Journalling With Practise Pieces

Posted on August 26, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

Hello friends!!

Here I am again, continuing with posts of my adventures in learning how to journal in just 10 minutes a day.

This is the third spread and marks twelve days completed of the thirty.

This page began no differently to the others – me muttering darkly at the video – ‘Really?’ ‘You want me to do this?’ ‘Just this?’

But off I went obediently – the penny is beginning to drop. I might be challenged by these new processes, but in the end something quite interesting does appear, and if nothing else, I learn new ways of looking at old things.

I have to admit I do not like the dark hue of the painted page. I didn’t gesso this page so am guessing it is the quality of the paper in this journal that is leeching the brightness from my sprays, inks and paints.

This layout includes some practise pieces. I was already doodling away at the flower, practising my free-form doodles and decided to include it in this page. It is drawn in black pen and coloured with water colour pencils.

The following day I rifled through the pile of scrap paper and found the face. it was one of those 5 minute exercises where I was trying to get the eyes to come alive and I ended up taking 10 minutes on it. So she got bunged in for the Sunday entry.

The final 10 minutes was spent scribbling in a couple of thoughts,doodling in arrows and dividing lines between days and the heading, which actually took much less than 10 minutes – go figure!

And the whole page again:

So now you are all pretty much up to date with this work. Let me know what you think.

Thanks so much for coming by.

Have a great week 🙂

Journalling With Discards

Posted on August 24, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

Hello there! Lovely that you dropped by 🙂

I’ve been posting about the on-line course I am doing in 10 minute journalling. It has been quite challenging for me and today I will tell how the challenges continue.

For now the lovely lady wants me to use some of the leftover – discarded – ruined – experimented on stuff that I have carefully collected over the past three years – which is stored randomly in a drawer and two boxes, because one day it might come in handy and we crafters never throw anything away…….. Did you note that? She actually wants me to use it…

Blimey – there’s a challenge!

The theme was tags and other discarded ephemera, and the suggestion was made that something of interest pertaining to a particular day would also be incorporated.

So I scuttled about in my drawer and two boxes and found some tags and also a piece of paper from which a heart had been cut.

The background is Dylusions sprayed over gesso, which I discovered muted the colour palette right down. With a background of bluey-green splattered with yellow and pink and daubed at with a toilet paper roll dipped into brown paint, I worked within the daily 10 minute guidelines [well, mostly] and over four days journalled on some of the tags. I adorned one brightly coloured tag with the outline of my cat – which I’m quite enamoured with – and then included a note that says my blog hit 77 followers – which is a miracle to me – for the ‘item of interest’! And finally, I faffed about with the open heart, writing ‘doodles’ inside it as that is my latest passion and that ended up taking much longer than the allotted 10 minutes!

The scraps of left over paper I punched in my 1″ punch and made phases of the moon to accompany the note about the brightness of the full moon and the fact that Spring is coming!!

I have never made a journal page like this before – I probably never will again, but it is quite liberating to think you can go to the discard drawer and produce an interesting looking layout.

This is the double page spread:

Three close-ups to save your eyes a bit …..

Tag below made with Tim Holtz Stains ages ago and never used, thought it was too murkey:

And the negative left over from cutting out a heart die stuck directly onto the journal page and outlined with a glaze pen.

That’s it for now my friends, the second page of my ‘experimental’ journal done and 8 days of the course completed. Thanks for dropping by 🙂

Can a Gaudy Tart Change Her Spots?

Posted on August 22, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

Hello there! Thanks for coming by to check on my doings – I love that you took the time!

Right now I’m taking an on-line course in a [for me] totally new way of art journalling.

By now you may be aware that I’m a kind of an ‘all or nothing’ gal – I work on things for hours, and sometimes even days, I don’t quit until it is embellished to death and the brighter the better!

As my kids tell me, in a loving way, of course 🙂 ‘You’re such a gaudy tart!’

I embrace my gaudy tartiness – my motto is:

“There is no such thing as too much bling!”

[If you require proof may I refer you to the post ‘The Adventures of a Prima Doll Stamp’. You’ll find it about 5 posts back]

I started this on-line course so happily, a new challenge, I thought, would be good for me. I like to learn and I feel I have become a bit stuck in a rut – This, I thought, is my chance to change things up, to take a step towards becoming the artist I dream I might be one day when I grow up …..

But the reality is somewhat different – for a start it’s just ten minutes a day. When the time is up, it’s up. Put down your pencil-paintbrush-spray-pen-whatever and walk away!

Walk away!

Oh, the indecision, the struggle – the sheer disbelief!

‘Really?’ ‘That’s it?’ ‘But I’m just getting started …’“But, I could just do ….’ ‘But …..’ ‘But …..’ ‘But ….’

It’s no good, I’m just talking to a pre-recorded video!

It is CHALLENGING!

Here is the first few days work; [click on the photo for an enlarged image]

If you look carefully you can see this is four days work – and when I look at it now I can’t see much difference between this and some of my previous journal pages that I have laboured over for hours ….

Try as hard as could I couldn’t help myself and I did spend a little more time on the last day. I added in the black circles with white centres all around the edges of the pages, the white daisies under the photo of the old chair and the clump by the tree, and of course I doodled the ‘Happy’ word after time up as well … well, you just gotta have some bling somewhere!

But, all in all, the colours are muted, the layout is simple, the embellishment is not 2D, the texture is simple. …. and I find I kinda like it …..

So, unlike the Leopard, maybe this gaudy tart might just alter her spots, just a little …..

What do you think?

Doodles!

Posted on August 20, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

The last few nights have slipped by in a haze of happy doodling ……. and it has slowly led me back to remembering how it feels to draw ……….

It’s ever so slightly painstaking. This cat started off twice the size you see here. The eraser was utilised every bit as much as the pencil and it grew slowly but steadily smaller as it began to resemble this snooty looking feline.

The journal I am using has tracing paper inserted between every page and I traced a cleanish outline so that I can use that as a pattern for doodling

I also finished the bird I had free-handed and then doodled all over

This is such fun – I feel like my creativity is beginning to move again!

Thanks for dropping by today, I do hope you are enjoying these doodling posts!

Toilet Paper Rolls, Lace and Pearls

Posted on August 18, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

If you take a brief stroll around pinterest you will inevitably come across some clever, ingenious idea for using empty toilet paper rolls – I keep thinking I should start a board and just collect them all! Anyway, I got the idea for this project from pinterest.

With my latest hobby of doodling and zentangling joining in with journalling and sketching, it has become obvious I need to have a more mobile storage system for pens, pencils and assorted paraphenalia – I can then just doodle, journal or sketch away happily here, there or anywhere without constantly going looking for something I have decided I need.

Now, serendipitously [is that a word?], it happened that I had sitting in my craft room a disused cutlery basket dating back to at least the early nineties but possibly earlier – I have a vague recollection of purchasing it when I lived in the UK – it has wandered around the world with me since then, mostly unused but too nice to give away – you know one of those things that you keep thinking will come in handy one day…..

One day it and a toilet paper roll or two met up and voila – inspiration struck!

Last night I got out the paint

I painted inside and out and when they were dry I used an unmounted red rubber lace stamp and white acrylic paint [which I forgot to photograph] and gussied them up a bit. When the paint was dry each roll got a coat of glossy mod-podge and as it was well after midnight and Orlando was crossly telling me he needed me to settle down so he could sleep on me, I went to bed!

This evening I decided some of them needed some pearls to pretty ’em up a trifle more as they would be centre and front stage

Ready for their [slightly blurry] close-up

And the finished very handy mobile carry all

There are currently two mugs being utilised in there as well. They will probably be replaced by re-purposed cans, just as soon as I can eat the foodstuff currently residing in them ….

So that was a fun way to spend a grey, wet weekend!

Earthquake post script for those who are interested: There have been only two or three ‘strong’ quakes today, so it is quieter [which may or may not be a good thing] Some say Full Moon is a likely time for big hits. Time will tell.

Thanks for dropping by, I hope your week will be a fabulous one! 🙂

Doodles and Zentangles

Posted on August 13, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

I’ve been teaching myself the art of zentangling – which, if you don’t know, is the practise of making little drawings or letters and filling them in with an assortment of patterns to produce something quite eye-catching. Typically the work is done with pencil and pen, and therefore black and white. I know some people work with exacting measurements but not I…. Oh no, I must do freehand – and I must introduce some colour also – just to see what it looks like you understand.

Here is a pic showing the page with the first four I did

[Please excuse the quality of the photos, I took them just now, at night, under the centre light….]

Far from perfect – very far! – but quite absorbing to do and almost meditative.

Today, while cat-sitting my daughters boy, I doodled away at this:

Again, as you can see, very far from perfect – but not too bad for just the fifth try – do you agree?

Now while I was playing around with all that, I also took a short [and totally affordable!] on-line introductory course with the one and only Julie Fei-Fan Balzer on lettering. I’ve always thought what she does is quite eye catching but never quite knew where to start to give it a go myself.

It is remarkably easy and very fun. She is a great tutor – no airs and graces and makes it up as she goes along, which is just like in real life and completely disarming….

I learnt to make several sets of fonts in my own handwriting [which I haven’t photographed so can’t show you right now] …. but the last exercise was to doodle out a little phrase with full embellishments. I copied Julie’s example as the phrase fits where we are seasonally and emotionally with my own little twist to it:

I’m really pleased, happy and excited to see where else I can go with this new style of writing, especially in my art journal.

So that’s what I’ve been doing for the past five days or so – all-in-all a most satisfying week!

Thanks for dropping in – always nice to know you’ve been 🙂

Art Journal – Count Your Age By Friends …..

Posted on August 11, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

Here’s a double page spread from my journal that I did a while back. I was experimenting with overlaying book paper with paint, paint with stencils and stencils with stamps. I was determined to keep the colours subtle, not my usual bright and bustling, overloaded and bling filled persona at all!

Finally I stuck some dies on top [the ever so slightly robotic looking lady is a 5 piece puzzle you can stick together however you want and the scrabble squares are also a die] along with one of my favourite John Lennon quotes………

Count your age by friends, not years

Count your life by smiles, not tears

Of course, right at the very end I had to give it a wee burst with some sparkly colour mist ……. just can’t help myself! 🙂

I find that now a bit of time has passed by since I last looked at this page, I quite like it………

Thanks for popping by, as always, it’s lovely to know you’ve been!

The Adventures of a Prima Doll Stamp

Posted on August 7, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

I got myself a new stamp. It is so pretty!

Now before we go any further I just need to tell you that I was never able to be a little girly girl when I was a little girl – and, as a result, I have never quite gotten past the frilly-blingy-dress-up-pretty stage – ’nuff said?

So here is the stamp – she’s quite a tall lass, standing about 20 cm [8″] and the primary colour used in the composition, Distress Ink ‘Peacock Feathers’ an absolutely delicious colour:

And this is what I did to it:

Sh is coloured with water colour pens and the dress is over stamped in a pattern by randomly plonking a small swirly type stamp over the four colour base. Even though the dress has a sort of bottom frill, i wanted more, so made the fabric look frill from paper coloured in the same way as the dress and then pleated and shaped to get the look of movement. It’s topped with a row of tiny pearls.

She looked a bit cold so I took a piece of narrow white cotton lace and turned it into a shawl. Later, the harsh white will be softened with a few dabs from the green and blue colour palette.

The next day I decided the black was too harsh and did this:

Tiny pieces of my encyclopaedia paper are glued down and brushed with some gold ‘Perfect Pearls’ which also made their way onto the gown The edge is treated to some ‘Peacock Feathers’ ink.

Now she needed to rest a bit while I had a think about where to go next – did she need to be affixed to a double layer of scalloped edged card? Did she like having flowers around her?. I often stand my half completed work out where I can see it when I’m doing other things. Getting a glimpse of it when I’m not focused on it, helps me know what is needed as a next step.

The little fella likes to get in on the action too:

She spent an evening out of the play room and when she went back in this happened:

I think she’s finished – but you can never be quite sure …… not until she is safely tucked up in her cellophane bag or gone to her new home!

Thanks for coming by 🙂 I hope you enjoyed your visit, do let me know what you think – constructive criticism is always appreciated!

Book Paper Rolled Flowers

Image

The ‘tweaking syndrome’ continues – this card has undergone a couple of changes – a butterfly has been added, the edges of the card dusted with ink and the inside has also been prettied up. Just thought I’d show you what happened before it got put into a cellophane bag and then put away into the box of goodies that might one go to market ……

Hand Made Flowers and Me

Posted on July 31, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

My last post had such a lovely reaction from my few faithful readers and also brought a couple of questions via email from my non-Wordpress readers – that I thought I’d try a brief explanation of the different types of flowers I make and especially how I make hand rolled flowers.

I make so many flowers – mainly due to the absence of mojo – that last Easter I put some into a bowl and made a little centrepiece for my table. It still survives, mainly as Orlando has no interest in it due to the fact that these flowers don’t smell pleasing to him. They don’t smell at all.

This is a good example as it has lots of different kinds of flowers made with different kinds of paper.

Some time back when YD and I made a trip to the local junk shop, we scored big time in the book section. We picked up some big books – almost A3 size – a cook book, a Kaffe Fassett knitwear book and a travel book. All glossy pages and fully and colourfully illustrated. The books were 50 cents each.

I also scored an old Brittanica Encyclopaedia [B] which is the mother-lode really, for 20 cents! These books were made to last forever, they are made with high grade paper and high quality inks. The pages don’t discolour or bleed or degrade with time. I use this book paper for all my pages that want to have words somewhere in them and I have not made a discernible dent in the density of the book yet.

The other three books are my suppliers for the ready coloured flowers. I have to admit that as a book-o-phile I was quite challenged at the thought of tearing pages from a beautiful book to make flowers, but once the first page was torn and the first flower made, I was on the road to hell!

The pic below stars a suitably autumnal flower made from the cookbook.

These glassine flowers are made with a die, nothing to it really just cut out and layer up:

But today we are primarily concerned with these little blue beauties:

You will need:

Book pages

Scissors

Tweezers or quilling tool

Pokey tool 🙂

Glue gun

Colouring agents: water based inks – I use Distress Inks; glimmer spray of some kind works well too, glitter if wanted

A favourite TV programme – and off we go! [Just fyi – I’m a late comer to Grey’s Anatomy. I’ve been watching for about a month and am up to series 3 – hooked!]

Cut your book pages into circles. The bigger the circle, the bigger the flower. I tend to make circles somewhere in the vicinity of 6 -8 cm [2 – 3 inches] Next you will spiral cut into these circles. It’s important to understand that the narrower the gap between spirals the flatter the flower will be. And it depends on how you want to use them – a high standing flower doesn’t work well on a card for instance, but looks great on a canvas…… I like to make my cut slightly wavy as it gives the top of the petal a more natural look.

The following blurry photo is my attempt to show you the cutting and rolling process:

There will be a small circle left at the end of your spiral cut, this is the base of the flower.

Using the tip of your tweezers grasp the outside edge of the spiral cut, with right side facing roll up the paper keeping the bottom edge as level as possible. I roll quite tightly then let the flower unroll a bit to find its happy place.

I make a big pile of flowers up to this point – and I maybe cut out a few dozen petal/leaf shapes as well. For the next step I retire the TV and return to the play room.

I hot glue the spiral cut flower to the base. Hot glue is best, it sets quickly before the flower can escape the shape you have chosen. Lately I have learned to add an extra layer of ‘petals’ to the outside edge. I flip the flower over and, making a pleat in the bottom of each petal, I hot glue an odd number onto the base, overlapping as I go.

Now I add colour. Sometimes I colour with a product like glimmer mist, but typically I use water based inks, swiping the pad along the top edge of the flower and outside petals quite strongly. Then I spritz with water. The ink will bleed and spread the colour. Don’t use too much water or you will have a soggy pile of wet paper pulp [yes, I’ve done it!] While the flower is still damp I like to use the tweezers and roll back the petals, especially on the outside of the flower. Denting, stretching and making little tears is all okay, it adds to the natural look. Leave the flower aside to fully dry.

The flower on the left has had the extra layer of petals added, you can see the difference, right?

Now I make leaves. I forgot to photograph this part. But it’s pretty easy. The left overs from the petals you glued on in the last step will now become the leaves.

I swipe some green ink on. Draw a centre spine and some veins with a green water based pen – I use Marvy’s but anything will do – then go back in with my water brush and bleed the colour out. I scrunch them up to and make a pleat before gluing one or two or even three to the bottom of the flower. The pleat is important as it makes the leaf stand up and have body: