2 short ends glued down with weights (antique and vintage irons) and binder clips to aid drying overnight. Because I'm using (faux) leather as the cover material which is a tad thick, I need the weights and clips to apply pressure while the glue (Alenes tacky Glue)  dries. Later I'll glue down the long sides. You can see the text block in middle of photo - ready to adhere to the cover....

For the internal book hinge, I created custom book cloth from fabric inherited from Maria's stash and fusible web!

YOUR TURN

Have you tried bookbinding? What are your favorite binding stitches? Have you tried the 'piano hinge'? What about Coptic? Japanese stab?
Have you made any custom art journals to use in your own artwork? What kind(s) of papers do you use?
Have you ever tried to cobble together your own Junque/Smash journal? If yes to any of the above, please send me a link - I'd love to see your efforts!

LIBRA BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY!
P.S. This is my birthday month - so if you are a Libra celebrating your birthday on Sep 27th or celebrating your birthday on Sting's birthday Oct 2nd, indicate that in your comment. I'll put together some HAPPY MAIL for one lucky Libra birthday girl! Any lady worldwide with Sep 27th or Oct 2nd birthday is eligible! One birthdate closest to either of these 2 dates will be the lucky winner! (I'll announce winner after Oct 2nd and respond to your comment to get your snail mail address - make sure that there is a way for me to respond back to you).

P.P.S. My annual Blogoversary GIVEAWAY for Followers is coming soon! Stay tuned...

For more fun studios, click here to visit Julia's WOYWW blog hop!

Peace,
LuLu