Calendar journaling

I've had a few questions about my process for creating these calendar spreads. Mostly they just evolve day by day - sometimes a background or bits of the page decorated ahead, just as often not. This week I thought I would show you photos of what I did in the journal day by day - it's turned into quite a long post! Had no idea at the beginning of what I'd end up with.
I started by using some tags as masks on the page and spraying over them with Dylusions Inks. This happened one day in the previous week.

I like the combination of colours, and I made sure I put the wet tags down to print on another page later in the journal - plus I now have coloured tags for future use so I got 3 results for one effort :-)

When I went to start the journaling on Saturday, I wasn't as happy with the spread. It felt like it was a bit too restrictive which is one of the reasons I stopped the format last year. Hoping I'll feel differently by the end of the week.

Saturday

Sunday. See printing play on paper HERE
on fabric HERE

I also did the stitching on the tag shape below on Sunday but forgot to photograph that. No energy on Monday to do more than write the words. 

Monday.

Was feeling stressed so didn't do anything on the page Tuesday. Wednesday I MADE myself write what I did Tuesday so I didn't get too far behind. It's amazing how art follows once you make yourself start, even if you're not feeling like it initially. I then decided that since I was feeling stressed I would get that down on the page....and then I did some doodling and really liked how that made the page feel.

Wednesday

After dinner, I went back to the journal and decided it would be good to remind myself of things I am grateful for. It helped my perspective.

Later on Wednesday

At this point I'm not sure how this page will develop or when that will happen, but I'm happy that what I have done reflects my week as well as making me feel better by making art. I am showing you this so that you can see it doesn't all happen happily at an allocated time every day.

Friday.

Didn't get back to the journal again until after lunch on Friday. I've been inspired by the videos from Mary Ann Moss's stencilry class this week so I added some overspray through a stencil. Also noted some happy thoughts for Friday and stamped the new month.

Saturday

Not much time on Saturday but had things to write down about the day and wanted to make the word November stand out more. Also added the pointing fingers to my grateful list - cut from paper tape and coloured with copic marker. Began Sunday by filling in the last blank tag shape with decorative washi tape.

Once I had the washi tape out I added a couple of other strips alongside the other tag shapes on the page, and added an image I like, also edged with washi.

I've used a few feathers on this spread, and this last one was distress ink applied with a sponge through another stencil. I also added gold staples on the bottom of the feather and to attach the quote on the bottom of the page. And here's the completed spread. 

I'm really happy with how it looks, especially given that my week hasn't been all sunshine and creativity. Hope you found something there to inspire you. As always clicking on the photos will give you a more detailed look.

Wishing you sunshine and creativity in the coming week.

You can see my other calendar journaling pages in my Flickr set.