Book of Days : more of - less of

I am loving Book of Days. I learn so much from Effy, from the supportive class participants, and from my own work. This year we have a main lesson every fortnight, and so far I'm keeping up - next main lesson is tomorrow :-)

This one was thinking about what we want to leave behind and also bring forward into 2017. Here's the step out : click on any photo to see it larger. I love purple and green on the page together

Happy with how the face is coming along but not happy with the patchy look of the purple background

Stencil to the rescue ♥

More work on her pretty face

Is it done yet? 

Not quite...the joined-up lettering needs some added SHINE.

Completed spread : 

I love this process - the result's not perfect, but it's come from me and I've learned a bit more about myself through this creative act. 
See my Flickr album for all my art from classes with Effy HERE. Sign up to Book of Days or other classes with Effy Wild HERE. 

Daily Journaling : Week 5

I'm following the prompts of the original Documented Life 2014. Week 5 : Add a doodle border. I felt like I needed 'something else' so I waited to see what there was on the blog for Life Documented 2017. Hah - it is incorporate a doodle/zentangle. Once again I already had a start to my spread - one of my favourite stencils wiped off on here, so obviously next step is to doodle!

I started by adding white dots (with my white Sharpie pen) to the peacock feathers, and then started doodling flowers with my black PITT Pen (M)

I thought it would be cool to add some more colour to my doodles. This Dylusions ink is getting low, and I hadn't tried my new Fantastix applicators (I've got the pack of mixed tips)

You just dip the nib into ink, and then use it like a pen - great fun and gives you so many options for colour

I like  the effect on top of the iridescent paint, but you get brighter colour when just added to paper - and the point means I could add dots of colour on the right-hand spiral as well (over white dot so bit of dimension)

EDITED UPDATE :  I've been asked "Were you able to completely clean the Dylusions from the pen for re-use?" Here's a photo - it came out pretty well.

It's more stained with the colour instead of still holding it. Dipped it in water and squeezed it out a few times til water clear. I reckon I'll be okay to re-use but will make sure I use a similar colour next time. There are quite a few sticks in the mixed pack. In the photo you can see the other bullet tip.
Really fun to do all of this and I ended up with a happy spread

Be interesting to see how I go next week when I face a completely blank page. You can see all my posts about this project HERE and my Flickr album HERE
Back to school time for us this week. Making plans to be able to continue to art and post regularly, but the number of posts per week will be less with normal routines and working. Will continue to prioritise creative time :-) 

Free workshops : Jane Davenport

Sharing the love in case you haven't heard...Jane Davenport has launched her own mixed media collection. Available through Michaels in USA and Canada, or from her website - apparently it's sold out all over! I am hoping that somebody in NZ might decide to supply at some point cos postage is a bit prohibitive, but in the meantime, you don't always need the supplies to have a play. She has launched a FREE video series workshop to share fun ways to use everything.

All the info to sign up is HERE.

There's a FB group you can join too.
Of course I've added these workshops to my list of cheap and free online classes which you can always find top right beneath my profile. 
Hope you are having a fun and creative weekend ♥

Book of Days : Bring on the Wonder

I've had a wonder-full week so decided I couldn't skip this bonus lesson from Week 2. It's a lesson in gratitude. After my initial collage, my colour-scheme turned out to be beachy summer - indicative of where I am at the moment :-) Truly mixed media - the rose is a paper serviette, and I just love my new gold Posca Pen. (OMG went looking for an image to share and discovered can buy at warehouse stationery cheaper than the art supply store I discovered them in! Good for future reference) Here are the steps in my process.

See my Flickr album for all my art from classes with Effy HERE. Sign up to Book of Days or other classes with Effy Wild HERE. 

Just one more journal....

I am feeling really happy about my art journaling practice so far this year. I have an altered book which I am using for my main online art lessons. Read more about that HERE

I have a small Dylusions journal which I am using for a weekly art prompt and noting highlights of my week. See all my posts from that journal HERE

But I felt like I wanted something else....I needed somewhere to write more. My 'daily' journal is too small for all the thoughts I have. Some of the prompts for Ali Edwards' One Little Word 2017 are writing intensive, private, not 'pretty art'. As part of Book of Days there are daily prompts which I would really like to be able to write about as the mood takes me. I found this article which talks about the benefits to be gained from writing in a private journal. I modified it for my own use and printed it out for my new Journal :-) 

I'm calling my new journal Inner Work - it's going to be my self-discovery journal. I was inspired by the concept of a "Sweet Trash Journal" a la Effy Wild. It's a place that's more private than the art journal you share with friends or online and you can capture ALL the stuff...the doodles, event tickets, writing to explore your feelings, a place to store quotes and photographs. It can be anything you want it to be. I'm very excited by all the possibilities AND I've just decorated the cover. I've begun with a simple WA4 exercise book just to see how I like it (just cardboard cover and 32 leaves stapled in) 

Because it's supposed to be more about the writing, I thought I would short-circuit spending lots of time on making my cover and dug out some pieces of old card stock that had leftover printing on them

and when I stuck a couple on the covers and added a bit of tape I was immediately smitten!

Sat with this for a while and in the end all I added was a bit more tape on each side of the spine so the wrap is wider over the join in the cardstock, edged with permanent ink pad

and then added the words through a stencil before outlining with gold sakura pen

On the back cover I added the start date - wonder how long it will take to fill this book?

So far I've added copies of my art and some written stuff

I've done my pretty spreads for January OLW 2017 (see previous post)

 as well as my longer written stuff - it's private so obscured ;-)

I've started journaling memories of special days, and written responses to some BOD prompts - it's fun to use different coloured pens ;-)

I'm sure I will move to another book with a harder cover and more pages once this one is done. I'll share when there's something more I can share from in here. 

Do you have a written journaling practice too?

One Little Word 2017 : January

I'm taking Ali Edwards' One Little Word OLW workshop again this year. Although I didn't complete all the monthly class prompts last year, that's not the goal. The goal of the class is to connect with your word throughout the year. I am excited to see what happens with SHINE in 2017. I've already done a post about what SHINE means to me, and I have a Pinterest board too.

If you've been looking at my blog since 1st January you'll have noticed I've been keeping my word very present in my art so far. I'm thinking every day about what it means to Shine : sharing with others, being healthy, cultivating good self-care, practicing gratitude, and spending time doing what I love.

Ali talked a lot in her first lesson about Being Curious - asking questions to to create a deeper connection with our word. The January lesson is about setting the tone for the year. We start the process of getting to know our word through a series of prompts.
She encouraged us to include a self-portrait and I love both of these photos taken earlier this year - the beach is one of my happiest places to be, and I love the shine on the sand and waves and again later that day with the sunset

Ali shared digital cards for us to print and use for the prompts. I love to use old calendars for this and cut a couple down to fit through my printer. 

The cards are quite cool once cut apart

and even more effective once I added metallic pen for my SHINE details ♥

Love finding inspirational quotes to support my word. This was from an article by Brave Girls Club which I found after having chosen my word : We can always fly above it to shine the light....

There are lots of inspiring quotes about Shine on my Pinterest board. Although the calendar paper is shiney {haha on re-reading I should have used the word glossy!}, I used permanent markers and once dry they haven't smeared.

I thought for quite a while about how to do the background, and in the end decided sparkly scrapbook paper was an easy option (not a very good photo but it's all glittery and shows up better if you click to see it larger)

I glued the lighter papers down to the background pages and used the folded green as an extra centre flap so I could spread all my information out. Click on the photos to view larger.

And I went a bit crazy with various tapes to add interest and colour

These pages make me happy. I also filled in another couple of pages that helped me really think about my word and my actions/intentions around it, but they contain more personal information and are not so pretty to look at. I only mention them so if you are still considering this class you know you can dive in deep from the prompts if you wish. You get from this class as much as you're willing to put into it.
Also they're in a new journal which I will share in my next post!

See all my posts about OLW 2017 HERE, and my Flickr album which includes any art featuring my word as well as the class prompts HERE.