A Couple of Journal Pages

Just thought I'd post pics of a couple more pages I've done in my art journal to show that I am still around and still creating, albeit in "fits and starts", when the mood takes.  

Continuing the words and colours theme, this is what I made ....... the word was "Adventure" and the colours were Indigo, Bright Yellow and Brown.

When I'd covered the page with the acrylic paints and swooshed them with an old plastic card, it suggested someone standing on top of a rocky promontory (somewhere hot and dry), so that's how the page developed.

 I found an image of a leaping woman and adhered her to the page, then added some journalling.

The word and colours for the second page were "Languorous" (just loved the sound of it) and Peach, Pale Pink and Mid Blue.  I found a lovely poem which I wanted to use, as well as the dreamy image of the woman's face, then inked and stamped the page with shells. 

Chakra Pages

It's a horrible wet and murky day here and the farthest I've been is down to the supermarket this morning to do the weekly shop! Just popped on line to order some trainers for my son's birthday so I thought I'd do a quick post and show you the remaining two chakra pages that I did back in April for my Art Journal.

 Third Eye Chakra

The background was created by spraying on "Rum Raisin" Glimmer Mist.  I drew the eye freehand and adhered it to the page - the letters are punched out stickers from a Basic Grey alphabet sheet.  I added some stamped acrylic circles, freehand writing, charms, gems and a "gypsy" image, and finished by rubbing in a little Distressed Stickles.

Crown Chakra

I gessoed the white background for this page, adding some light silvery scroll stamping and a torn piece of paper doily for texture, with some pewter coloured metallic rub-on over the top.  Again, the page was completed with a couple of images, cardboard lettering covered with a Krylon silver pen, stamping, a charm and my own handwriting.

I remember I felt quite pleased with the results back in April, but understandably since then I haven't felt much like being creative in the least. Hopefully, I can gradually start doing a bit of artwork again, dig out those inks, paints and stamps (!) and take time out to relax a bit.  

Planning on visiting a Vintage and Handcrafts Fair on Saturday with Lindsay, so keeping my fingers crossed the weather improves a bit by then - looking forward to it and hope to pick up a few bargains (what, I don't know yet, but I'm sure something interesting will catch our eyes)!

April Journalling ...... etc

I've been in trouble with Lindsay this week for not "blogging" for a while - guilty as charged, but the days just seem to fly by and merge into each other at the moment - so I thought I better do an up to date post, only to discover from reading Lindsay's blog last night that Blogger has changed (!) - as a result it looks like I'm going to have an almighty problem posting too, never mind uploading pics.  Everything has changed, the screen I'm using to type out my post is too small but is also covering up the Blog toolbar so it's making things very difficult.  Part of the trouble is because Blogger apparently no longer supports my Browser - so even more hassle.  Aagh, why do they have to go tinkering with everything all the time!!!!  Grr !!!

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter break.  Life was a bit more eventful than we'd wanted around that time though - we had a big leak in the bathroom which resulted in a cracked kitchen ceiling and lovely soapy water (courtesy of Max having a shower at the time) dripping down into the pan of eggs I was cooking at the time!  As a result (and due to the "cowboy" job done on our bathroom some years back) to find and cure the leak, our plumber had to remove the toilet in order to remove the fascia in order to remove the cupboard in order to remove the bath - what a job!  Thankfully, we were covered by insurance.  So now we are waiting on the plasterer coming (Thursday) to re-plaster the ceiling.  Will feel a lot happier then.

This is what the ceiling looks like at the moment!

I've been working on my journal pages for April and have found them quite challenging - they are the seven Chakras and I've created five so far (with much struggling, so I'm not altogether happy with them) - only two left to go.  Here are my five chakra pages (fingers crossed I can upload pics):-

Root Chakra

Sacral Chakra

Solar Plexus Chakra

Heart Chakra

Throat Chakra

Typing this post has been an ordeal and I'm giving up on it for the time-being.  I may have to look at downloading another browser before I post again, what a pain this is!

February Journal Pages

Well, it's been a busy month one way or another, but I finally finished all of the journal pages for this month (with one day to spare!).  The idea is to spend around 30 minutes each day working in the journal, but that was never going to happen for me - still, I managed to keep up and get them done so I'm really pleased with myself.  (The number of UFO's - unfinished objects - I've got lying around is quite scary!).

Having made all the backgrounds (pics posted in previous posts), Ali gave us a list of titles which we had to add to whichever background pages we wanted - after that, there were a series of instructions to add images, stamping, words, journalling, until this is what I ended up with for my pages ......... see what you think ......

Enjoy the Journey

I Followed My Dream

The Art of ..........

Life, Etc

Potential

What If?

Time For ......

These were great fun to do and now it's time to start on the four pages for March - the theme for this month is "Dreams".  Will keep you posted with what I do!

Getting messy with Backgrounds

Today I've been messing about with backgrounds.  It all started earlier in the week when I was helping my sister Lindsay out creating samples for the "Stitches" trade show in Birmingham later this month, along with our crafty friend Joanne.  I was allocated the task of painting up some canvas backgrounds; being given a free rein with colours, etc, it was a bit daunting at first but I soon warmed to the task.  So I thought that as I had a few free hours today, I'd spend them completing the rest of the (seven) backgrounds I'm meant to have already done for February for my Art Journal 2012.  There were specific instructions for each one and here are the results of my messing around (I showed you the first of them - Blue - in my last post) ......

Background No 2 - Seeing Stars - my background was painted using acrylic paints in grey, periwinkle and blue.  I stencilled some tiny stars on with midnight blue ink, then stamped some larger stars onto old dictionary paper, cut them out and adhered to the page. 

Background No 3 - Splatter, Splodge and Running Paint - I painted and splodged orange and magenta acrylic paint onto my background then watered down some purple paint and dribbled it down and across the page for a runny effect.

Background No 4 - Watercolour wash using shades of green and yellow brushed and blended across the page.

Background No 5 - Used yellow, orange and purple acrylic paints randomly daubed onto the page, then swooshed with an old credit card - very dark and messy looking at the moment, but it will no doubt look quite different when it's finished!

Background No 6 - Dry Brushing Technique - applied a dark shade (wine) of acrylic paint to the background, dried it completely, then dry brushed over it with pale aqua and white.

Background No 7 - Aged Page - for this final page I had to apply brown ink (used Distress Inkpad Vintage Photo) direct to paper, then daubed on Black Soot in several areas, spreading it a little with a damp paper towel.  Stamped a couple of circles in dark brown ink to look like coffee stains, plus a few blotches of  tea dye ink (all I had) here and there.

At the moment they don't look very much, but now I have to follow instructions for the next stage - adding text to each one - we've been given a list of seven phrases/words and have to add one to each of our pages.  Quite intriguing as I didn't read what we had to do next before I made the backgrounds so that I wouldn't be influenced by knowing.  Will show you what the finished pages look like at the end of the month (if I get them done)!

A few journal pages

The time's flown since my last post I'm afraid ..... been dealing with quite a bit of "real life" stuff the past few weeks so haven't been able to do as much crafting as I'd planned.  Well, took Mia back for her checkup - all was fine - but it took her a good hour or so when we got back home again before she'd forgive me for yet another visit to the vets!

I've been running badly behind with the Art Journal 2012 that I planned on being involved with but have finally started to catch up and just completed all four pages for January (that had a sea/beach theme).  They're not very inspired (or inspiring) but at least I've done something and I can look back on them and see what I'd've done differently if I'd had more time, imagination, etc.  I posted a pic previously of the first page I did, these are the other three :-

For Week 2 we had to illustrate the quote about "memories lasting longer than our footprints".  I decided to use a copy of a photograph I took on holiday in Anglesey some years back - it was taken on a wonderful day by the sea where we gathered all sorts of beach treasures.  The paper I used to print out the picture was quite creamy so has given a softer (faded memory) feel to the scene and the shells and glass added to the bottom are some of the "treasures" I collected on that day.

For the third week's page we had to design a beach hut and say where we would like to put it.  I had this daft idea really to make a pink beach hut with wings, my version of a magic carpet, that I could travel around the world in and land anywhere I chose, maybe even travelling back in time to the days of the Victorian bathing beauties too!  Just a bit of fun!

Week 4 - we could create whatever we liked with a sea theme and add a four-line poem to it.  Living by the seaside, I've often stood on the promenade (not naked though *LOL*) and gazed out past the piers towards the sea's horizon, imagining the countries far beyond across the waters and taking in the sights and sounds with all my senses.

For the month of February we are supposed to work on our journals about 30 mins each day - I confess I haven't done this but I have at least made a start.  Firstly, we are creating seven different backgrounds which I think we will then be working on for the rest of the month.  This is just the first of the seven - a BLUE background - nice and simple, just used all my blueish TH Distress Inks sponged onto the page, spritzed with water then heat set.

So .... apart from selling bits and pieces on EBay and going to watch my football team ..... that's what I've been up to since my last posting.  Oh, and trying to keep warm too - we've had some ferociously bitter weather here, but thankfully though the ice has been quite treacherous, we've so far missed out on the snow, one of the advantages to living by the coast being that it often bypasses us on its way across the Atlantic and waits till it reaches higher land. 

Hope you're all keeping warm and safe and I'll try to not leave it so long till my next post.

My Tag Pages for the Journal Journeys Challenge

This month's challenge set by Dawn over at Journal Journeys (click on the link in the sidebar to check her blog out) was to add a tag or inclusion to your journal pages.  Coincidentally ..... definitely not intentionally .... on the same day I also posted a challenge on my blog for Journalling Tags (great minds and all that *LOL* ....... don't forget to sign up for this one, by the way, if you fancy having a go - it's not due till the end of the month and all details are over in the sidebar too).  Anyway .... I digress .......

Okay, I thought, I had an idea to add some tip-in tags to my pages, having done something similar in an altered book round robin swap, so I merrily set to and gave the next pages in my journal (the Khadi handmade papers one I'd set aside for the Journal Journeys challenges) a "soaking" with watercolour paints ...... oops! next thing I know, the pages are peeling out of the book because the water has loosened up all the glue binding them to the spine.  Disaster !!!  What to do????  I couldn't throw them away and start again because on the back of one of the pages was the first challenge I'd done (the pink and orange one) and I didn't want to lose it.

Time for some quick-thinking - okay, I'll put them in my other art journal; fine, but the pages are different sizes, which meant a bit of juggling around, cutting down pages and taping the new ones in so they were all the same size.  In the end, it worked well and I was happy with the result.  The theme of my pages is Heaven and Hell Is ....... I cut down one page into just a strip and adhered the tags to it, then wrote a random selection of my own particular "heaven and hells" on each side. 

These are the Heaven and Hell background pages - I used a mixture of watercolour paints, glimmer mist sprays, stamps and images, bits of lace and glitzy stickles

Close Up of the Heaven page - the image was one I spotted in my local paper and gave me the idea for the pages

The image for the Hell page came from a page-a-day calendar we have on the subject of "magic"

Here are the pages as they look with the tag inserts (Heaven side) - I added eyelets and fibres to the end of each tag

Tag inserts showing the Hell side

I had great fun making these pages, even though they ended up being a bit fiddly and time-consuming, and I'm fairly pleased with the results.

Things I have learnt about art journals - firstly, the art journal that I am now using is one I purchased from Paper Chase in Manchester last year.  It's pretty sturdy but the pages are paperbag brown and quite heavy, which means I have to cover each page with white gesso, acrylic paint or paper before I can start journalling and all these extra layers are making a lot of the pages rather stiff.  Also, the book is in landscape mode.  I'll know in future to choose books with white pages, maybe not so heavy and either square or portrait layout as I think that'll be easier to work with.  I've also learnt to check out the binding of the journals carefully too in order to avoid another journal falling to pieces on me when it gets wet (I'll have to make sure I don't use anything too wet near the spine of the Khadi book from now on - it's a lovely book to work in though, the texture of the paper is super, so I shall definitely be using it for some other journalling or poetry)!!! 

Finally, I've learnt to just have a go in my journal - sometimes I've followed journalling prompts or challenges, sometimes I've just created a page out of my own head, how I'm feeling on a particular day (not necessarily how I'm feeling the next day), some pages are more successful than others, some I might want to keep secret, but it doesn't matter if they look messy or neat, serious or funny, nonsense or intelligent ..... each and every one of them is a way of expressing my feelings in any one moment of time and it definitely doesn't matter if I make mistakes, how else do we learn?

Hope you've enjoyed looking at my entry for Dawn's challenge and maybe you'll feel inspired to have a go at journalling yourself too.  Have fun!

JOURNALLING TAGS - A New Challenge

Today, according to the weather people last night, is the first day of autumn - not so sure myself, but there's definitely a freshness in the air and the sun has been shining wonderfully all day - it certainly feels like summer is sliding down into autumn and it's one of my favourite times of the year.  Anyway, it put me in the mood to come up with a new challenge swap for you all and this one is all about "Tags".

I'd like you to create three tags, approx size 3" x 5", each with a different theme :-

1)  Season of Mellow Fruitfulness (Autumnal)

2)  Vintage Birds

3)  The Daydreamer

The idea is that these tags can be added to your art journals (for those of you who journal) or used as gift tags if you don't, so please leave some plain areas on your tags so that the recipient can add their own journalling or words.  Please also lightly decorate the back of each tag with paper, inks and/or stamping and include your personal info around the edges, so there's room on the back of the tag for more journalling if desired.

Usual rules apply - tags to be with me by 30th September and please include an SAE (large letter stamp/sturdy envelope) for returns.  Email me to sign up and if you have any questions.  I've added the details of this swap in the sidebar too. 

Hope this challenge swap appeals and I can tempt some of you to join in!  Look forward to seeing what you all come up with.

A Journal Page

Whoo, I've just had a marathon session printing off lots of old family photos from the computer, so before I packed up for the day, just thought I'd show you a picture of the last journal page I did (courtesy of Ali's prompts).  This was created a few weeks ago and the theme of the page was "LOVE".  I chose to use one of my favourite pieces of poetry (a Shakespeare sonnet) as the focus of mine.

My feet have hardly touched the ground for the past few weeks, so much has been going on (family wise), but things may calm down again shortly so I'm hoping to be able to concentrate a bit more time on my art journalling before too long. 

Anyway, just a short post today ....... catch up with you all again soon!

Look at these Beauties ......

,,,,, that landed on my doorstep yesterday morning.  I was involved in a Journal Envelope Round Robin on the Vintage ATCs UK Yahoo Group - we each coloured the backs of four envelopes any way we liked, I used acrylic paint dabbers, and sent them on to the next person in the RR, along with a tag and couple of images for each envelope.  Each person added to the envelopes with stamps, the chosen images plus any extras, embellishments, collaging, etc, and finally they were returned home to us.

Mine are just absolutely gorgeous, I love them ...... the idea is to add them into our journals, write on them if we want as well as having the insides as pockets for secret messages or photos, or anything else we fancy.  Right now, though, I just can't imagine "spoiling" them with my scruffy handrwriting ! 

(Pic of same envie below, with tag on top)

My envelopes were decorated by three American artists (Jeannie, Marita and Gina) ..... they did a fabulous job, didn't they?  Everyone loved creating these journal envies and we're planning on doing it again before too long. 

(The Bookmark Swap is now closed, all sets arrived safely and they're all now ready for posting out tomorrow - so watch your letterboxes, ladies, for something nice dropping in.  Thank you all for taking part).

A little bit of background journalling .....

I haven't done any journalling this past week or so I'm afraid, though I've got several ideas floating around in my head (just haven't had enough free time).  I did create a couple of background pages in my journal a little while back - Ali (click to link up to her online group) posted some instructions about some backgrounds she was creating and suggested we play along too.  The pages involved paints, paper strips, stamping, masking, clingfilm and stencilling ...... a whole lot of fun and I loved the way my pages turned out.  Now they're all ready to add some journalling!

I was going to show you a picture of the last journal page I created too, but just realised I haven't taken a photo of it yet - oops!!! - so it'll have to wait till another time.  Also haven't forgotten that I promised to post pics of the steampunk atcs I made so I'll add them some time soon as well.

The Bookmark Swap is now officially closed (yesterday) - the bookmarks received are fab, but I'm just waiting on one set coming in ...... I know it's on its way, just think the post office are playing slow at delivery.  So once the last bookmarks come in, I'll be swapping them all out - it's been fascinating to see which books have been chosen and there's a fair few I'll be adding to my own "must read" list I think!

Finally - it's the 1st August today, which means Dawn has posted her next challenge on her Journals Journey blog so hop on over to see what it is ..... you'll like it, I know I'll be joining in.

A Bit of Art Journalling

As promised, I thought today that it was time I posted up some of the art journalling pages that I've created over the past few weeks.  I've been using prompts posted weekly by Ali Brandist on one of my Yahoo art groups (I'm playing about six months' catch-up!) and find them a really useful starting point for my pages.  So here are some that I've made - as you can see, they're mostly quite messy and collagey, quite different from my sister, Lindsay's, journal pages, which are far more artistic.

Ali used her pack of Angel Cards to select a message for each of us - this was mine, appropriately to do with new ideas and inspiration, something I was most definitely lacking in at the start of the year.  The background was distress inks over gesso, dabbed over with a scrunched up paper towel containing mopped up copper Krylon ink.  I'm a big Klimt fan so I couldn't resist using this image from one of his paintings for my angel, with the addition of a stamped wing.  (The hand is my own). 

For this page the prompt was "Word Inspiration" and I took mine from an old fiction book - both the cut out words and the written words.  I threw everything at this background - gesso, inks, blended oil pastels, stencilled punchinella, stamps, H2O paints, then collaged with a gyspy image, wings, butterflies and finished with Stickles and Beadazzles.

The next two pages are a double spread - "Silence Your Inner Critic/Develop an Inner Enthusiast" ..........

For the "critic" page I chose acrylic paints and inks for the background in dark brown colours, with a dictionary definition of criticism and stencilled cogwheels.  The Victorian lady reminded me of a very stern, bossy great aunt from my childhood and Queen Victoria provided another disapproving figure.  I used Dymotape for some of the words, handwrote others.

By contrast, I wanted my "enthusiast" page to be full of colour and liveliness, so I used a colour palette of orange, deep blue and purple for the background; lots of images of people dancing and leaping for joy, and again, a dictionary definition for "enthusiasm" and Dymotape, stamped and handwritten words.  I rubbed Distress Stickles over the harlequin stamp and other areas of the page.

All of these pages were great fun to create - the hardest part is always making the first marks on a page, but once you get going, you just don't know where you'll end up.

Well, that took me a lot longer to type than I expected.  I've been playing a game of Tag with Mia downstairs whilst I was brewing a cup of tea.  It's one of her favourite games, she creeps up behind me and tags me on the legs, then runs away, so I've been chasing her around the house as well - she loves it, it's kind of scarey and exciting for her, but safe too.  She likes to hunker down and leap out at me or run round the sides of a room, hunting me while my back's turned.  So when I came upstairs to use the computer, the game continued with paper ball throwing - over the bed, down the stairs, then behind the computer, under my chair ....... till she's tired herself out (or got bored) ....... and I can finally concentrate on finishing this post!

Pink and Orange

I came across a new journal challenge blog the other day and as I want to do more journalling I thought I'd give this one a go.  Check out Dawn's Journal Journeys blog to find out more.  Dawn has begun the challenges this month and will post a new one the first of each following month.  For July the challenge is to create a page using the colours PINK and ORANGE, not a combination one would normally associate together.

I've already started one journalling book using prompts posted in one of my online groups, but decided to start a new journal for this challenge.  Well, I have a blank book of handmade papers which I picked up in Paperchase in Manchester last year and was waiting for the right moment to use it ...... the paper is made from recycled cotton rag and suitable for ink, watercolour, paint, etc, has torn edges and a lovely feel to it ..... the book itself is 6" x 6", a comfortable size to work with.

This is the page I created ............

I used a mixture of Distress Inks (Spun Sugar, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold and Spiced Marmalade) to create the background.  I drew some cloud shapes on paper scraps, cut them out and used them to mask off parts of the sky, before stamping the Sun image in Spiced Marmalade.  I then bleached out the background colour from the clouds and tinted them with Weathered Wood ink.  I swooshed the same colour along the bottom edge, sketched in some dark pen lines and sponged some areas with Fuschia Pink Stazon ink.  I drew the silhouette of the girl onto black paper, cut her out and collaged her onto the page along with some rock images.  I added three bird shapes to the top right-hand corner for balance.  I found the quote in a book of meditations that I have and it absolutely expressed the feeling I had from creating this page.

Really enjoyed having a go at this challenge - thanks, Dawn - and look forward to seeing what the next one is in August!

I've been asked if I can show some of the journal pages I've created (not many to date, due to lack of time recently) and have finally gotten around to finishing some and photographing them, so I'll be posting pics of them in the next few days. 

Don't forget my bookmark swap (details in the sidebar) which is running until the end of July.  I've already received two sets of bookmarks and I can tell you, they look great, so if anyone fancies joining in with this one, there's still plenty of time to do so.

I'm Back

Just thought I'd let you all know I'm back on line again.  My computer went kaput a week or more back; I was just sitting there, looking at a website (a quite respectable BBC one, before you get any ideas!), when the screen went completely black and the computer shut down.  I tried switching it back on several times, but it wasn't having it for more than a few seconds - I thought maybe the fan had gone and it had overheated, but no, still wouldn't switch on the following morning.  So it meant a quick phone call to my techy friend and then having to wait until he was able to come round and take a look at it.  As he suspected, it turned out the power pack in the "tower" had gone, but it wasn't a difficult job for him to replace it with a new one - and a lot cheaper than a whole new computer would've been .... whew!!!!

It was very strange being without a computer for so many days, but I did at least get some early nights (I'm guilty of being a real night owl staying up till all hours, which can't be good for me), so I'm hoping to keep that good habit up now.  But by the time my computer was fixed, I was quite glad because I was beginning to wonder what I'd been missing out on and seeing what everyone else has been up to this past week or two.

I think I'm still catching up after the winter and having a couple of bouts of ill health through January, and my creative levels are pretty low at the moment.  In fact, I've only managed to create one page of an art journal so far.  The art journal project is one suggested by Ali in one of my online groups, where we are given "prompts" for each page, to follow if we want.  This is the first and only page I've managed so far - the prompt for this was "Every Journey begins with a Single Step".

I think maybe it's time I took my own advice from this page - basically, stop thinking too much about what lies ahead and just get going!