Kasia's Advent Calendar Journal : Days 1-3

This year I was inspired to join Kasia's FREE Advent calendar journaling event : 24 days of art journaling with prompts, exploring mindfulness, self-care and gifts of the season and although I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep up, I signed up anyway. I thought about how I could manage this in a small and creative way and shared my set-up HERE. 

My limited colour palette is black and white and silver with some pink and tiny bit of pale green! It's an unusual colour palette for me so am excited to see where it takes me. I'm also going to include both hand and machine stitching and some kind of fibre on every page, so I am working on loose pages that I will later put together. My pages are small, measuring 4.5" x 6.5". Despite all of these limits, I have had a huge week at school and did not manage to make art on any day! This weekend I had a little time to catch up on the first 3 days.
Decided to start with a double spread for my first prompt to set intention. I began with some words and then noticed a leftover word 'bright' on my work table. Obviously needs to be added too.

I want to use machine stitching, hand stitching, and fibre on every page ✔

Also want my pages to reflect my Kiwi/New Zealand culture/location where possible so on this page it's the aroha tape and the NZ stamp

I lay my page inside the inside cover of my journal and realised that I needed to cover some of the white inside that will show around the edge so painted with noir iridescent paint, and then had some left over so this is ready for another page base.

Day 2 = Fairy Tales. My favourite book from my childhood is "Cinderella" - I still have my Ladybird copy ♥ 

My page is inspired by life lessons I gained from Cinderella.

Again, I used up paint by moving some across to the other side. This will help give me continuity across the spread. I am not looking ahead at the prompts so hope this will work. It's only paint so can easily be covered up.
Day 3 = Allow. Reminded myself of my colour palette - I've been a bit too much about green and pink so changing it up with a recycled tag this time with black and white accents. First a simple background with thesaurus definition - I LOVE found words 

I have been busy to the point of overwhelm and stress at the beginning of this month, so trying to remember 2 things : Ask for help when I need it, and let go of expectations that I need to do it all. This is the back of the tag

And the front - I used green staples to attach the ribbon

This is how that second spread looks together

I decided I would glue the pages into the cover as I go and I am thrilled with how it looks already. I started by gluing the first page into the front cover, and then I will join pages back to back as I finish the entire spread. (I am using heavy gel gloss to get a good bond) I hope these photos make my process clear. 

So the last page of the last spread of this project will glue inside that back cover. Any questions please ask in the comments.
Really happy that I have made a start on this project and not too bothered that I am 'behind'. School closes this Friday lunchtime so I will have more flexible time after that (although a couple of teacher-only days the following week). Unlike some bloggers who seem to be doing their last posts before Christmas, December/January are often some of my most creatively productive times so do keep checking back to see what I'm up to.
By the way - Tam has released the FREE Life Book Summit lessons again for one week only. Check it all out HERE