Folded Book Workshop & more fun stuff!!!

So today I (April) was the only one with a camera.....so, beware!!!    :-)    We had a wonderful time together, but then, when don't we?  I don't think it's ever happened.  I will apologize up front, tho, for my OPINION getting a little loud.  We started a conversation about new health care reforms and I MAY have over-stepped.  If so, girls, then I hope you'll please forgive me.  You KNOW how I am, and very often my mouth is engaged in high gear with my brain lagging quite a bit behind.  Sorry!!!
Enough said!
First of all Jan shared with us last week, this new folded book that she made.  She had folded it all up and then painted the sections that would become pages later.  It was so neat, we asked her if she would show us how.......so....... she brought us special large paper and was nice enough to offer us a workshop today.  Beings that I'm the PERSON who was going to BLOG about our day I wanted to be sure to take lots of photos and get all the correct terminology.  So I asked Jan what this folded book was called.   Well, it's a Folded Book!  Hence, following you'll find our Folded Book Workshop!!!
Step 1:  Lay out your large paper!  (Jan gave us two different kinds of paper that we worked on one at a time.  They were two shades of manilla.)  ((Does saying manilla remind you of 'Nilla Vanilla Wafers!!!...it's a sing-song commercial I remember from my youth.)   hahahaha!  Sorry, I digress!

Step 2:  Fold the paper in half length-wise, then each those halves in half again.  Unfold & flatten.  Now fold the paper in half width-wise, then each of those halves in half again.

Step 3:  Now number each square (lightly) and appropriately.

Step 4:  Fold according to Jan's instructions.

Step 5:  VOILA!!!

I know, it doesn't look like much YET....but give us about 7 weeks (average of 2 pages a week), and BOY, HOWDY, watch out!  Are you gonna see stuff!!!
Speaking of stuff, take a look at some of the stuff we were working on today:

Karen's Squash Book pages...she really liked the look of these buildings!

One of Jan's pages.  She gessoed over printing on the left hand page

Jan copied a trivet that I had at my house (that I didn't even know that I had.  Funny!  

Mary was crocheting a wash cloth!!!  Matched her shirt perfectly!

Pinky made this...well, I don't know exactly what this artwork is called...but it's so neat!  Her paper in the center is jagged, and she threads golden matellic threads back & forth, into this beautiful piece of art!  Pinky is really showing us her artful self these days.

Here is the beginning of Pinky's Iris Folded Bear

The finished BEAR!  

                                                          Beautiful, huh?

I was STILL working on Pinky's calendar pages, but they are still not finished.  I will get them posted another day!  Hope you all enjoy visiting our blog!

Don't forget to get those bags packed for New Zealand!!!  Komona Dragons ....hahahahaha....I mean, Komodo Dragons here we come!!!