A couple of new journal pages

The page above is on a small filler card in my Full Tilt Boogie Journal. It's fun and sometimes challenging to work on different sized pages.
I'm so glad I recently enrolled for 2 of Kelly Kilmer's online classes : This & That and The Journey Within.
If I am stuck on a page, I flick through her notes/prompts and always find something to get me going. Even though I'm not following her lessons step by step, I am absorbing her ideas and finding my own voice within that.
I was sorry I didn't show you my last journal page in stages. I forgot to photograph it before the doodling 

- all the white detail in the left patterned paper was done by me with a white pen and it looks so different from when I started. 
So here's the next page in stages :

Hope you find some time to yourself and do what you love this week.

Calendar Journaling

Week 2 of the calendar journal. Read about my inspirations for this project here.

I love using my Inktense watercolour pencils. If you haven't seen them in action, here's a comparison of the colour you get before and after you add water with a brush - click the picture to see the really gorgeous intense colour.

I have a new stencil by Ronda Palazzari so that had to be used this week

and then I had to transfer the ink remaining on the stencil to the other page. I also love using torn old sheet music

It's been a tough week, but happy that I am still making pretty pages in spite of that. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Things to look forward to

I've managed to finish this quilt top and looking forward to quilting it

Some new arty books coming out that I'm looking forward to seeing up close:

More HERE - published 19th Sept

This second one is edited by Maggie Grey. I think I read this is due in December - excited to see the artists featured in this one, especially 2 of my favourites : Beryl Taylor and Ro Bruhn. More HERE
It's daylight savings this weekend in New Zealand - that means summer is getting ever closer :-) AND it's spring school holidays next week. Hope you are getting a nice mix of creative and family time.

This week

This week is the last week to sign up for 21 Secrets :

You have access to the classes (21 teachers) until January 1st 2014, but you have to have signed up by 1st October -- special discounted price US$49

A reminder for people new to my blog of the projects I've done with these classes so far

April :: Go Green book cover with Rae Missigman

May :: Colourful backgrounds for pages ideas from Terri Kahrs and Kate Crane

June :: Book of me. 2-sided journal with Roben-Marie Smith

September : Doodling my way with Cathy Bluteau

and most recently : Sparkle play with Dion Dior

Many more things I still want to try.

Have a creative week :-)

New Project :: Calendar Journaling

For 18 months I did Kate Crane's monthly Calendar Challenge. I said farewell to that project in July 2012. It got to be too much to come up with a new idea as a theme for the whole month, and I wanted to have a go at other things. However, when I look back at those pages, I miss the capturing of my daily life, and now I've started a new kind of journaling project. 

I'm calling it Calendar Journaling, and this is my first completed page

As you can see it's a place to try out techniques (glittery feather from previous post) and use whatever supplies I feel like. There's no planning ahead and no constraints about size of entries or what can be included.
I have been inspired by : Martha Lever's Big Grid pages - here's one and here's another
: Julie Fei Fan Balzer's Art Journal every day concepts - especially 7 days in my journal and her daily pages like these
: Karenika's 2012 weekly art journal pages
: Judy Wise's art journaling
: and This page that I made from the 21 Secrets class with Cathy Bluteau
My second page already had some leftover paint from stencils from another project

And here's page 2 complete

Here's the full 7-day spread - as always click on any picture to see it larger

Hoping that it will continue to be a way to try out arty ideas as well as capturing my daily thoughts. Will be interesting to see how this evolves...and of course I'll share it all with you.

For your interest - Both Martha Lever and Julie Fei Fan Balzer have classes for their journaling styles. I haven't taken their classes, but click on the pictures below if you want to know more ::

Go HERE

Go HERE
This journal  features in her video at 7min34sec

21 Secrets : Sparkle-arkle with Dion Dior

Excited to dig out supplies I have had sitting in my studio and using them again in new ways. This is my sparkly stash

And this was my first play from the lovely Dion Dior - heavy gel medium and glitter sprinkled through a stencil...

such a pretty result and something I want to play more with

Happy weekend :-)



Happiness round here lately

It's spring here in New Zealand :-)

Great bargain -- cake stencils at The Warehouse in the cooking aisle for $4! Imagine they would cost a lot more if found in the art & craft aisle...

I'm still journaling

I've started a new project  

And very happy that I've discovered the poetry of Tara Sophia Mohr - The Rhythm is about quiet times in your creative life. I am moved by her collection The Real Life : Poems for Wise Living

Simply Delicious Quilt progress

I shared these blocks as I fused them together in 2010! - this was the start.
It's been an unfinished project for too long, and I decided to take my own advice the other day and have been using micro-movements to make some progress. Threaded up the sewing machine so it's ready whenever I am

Sorted the sashings I've started putting together

Gradually piecing them into longer strips

and adding them to blocks

Building them together in stages

So gratifying to see how small amounts of time add up to satisfying progress

Hopefully more on this soon....You can see the original 12-block quilt and download your own pattern from Piece O' Cake designs here.

Journal page in stages



Enjoying using different elements on my pages. I called this finished on 2nd September - dated the page and everything. But every time I looked at it, something just wasn't working for me. After doing all the doodles on the pages in my previous post, I decided this page needed more work.

Click on the photo to see the details larger. NOW I'm calling it finished

21 Secrets : Doodling My Way with Cathy Bluteau

There are still more classes I want to try out in 21 Secrets, and finally gave myself some time to do Cathy Bluteau's class. Here's the evolution of my spread.

Click on any photo to see more detail and here are some close-up shots of the completed pages. Can't decide which bit I like the best :-) A really enjoyable exercise.

Registration for 21 Secrets is still open, but only until 1st October so you'd better get a wriggle on if you are wanting to do it. The classes remain open until the end of 2013. I've definitely had my money's worth. So far I've completed projects with Rae Missigman, Roben-Marie Smith and Cathy Bluteau above. I'm wanting to revisit and play more with Terri Kahrs' and Kate Crane's techniques. I've also watched Diana Trout and Ro Bruhn's classes although haven't had a chance to have a go, and still more artists on the list I want to watch and hopefully play with. Great value and great fun.