Size doesn't matter...

... when it comes to art journals... this one is at the smaller end of the scale....

This is my mini midori style journal, made with off-cuts left over from when I created a batch of leather bound journals for christmas 2017.

I've added a pencil to show the size of the journal - pages are approximately 5x5cm - not as mini as some journals out there but mini enough for me! lol

Its really a tiny junk journal created with 'HappyScraps' - those discarded pieces that are too nice to throw away...

(this is a flower from JOFY61, and I've doodled around the edges to make it larger.... nice!)

 ooooh doodling in white rather than black

Still enjoying working with watercolour paint - and I really like how different they look on different surfaces  - above is on canvas and below is on Smoothy card...

I coloured this page with Tombow brush pens (I like those A LOT) and then added some neon gel pen marks - it all looks quite subtle and 'normal' until its placed under a UV lamp!!!!

Here is the same page - left is daylight, right is UV light - crazy!!  Love it!
(could easily write secret messages only seen under UV light....... lol)

Working in this book was a lot of fun - no pressure - the pages are a bit 'goldilocks' - not too big, not too small - they were just right!

Have a go at working small - its fun - trust me! 

Thanks for popping by!

Watercolour paints.... (part 2)

When I'd finished painting flowers for the card I showed you in an earlier post (you can see it HERE) I had some pieces left over and wanted to make something....

... so I made this...

Its a spread in my small Dylusions journal using the leftover flowers and leaves.  The phrase is my saying for this year - LESS IS MORE - less clutter, less 'stuff' around us - do we really need half of what we have? Its something I'm trying hard to be more mindful of...
(though I more not sure this phrase applies to time... we could all do with a bit more time couldn't we! lol)

The page is a interpretation of the phrase - lots of open space and very little clutter of embellishments or colour... and the word 'LESS' is intentionally bigger so its the one that draws the eye.

Do you have phrases/mantras for the year? or maybe just a word?  (by the way my word is 'focus')  I'd love to hear what yours are and why? (if thats not too nosy of me! lol)


Thanks for stopping by

Watercolour paints.... (part 1)

... aren't something I use very often...

 ... and when I say watercolour paints I mean palettes of traditional watercolours... but I 'recently' bought a set of Prima watercolour paints to use with my flower stamps and am loving how this simple mini stamp (JM59) looks when painted with these fabulous colours!

I really enjoyed painted in watercolour - I really like how the paint can be moved about, diluted and layered up... you have to be quite gentle with it though! lol

 I assembled all the flowers and leaves I painted onto a card:

The leaves are from JOFY61 and seem to be my 'go to' foliage at the moment - they seem to go with everything!.

I'm looking forward to working with these paints more in the future....

#The100dayproject / #100daysinthelifeofaline Part 3

ONE HUNDRED DAYS!!!!

I have to say I'm quite proud that I stuck with this little project through all 100 days! Its made me realise that big things can be achieved a little at a time.. just a little bit everyday and it gets done!  

I attached firmer greyboard covers to the book and secured a ribbon between the layers so it could be tied shut - because as I mentioned before its like a big Slinky so needs to be tied closed!

Here are a few of my favourite pages...

... and I liked linking pages..

The final page made me smile - I drew a 'finish line' to finish the line... see what I did there lol 

Also, I started the line with dashes leading into the line and on the last page the line brakes into dashes and leaves the page... closure.

Throughout the entire book I used the same weight pen (Artline 0.8) and pencil, rubber and coloured in with FaberCastell pencils to keep it consistent.

Over the past few days, now its finished, I miss it a little bit... drawing on this continuous line had become a habit.

Here's a video of the last 30 pages - same apologies as for the last video - my sound and video skills still need attention and I still have hayfever - maybe it'll be better with the sound off lol   aaanyhoo

Enjoy.....

If you'd like to see what other people have done for the #the100dayproject then search that hashtag on Instagram and lots of other projects will come up... maybe it will inspire YOU to take part when it comes around again. :o)

Thanks for visiting!

#The100dayproject / #100daysinthelifeofaline Part 2

Hi

I have really enjoyed creating this 10m long concertina book - one page at a time for 100 days!!  The 100 days end tomorrow so I went out early this morning to take videos of the book now it is complete (yes I finished early! woo hoo! get me!!)

Today I'll show you pages 36 to 70, and on Thursday I'll show 71-100...

Here are some of my 'favourites'.. sometimes they are the simplest ones..

The holiday set make me smile - the little car (which I've just noticed doesn't have a driver! lol minor detail...) looks like its ready for anything.. toot toot!

I've included day 57 because the flower went through stages of 'how much detail does it need' and I'd photographed it along the way. I'm sure we all do it: just adding a little bit more... and a little bit more...  I remember thinking maybe I'll add colour and then a voice inside said 'no!, put the pens down & move away from the page!' lol

Here's the video but before you watch the video I'll apologise (again) for the less than steady camera work and for my voice - I sound like I have a terrible cold but its just hayfever :o)

I would apologise for the industrial noises in the background too but that was beyond my control - I went out nice and early so it was quiet but the tree surgeon 3 houses away obviously wanted to get an early start too!
I'm sure you can still hear me but you don't really need to - I'm just showing the pretty pictures!

Enjoy...

If you'd like to see all the pages head on over to Instagram and to my page - @jofyjo - and search #100daysinthelifeofaline and all the pages should come up.

See you soon for the next and final installment!

Art Journaling: scraps but not scrappy...

.. at the end of a workshop or demo day I often have bits a pieces left over that are too nice to throw away and so I put them in a box on my desk to use later... (I decorated A LOT of my Flow Calendar book pages with bits and pieces from such a box!)

I came home from my classes at Birds in the Barn on saturday inspired & I wanted to do something with the days 'scraps' and so I put them together on this journal spread..

I'd painted the background during the class with left over demo paints this means that everything coordinates.  I added some DoCrafts rose gold foiled washi tapes that I'd recently bought - they really toned well with the Fresco paint colours as did the 'Fools Gold Embossing Glitter' by WOW! that I used with the compass background - such a lovely sparkly finish which is a nice contrast to the matt paint.

I used a white gel pen to add journalling to the centre of the page - I like how it fills the space but is barely visible.

Keep those 'scraps' - you never know when they'll come in useful!

EDIT: ooh I just thought: making nice things out of scraps makes me happy so from now on I'm naming projects like these 'HappyScraps' - sounds much nicer than just 'scraps' don't you think!


Thanks for stopping by

June Workshops....

I'm teaching two half day card making workshops at Birds in the Barn (Studio 36) on 30th June and there are a couple of places remaining...

If you'd like to spend the morning or afternoon creating lovely cards with paints, inks, embossing powders and stamps then head on over to Birds in the Barn's website and you'll find all the details you need!

Hope to see you there!

Craft Stamper July 2018: Blog Exclusive

Over on the Craft Stamper blog - HERE - you can see the details and instructions for this tag I created for my article in the July issue, now on sale...

Thanks for stopping by...

ALBOTAT: Do It Now

A spread in my small Dylusions journal to 'document' what I've learned from the events of the past 18 months and that is to..

'do it now' 

ie don't put it off 'til tomorrow because you never really know whats going to happen tomorrow do you - whether its good or bad... so {try to} do it now, today... free up tomorrow by doing it today.

 This spread started off like this...

... a sketched page that had been in there a while and I wasn't sure how to progress it - but the empty space in the bottom left hand corner was perfect for adding words to!

This was a relaxing spread to create - lots of sketching and pencil colouring (Faber Castell Polychromos), the black pen I used is a Posca.