Category: Art Journal

The Word Of The Week – FOCUS

Focus, it’s a good word. One I use often but totally ignore. I’m one of the worlds worst procrastinators so my to do list just gets longer and longer. I’ve been trying to get through the list this week before I go away at the end of the month but I think I’m finally there.

I’ve been so good that today I actually had some time to do a bit of art journaling. Oh I have missed it. I can’t remember the last time I got the paints out and just created something. The starting point was the feather picked up on a walk this week. I used the Dylusions paints from the shop for my background and glued in the feather. A bit of collage and journaling finished it off and I think I’m a happy bunny again.

Here’s a closer look at it.

We’ve had some pretty sad weather this week, for August anyway. Not as bad as some folk in the UK but still cooler and at times wet, so an afternoon of lovely warm sunshine was very welcome and provided the perfect opportunity to get outside to do some sketching.

I made a start on this weeks planner pages laying down some watercolour and marking out my grids and days.

This is how it looks today, friday and almost finished. I’m loving this sort of layout and for the moment I don’t see myself changing it at all.

After the success of last weekends felt TN launch in the Etsy shop, I added to that family some pen holders also in felt. I’m very proud of them all and I’m hoping they’ll be as popular as my notebook covers. To find yours you can follow the link here.

Well that’s it for today. Have a good one where ever you are and stay creative.

Jaine x

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Why I’ve decided to ditch the planners – shock horror!!

Actually that’s not fair to my planners, I’ve not totally ditched them, just sort of amalgamated them……sort of.

The problem has been this, my stack of planners and notebooks. I love each and every one of them for different reasons. From the bottom up an A4 desk planner for every day note taking, planning blog posts, workshops, articles and with weekly planning pages. Next comes my Simple Stories Carpe Diem which I love for it’s size, I can decorate its insert pages and I use for the shop, Etsy, again workshops and articles and general worky stuff. The pretty one with pink flowers is my Prima Jet setter which if I’m honest I had to buy because I just love the colour and pattern. It’s a travelers notebook style which is my all time favourite planner style to use and I decided to use it for my personal gains. Health tracker, money tracker etc. I think I kept about two pages but it’s still sitting hopeful on my desk.  Next up is my Websters pages Travelers notebook which I adore. I holds my sketchbook, journal and bullet journal planner in one. I love it and on top of that is my felt A6 version which is always in my bag with pretty much the same inserts, agenda, journal and sketchbook.

While I love each and everyone of these planners for different reasons and I use them regularly….well…semi regularly, I’m just getting a bit dizzy and confused. I forget which book holds what and it seems when I need to check what’s going on I have to look in three different places and that’s not ideal.

I came to the conclusion I could try blending everything into one planner and the one I like to use most often is my Websters.

Since using my Travelers notebook for everything I’ve become alot more productive and focused. I get to plan, journal and sketch all in the same place. One side is my weekly planner and the other I use as a journal for the week making notes of things I’ve done and collaging in anything note worthy.

I get to use my watercolours and it’s great.  Note the little Planner Penelope badge there too from Paper Pen and Plan

I think I’ve shown you my smaller version before. It’s always in my bag and I keep my notes and agenda in it along with an on the go sketchbook/journal.

I’m so pleased with my small version I’ve made lots of others and offered them for sale in my Etsy shop here .

I’m busy making the pen holders to match them and some dangly charms.

Have a good weekend everyone

Jaine xx

 

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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

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Friday In The Studio and A Return Of The Mixed Media

This past year my art Journals have been left on the shelf while I concentrated on other things. I didn’t know how much I missed it until I got involved with a journal project with Canvas Corp called The Traveling Art Journal. Over the course of a year, a group of us are sending out our journals to friends all over the world where they’ll be worked in before being sent on their journey and finally arriving back home to the owners. Along the way it’ll make a fantastic monthly project on the Canvas Corp web site for anyone who wants to follow our progress.

For my journal I chose to make a Travelers Notebook style binding with two simple hand sewn books inside. The pages are watercolour paper so should stand up to most mediums and as the paper was very white and stark, I tea dyed every page to give it a bit more character.

I used, texture paste, inks and stamping to create a background and collaged some papers and images on top. At the time of creating the page, the weather was anything but Springlike so I added the title to reflect how I was feeling while I was working.

These are the tea dyed pages before putting them together  in the journal. I loved how they came out, it made them look so old.

If you want to see how everyone else created their journals and pages then go to the Canvas Corp web site here and follow along monthly to see how it’s going.

Have a good weekend

Jaine xx

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