DLP (Use tissue paper and Incorporate watercolours) and daily journaling

I've decided to take a different approach to the DLP prompts and use them as backgrounds for my daily journal pages. I had a couple of prompts which I hadn't done from June so I decided to start my next daily spread by scribbling with watercolour crayons and then blending with water

Next up was to add some tissue serviettes - tear the back 2 layers off and then just glue the top layer to your base - the serviette will blend into the background, especially if you have torn the edges. Just keep your touch light as you brush it down so it doesn't tear - although I don't really worry about those imperfections too much.

You can also see that I did some stamping and doodling with watercolour crayon. Dip the end of your crayon in water before applying to a stamp for lovely soft effect.

You can also dip your crayon in water and doodle with it

You would get a different effect on watercolour paper, but this still makes me happy working on my recycled book paper. I think what I'm really going to enjoy about this idea is that if I work ahead in my journal, I can apply materials and ideas as I work on other pages. The below is from my paint over collage lesson

and you can see I was able to apply leftovers to this spread 

After a week of a bad headcold and feeling like doing barely anything, on Saturday morning the spread was looking very pretty and it's nowhere near done :-) Click on photo to see it larger.

Although I anticipate that I may make less Pocket Art Cards since I am using the prompts for backgrounds, I wanted to use watercolours on watercolour paper. I cut two pieces the "official" PAC size of 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" - it is really challenging for me to work that small. I was keen to use gel medium as a resist so began with that for both before adding a bright watercolour wash on the top. Both of the butterflies are serviettes. 

Those 2 challenges met, the ListTen prompt for June was "words I totally overuse" - so I added one of mine "Awesome" and finished that PAC with a stitched edge and fibre additions of wool/sari ribbon. The black additions to the yellow card are rub-ons and I love how I left the butterfly and sari ribbon hanging over the edge. I also finally got myself a punch that rounds corners. Highly recommended...
I started pruning my roses last week and managed a small pretty bunch for the table - last of the season ♥

Here's the completed spread.

You can see my Flickr album with all my daily journaling spreads HERE. You can find out more about DLP 2016 the unPlanner HERE. If you are interested in other ideas for using watercolour, check out my daily journaling posts in my Watercolour journal in 2014 HERE. 

LB2016 : Dancing with shadows....Again!

The last lesson I shared from Life Book 2016 was a paint over collage technique with Tam. When I was searching for my imagery, I couldn't quite decide between 2 faces, and chose the larger to go with my fantail. See the outcome of that HERE.

I was still very drawn to the other, smaller face, so quite quickly realised I'd be having another go at this lesson, and this time I'd use a favourite motif in my work - the butterfly. First layer of collage with clear gesso layer

I thought she could be a bit less realistic than my other lesson

and that she would have butterfly wings :-)

It was fun using stencils again as layers for her wings as well as her hair

Glitter was added next, and then silver iridescent paint. 

Lovely layers as the background progresses

I am happy with her sweet face. I call her my butterfly angel version ♥ all the sparkles 

- there are glimmers of glitter in the layer below the silver on the wings, as well as the sheen of metallic paint in the background layers and on her skirt. 

She was almost done here but once I walked away and came back to her it was obvious what she was missing...

Click on the photo to see it larger, or go HERE to see my Flickr album of all my Life Book 2016 projects. I can't go without sharing the before and after side by side 

You can see all my posts about Life Book this year HERE. I am really happy with how both versions of the project look together in my journal. 2 versions = more learning.

6 Year Bloggiversary!!

Happy Bloggiversary to me! On 13th July 2010 I posted the following : My first post at last. Been thinking about blogging for a while.
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. New challenges of creativity too.
My banner looked like this in 2012 : 

My blog's been everything I hoped. It's made me more productive - it's fantastic to have a diary of my projects where the steps of my process are linked together with my thoughts, my methods, my progress photos - it's helped me think about why I create and I've worked through issues of whether and why I should keep blogging - it's helped me think about how I can find time to create and to be kinder to myself about how much I get done. It IS really fun to see the path of my creative journey. 

This is post 762! Sometimes (usually in the middle of winter!) I wonder whether I will keep going, but I tried giving it up once (May 2014) and that didn't even last a full 2 months until July when I realised that there was too much about it that I missed. So now I try to be not so hard on myself and be happy that I post at least once a week - that means I'm creating regularly and that's the aim :-)
If it wasn't for my blog, I probably wouldn't have a Flickr account (I like looking at my work grouped in categories this way)

and I don't think I would have had the opportunities to teach and talk to groups that have come my way. It's fabulous to connect with like-minded people and when I check on the stats, I sure get plenty of visits to my blog and that makes me happy. 

I thought I'd share my 6 favourite projects with you but it was so tough to choose! So I just decided to share the top 6 things that enable me to blog
I ♥ my studio space

I ♥ my art supplies : that's a link to a post in 2013. I still love those things but have the new sewing machine now :-) - find out where I shop HERE.

I ♥ art journaling and book making

I ♥ making quilts - this is my latest in progress on the design wall

I ♥ sprays and stencils

I ♥ being a part-time librarian. I love reading and sharing good Fiction and Arty books and I like helping people and organising things into categories....

Check out all my Labels in that right hand column that make it easier (I hope) for you to find your way around here :-) 

I ♥ my blog. Thank you for checking in with me. I'd love to know - which projects are your favourites?