Messy monday

Messy Monday was originally an excuse for my friend Clare from Paper Pen and Plan and I to push ourselves out of our comfort zones and create journal pages, usually with a heavy helping of paint and ink involved. Already a lover of messy journal pages, I encouraged Clare to embrace her messy side which resulted in some amazing backgrounds. We had lots of fun with it and I think we both miss those days.

Clare mentioned it again a few weeks ago among the members of the Paper Pen and Plan Facebook group so I thought I’d try and bring it back in some form or another. Now to be absolutely truthful here I did start this at the weekend. I left it open on my worktable and added a bit to it every time I went past, which was often!

I started with the first layer of charcoal scribbles then added some acrylic paints in smears before taking a watersoluable crayon and smearing some blue/grey here and there. That was yesterday, this morning after a walk in the forest it reminded me of the low Autumn sunlight through the trees and so that was where the theme came from. With a small collage and a title it was finished.

Happy Messy Monday

Jaine xx

Lots Of Crafty Stuff From The Studio

Well January has been a bit of a mixed bag so far. My lack of blogging has been due to a broken laptop which has gone away to be fixed so I’m left using my tablet for writing which is a slow process and my phone for photos. I’m getting a bit fed up of one fingered typing. My fat fingers keep making mistakes and the auto correct changes my text into something altogether rubbish, sometimes totally inappropriate too.

That’s not good…… Hopefully it’ll come back soon before I go bonkers.

Meanwhile…….having a bit more time on my hands meant I could have a bit of a tidy up in the studio and as a result came across a pile of leather pieces. I’d almost forgotten about them in the back of a cupboard. Given to me by my friend Lena, they originally came from a sofa swatch book so are mostly A4 size but with odd holes and stitching where they were held into the book.

They’re just the right size  and stiffness for making into notebook covers like this. I broke four needles sewing the strap on but it was worth the effort.

I’ve made this green one big enough to take four to six notebooks comfortably with a wrap around and button closure. I love it. I might make some more this weekend.

One of my goals for this year is to journal more so last Friday in the studio I did just that and had a blast. I missed the paints and inks alot last year so I intend to bring my journal out as much as possible in 2018.

It was a perfect opportunity too to use my house stamps. After stamping and cutting them out I was happier to leave them uncoloured againsed the crazy background and I think it worked.

For this Friday in the studio I’ve turned to the journal in my travelers notebook where I’m going to start documenting the months. I’ll add some photos, notes, ephemera and stickers and keep it sketchy and informal. It’ll be a place where I can highlight everything which happens during the month plus I can add some arty backgrounds in too.

That’s it for this week. Have a good one and I’ll speak soon.

Jaine xx



Out With The Watercolours

We’re now past the longest day with not only a heatwave but it’s just been so dry. Officially we’re now in a drought situation with a ban on using the hosepipe for anything other than watering the veg patch. As a result I’ve just spent two very depressing hours cutting down quite alot of the border plants to try and conserve some energy and keep them alive. I notice too either I’ve lost some plants due to the lack of rain or they’re just lying dormant and will come back next year which I hope is the case. Either way I’ve lots of gaps with bare soil.

Maybe I should just replace everything with grasses and more drought tolerant type plants!! Fake grass would be an option too.

Anyway that aside, I did have the urge a couple of days ago to open my travelers notebook journal. I had no idea what I was going to do other than I needed to get out some watercolours. Working outside too in the sun gave me lots of inspiration.

The finished page included some bits from my June Sweet Treat Box from Paperpenandplan as well as a few sprigs of Lavender. That cute pencil case came in the same box too and I just love it.

Here are a couple of close ups.

I’ve a few exciting projects coming up quite soon, one of them being Christmas In July, can you believe that??

Have a good one

Jaine x

Traveling Art Journal for May

It’s time for another spread from the Traveling Art Journal project for Canvas Corp Brands. My theme for this month is “Breaking Free” dedicated to all those people struggling with an illness and starting to feel more like their old selves again.  For me that was anaemia and after six months of tiredness and exhaustion I finally feel like I’ve the energy to get out there and do what I want.

Using my Glimmer Glazes from Tattered Angels in my favourite colours, I painted on the colour in patches then used the edge of an old store card to print lines. I splattered a few random dots across the page to add even more movement to the piece.

The little hearts are given a bit of a 3D treatment to fly free from the page.

To see more of this months pages from the other Travelers go to the CCB blog here.

I’ll be back later on in the week with more inspiration.

Jaine xx