This was a BOD lesson from Session 1 earlier in the year. Effy shared her original artwork and the speed-painting version of this during her blog-along in April, so you can be inspired HERE. I love Effy's Bee, but I am more inspired by Butterflies and this quote is particularly meaningful to me at present "If nothing every changed there'd be no butterflies". Butterflies are a lovely symbol of transformation ♥ Rather than detailed thoughts this time, I'm just going to share a series of process photos. You can click on any to see them larger.
You can sign up for this and other classes with Effy Wild HERE. See my Flickr album of all art work inspired by Effy's classes HERE. Hope you are having a lovely week
I shared my new Inner Work Part 3 journal in January and now it's all finished. The end of the journal coincided with the end of July so I'm also sharing my new Part 4 journal here ♥ Whilst my Shine journal was very pretty and I love seeing all the taped edges, when I was thinking about what to use for Part 4 I came across an old hard cover journal with thickish pages already numbered. It's a bit grungy/worn down the spine, and the edges of the pages are a bit inky so I'm going to keep this one a bit more un-touched and leave the edges as they are
I began with the cover and decided to keep it simple by recycling a lovely birthday card - I love the sentiment and it's perfect for what I'm trying to do with these journals
Some of the pages inside had already been removed, and what remains look a good length to see me through to the end of the year. As I did in my previous journal, I attached a current photo of me to start and I also wanted an envelope for tucking useful things - again I used a recycled card featuring my word SHINE which is also key to guiding my Inner Work.
I taped over the rough edge where pages had been removed and added the Contents heading from an old magazine. I like to keeping a tally of my main subjects - doesn't have to be in alphabetical order, just a record to look back on.
And now for my review of the month past. July has been awesome despite some dreary winter weather - 2 weeks of school holidays, lots of creative projects completed, lots of jobs ticked off my list, seeing definite progress on my healthy journey, celebrated my 8th bloggiversary, and helped our eldest son buy his first car!
As usual, I kept a visual list of what I've been watching and reading - a lot more watching because of school holidays and seeing movies as a family ♥
This was my list of intentions for July now updated :
and here's how I've set up for August (click on the photo to read more clearly) :
As you can see, I'm focusing on "Presence" this month. And you can see some of the notes we got from Effy's Moonshine class where this is the topic for August. Her words beautifully articulate what I feel about presence, gratitude, shining, energy and magic ♥ She also shared some thoughts about Grief which are profoundly aligned with what I have been feeling but not put into words....Effy always posts with our monthly readings that "If you aren't reading the PDFs, you are missing about 85% of the class content" and I am getting so much out of this class even if I don't complete my own art from the project lessons (I watch every demonstration though). I am currently grateful for my writing practice, for my increasing self-knowledge, for my family, for my creativity, for where I am right now. I am also really enjoying this book :
Check out the intro via Amazon HERE. I relate to Lisa Congdon who says "Every year that passes, I become braver, and stronger, and freer. Getting older....{is a} gratifying and liberating process...Aging has led me to myself"
Written journaling also reveals me to myself. If you don't already have some kind of written journaling practice I really encourage you to start one. Check out all my posts about my Inner Work Journals HERE.
You can write whatever you like - brain dump, planning, frustrations, celebrations, capturing images/writings that inspire you - I have grown so much with my journals since beginning last year. It is great to feel intentional about the direction my life is going. Wishing you an August of love and laughter...and some written journaling xo
During my Summer Holidays (Dec-Jan) I did a number of lessons from Tam's She Blooms in Ink online class. I enjoyed them immensely and completed 4 of the lessons on A3 watercolour paper
I began on separate sheets because I always intended to sew them together as a book. This month, I decided to complete a couple of the other lessons and finish this project. These are the last 2 faces I've recently shared from this class on the same paper as the previous lessons.
My original thought was to make a star book {although much larger scale than the ones I've made in the past♥} so I knew I needed an uneven number of spreads- these have 7.
I wanted to sew my pages together as a feature, and black thread was the obvious choice as a strong colour to edge the pages and to tie in with the black pen work. I stitched each page back-to-back using my sewing machine
I decided against sewing the last 2 pages back-to-back because then I can't fold the book down in traditional format
One option is to cut the last folded spread apart to use as covers, or to add extra covers - and ties for closure are a feature of the small books
In the end, I decided I would like to make one more face, and just have blooms on what will be the back cover. I decided to work with the blank watercolour paper which shows once the book is folded down together and began with the front cover
I thought the back just needed some blooms on part of the cover so I began with sprays and inks before adding the pen work
To finish I sprayed the front and back with matte varnish for some added protection of the cover art, and then edge stitched with black thread
I like seeing the exposed folds in the spine
And I can still have it out in star format if I wish ♥
I am very happy to see this project completed and while I can always refer back to lessons, it's great to feel like I actually finished a class!
Tam's She Blooms in Ink online class is now available for self study with life long access. You can register HERE. See all my posts about this class HERE and my Flickr album HERE.
