Bookmark Adventure and stationery pleasures...

There is a beautiful blue sky which I've been able to see from my bedroom window every day this week, consequently I've not been able to enjoy that same blue sky outdoors much because the heat is just completely unbearable. Being that I've stayed in doors a great deal then I've taken to crafting to pass the time rather than sulking at the fact that I might wilt should I attempt to be outdoors more than a few minutes (my poor herb plants were suffering that very same fate today and they are now in the coolness of my room by my window enjoying the sun but safe from the heat).

Inspired in part by reading Jane Eyre and by watching through Emma, Sense and Sensibility and tonight's Mansfield Park with my parents my crafts have been focused on representing that era somewhat. A couple of weekends ago I saw some really nifty mixed media collaged bookmarks and had the idea that I might make my own bookmarks as well so I did! Here is my first one:

My prototype which I am keeping for myself...
I cannot part with it...sigh!

Also, inspired by all the penpalling I've been doing lately I have printed my own postcards and stationery and there really is nothing more satisfying. Almost two years ago when the BBC broadcast their 2009 version of Emma I played around with some screenshots from the movie and edited them with photoshop. Yesterday I added one of those images and a couple of other stock images to some stationery *for personal use only* and love the way they came out. I think I may buy less stationery and make more of my own...

Jane Austen stationery and Oriental Lily postcards printed by me with my Epson.
the photo on the postcards is my very own from a trip to Venezuela last year.

And lastly, here are the next two bookmarks I have been working on today:

Mixed-media bookmarks in their first stage...
my previous bookmark was covered in scrapbooking paper.

To see more pictures of the progress of my original bookmark you can go to the blog's facebook page and click on the album titled Bookmark Adventure. I can't wait to share some more of the progress with you all! 

Cheers!