Daily Journaling 2017 : Week 1

I loved doing the Documented Life Project in 2015 and did it in a large Dylusions journal. In 2016 I incorporated some of the unPlanner prompts into my daily journaling, but it just didn't inspire me weekly in the same way. I always regretted that I didn't do the full original 2014 project. 

At the time I already had a calendar journaling process, so contented myself with decorating my work journal :

Having included daily journaling/memory keeping as part of my art journal in 2016, I am ready to go back to a separate daily calendar journal. I have had this small Dylusions journal in my cupboard for a while - pages are 5" x 8"

I have used up some paint on some pages of this journal so I have a few pages like this which may be incorporated or disguised :

but mainly they are blank. There are 48 pages so by adding just a couple of extra tip-ins I'm now good for the year. I had to tear out a few pages from my large Dylusions journal at the end of 2015, so I just folded 2 of them in half, trimmed them, and inserted into the journal held in place with a sparkly hair band down the middle

- easy peasy :-) I shared the steps for decorating my journal cover in my previous post. 

As well as adding those extra pages, I also trimmed some extra paper and lined the inside board covers so I can journal from the first spread to the last. This is inside the back cover

This is my first spread ready to be started: 

I'm going to follow the prompts of the original Documented Life 2014. Each time I post I'll share the link to the original project posts (with instructions from the original artists) in case you want to play along with me. Here's Week 1 : photograph, sketch, paint or incorporate your front door 
Totally okay that I start with some left-over paint already there...First I added more paint to tie the pages together, and decided to include the door to my studio - I am sooo lucky to have dedicated art space ♥

The original projected included flaps on every page. I'm not going to do that every week, but I do love the look of the tape on the edges of pages so will do that. As well as adding my word of the year, I also added lots of metallic paint and pens to start out shiney ♥

Click on the photo to see it larger - just need to fill in the journaling of my week. So this is how my daily journal for 2017 starts.

Looking forward to sharing this project weekly. Week 2 hopefully up on Sunday. I won't be keeping up this rate of blogging every day! Just always love to get projects launched at the beginning of a new year ♥
You can see all my posts about this project HERE and my Flickr album HERE.
Since doing this spread I have realised there is a FB group for 2017 - run by different people but to keep the concept going : it's called Life Documented 2017. I will let you know if I decide to incorporate that into this journal.

Introducing my new daily art journal

Evidence shows that art journaling and other acts of creativity increase human happiness.

I really love having an art journal which also has space to incorporate daily journaling. I've done this in different forms over time, and miss when I don't have somewhere to document happy or important things happening in my life (as well as the little things like what I'm reading/watching). Here's some examples of how I've done it in the past :
I first started Calendar journaling with Kate Crane in 2011 and did that for18 months until June 2012  - this was my last spread :

Now a group on FB if you are interested in joining in.
Then I did other things until September 2013 when I realised how much I missed incorporating that daily record and started the first pages of my regular practice:

Interrupted by December Daily 2013 : 

and followed by my Watercolour Calendar journal (27 Jan-Sep 2014) : 

I tried something different with my Stitched Paper Daily Art Journal (Sept-Dec 2014) : 

In 2015 I committed to the Documented Life 2015 project and was really happy that I managed to complete a spread for almost every week : this is the first and the last

I created a Flickr album for all my Documented Life 2015 spreads HERE and you can see all my posts about this project HERE.
Also last year I did Life Book for the first time. I loved the weekly inspiration, and completed many projects which helped me grow in confidence and joy as an artist. They were done on separate sheets of {mainly} watercolour paper 

You can see all my posts about Life Book HERE and I've created a Flickr album for all my Life Book projects HERE

In 2016 I am going to combine the Life Book 2016 projects directly in a journal with Documented Life 2016 (only US$12) and daily journaling. This way I'll be able to see my artful journey in one place, and can also incorporate other art along the way. I decided that rather than buy a journal this year, I would repurpose a second-hand book. This one was purchased at a library book sale some time ago and has been waiting for the perfect project (would not have spent more than $5 on it)

As you can see the top of the spine needs a little repair, but it's only the outer covering, and the covers are nicely blank for future creative inspiration (I usually leave decorating covers til the end of a project anyway). There were a few criteria I wanted for the journal which made this the perfect candidate
1. The paper has to be thick enough to withstand wet mixed media treatment. There were a couple of fold-out pages in the book, so I was able to tear one out for experimentation with dylusions sprays - they turned out a lovely colour with no treatment on the page, and no bleeding through.

Having said that, the first time I use new media in this journal I will probably leave a page between and then stitch them together on the edge.
2. The pages need to be stitched into their binding - this will help with the journal staying together as I use it without pages falling out (wet media can weaken glued bindings), but also I can tear pages out if the journal gets too thick, as long as I don't tear out the middle of the signature (this worked well in my previous journal). 

3. I love text, but didn't want the distraction of too many illustrations - this book had coloured plates that were attached with a thin line of glue which made them easy to remove.

4. I thought I would like to work a bit larger - these new pages measure 13 1/4" (34cm) x 9 1/2" (24cm) - that makes a spread of 13 1/4" x 19". 
Here are some comparisons of size with my 2015 journals :

My documented life journal (11 1/2" x 8 1/4" = 29cm x 21cm)- and here's a current page opened on the new

And Life Book 2015 :

I can also work smaller since in DLP 2015 I worked on the full spread each week - this year I'll be able to work on one page or a partial page if so moved....
I am so excited to start working in this book - I know I will probably need to remove some pages as I go so it doesn't bulge out of the cover (although I don't mind that look!), I would like to add stitch to some pages so will be able to join pages on the edges to disguise what happens on the back, and I'll also be able to work on pieces outside my journal, and then glue them on within the margin of the existing pages if I wish. Lots of possibilities...Another new FREE class development for 2016 : 

This weekly art journal project has just been taken over by Effy Wild. Journal 52 is a FREE online Art journal community project to inspire you with 52 weekly prompts - go HERE for the blog of all posts. There's a Facebook community which you can join HERE. 
Effy has also generously uploaded information for you to create your own journal - she includes FREE instruction for a Sweet Trash journal (altered composition notebook) AND a handbound journal HERE. 
I have added this information to my list of cheap and FREE online art classes that you can always get to top right in my sidebar.
Here are some other options for daily journaling that might inspire you :
Julie Fei-Fan Balzer AJED Art Journal Every Day - free tutorials HERE and her online classes HERE.

Martha Lever's Big Grid style (class info HERE)

Michelle Remy from Lost Coast Post : her Snippets daily journal HERE.

Janet Joehlin - Daily like this - class through Brave Girls University HERE.

What creative projects are you excited about for 2016? 
Talk to you again soon...I'm off to start page 1 :-)

MY 700th POST and the end of DLP 2015

I did my first blog post July 13th 2010 : back then I said "I want to have a diary of my art experiments/projects; a visual record of what I am watching, reading, seeing, thinking. It's called ALL OF ME because I want to record all my experiences - mainly arty, but you'll occasionally read about family stuff too. Hopefully it will help make me more productive, and it will be fun to look back on." It has, and it is :-) I blog for myself : it's useful to have a record of my creative journey and I love that when I think "how did I do that?" my methods, my progress photos and any online inspirations to get me there are all together. As time has gone on, I also blog to inspire you - you don't have to be an expert / a teacher / call yourself an artist to be able to create and enjoy all that brings with it. I share the ugly, the okay, the things I'm proud of, because nobody creates great art all the time - you just need to find some time in your day, keep showing up, experimenting and learning to find your own voice and creative joy in the process.

How fitting that reaching this milestone of 700 blog posts should coincide with another milestone - my final spread in the Documented Life Project 2015 :-)

Saying goodbye to this journal and this year of inspiration, I also want to look forward. It's been a year of exploring faces - something new to me. I thought I'd like to finish with one as I look forward to 2016 and more development in this area. 

On every weekly spread in this journal I've added a journal block - I've included small photos of other projects I've been doing, what I've been reading and watching, noting the good times as the year has progressed. I love that I'll always have this journal to look back on and remember the everyday moments - "the underlying fabric of my life" (challenge words).

Right from the start I planned to journal in her hair. Celebrating my creative journey this year and finishing (as I started) with my word for 2015 on the page.

Click on the photo to enjoy it larger or see it in the Flickr album I've created for all my Documented Life 2015 spreads HERE.
And that brings us to the end of DLP 2015! A blank journal transformed :

You can see all my posts about this project HERE and here's a mosaic of all my spreads (create your own mosaic here):

DLP 2016 starts this weekend - it's going to be an unPlanner. Read about that HERE. Of course I'll still be art journaling in 2016.... hope you call in to see what I'm up to.