Happy Thursday to everyone! Just wanted to give you a peek at my creative workspace today…
I’ve been trying to clean up my room, but as I go through stuff I get ideas and start creating. I also seem to create a mess, so in the end there really hasn’t been a lot of clean-up either way. Oh well! Blame it on the ice coffees I can’t seem to stop myself from having. Maybe that’s where the “high” comes from 🙂
I have been making little journals to send to friends and even though I still can’t cut straight for the life of me, they are so darn cute anyway. Something about the smaller size perhaps? These babies are around 11 cm square sized, itty bitty but still enough space to work on.
Since I’ve rediscovered my leather stash, I’m really into making journals right this moment and experimenting with different ways to create a closure…that’s always the most challenging part for me.
Otherwise, I really need to finish up another tissue paper roll minibook I created, house shaped this time! I’m going to put pictures of my family with a funny quote attached. You can see the roof of the houses lift up to reveal the tag portion. It’s going to be hilarious because my grandma-in-law says the funniest things…
I also saw a great video profile of artist Jonas Gerard today and since I’ve been prepping a tiny booklet with gesso – seemingly forever – stalling I suppose – I feel it’s time to start with my mini abstracts. It’s going to be a bit of creative play painting time with extremely loud music…but in miniature form for cuteness…LOL!
Have you heard of The Diary Project? It’s a project getting a bunch of artists together to create a dated diary with their artwork. I think it’s a great opportunity to get your artwork out there in front of people’s eyes, so I signed up to design a page. Since it’s all black and white I decided to do a line drawing, here’s my test print out…
I happen to draw little elf-like girls a lot, they are very similar but I never really think of them as the same one. No character development here! Just a cutie to make you smile and be happy. I love the idea of having an illustrated diary where each page is filled by a different artist. Talk about inspiration galore as you go through each day…pretty cool idea and just wanted to share with you all. Maybe you’ll want to sign up for a page as well?!
This morning started as a rainy, gloomy day so my art journal page began with a little girl under the clouds. She wasn’t so happy about it all. The weather so drastically affects my mood, it has a bit too much control over me I think! However, as lunchtime rolled around the skies cleared and it was full-on summer sunshine. So I had to change her to a happy girl because the sun was arriving. The sun is actually one of the printable graphics I posted previously. The spread started as a bunch of square papers pasted into my journal. I added paint in various colors and rubbed them all over, then drew my little illustration, adding white paint and outlining the drawing again. Pretty simple, but it creates a nice blocky texture in the background.
So an update on the zine idea I wrote about on last week’s art journaling post…I was so inspired after reading and learning about the creative process of ihanna’s Mettazine! I’ve always been in love with zines like Craft Leftovers and even online mags like ArtTrader – there are so many great ones out there. With the encouragement of my lovely readers I jumped on the idea of creating one myself. I like the idea of sharing my point of view on a topic, like discussing with friends about something I’m passionate about. I also love the idea of creating a fun little booklet to mail out. With handmade touches and sort of underground feel to it – like the days of handing out revolutionary ideas on the down low 🙂 LOL! I started typing my ideas out and before I knew it, I had written a full 6 pages of text! Here’s a peek at my stream of consciousness…
I’ve never thought of myself as a writer, but I suppose I do become a chatterbox when I get comfortable. No longer the little meek girl you might suppose me to be. Maybe I’ve gone a bit overboard though because it looks like a lot to read. However, I’ll be spicing it up with some interactivity and doodles. Exciting stuff and I can’t wait to keep working on it and really put it together. I want to find a way to bind it as a little book since I love bookbinding as well. Those are just a few of the ideas running in my mind…weee!!!
I just discovered this lovely song and music video, “Crayola Doesn’t Make A Color For Your Eyes” by Kristin Andreassen and totally loving it. A great inspirational start for my Monday morning!
I really love the kids in the video – happy times, grooving to the beat and doodling with crayons. What could be more fun? But if you listen to the lyrics, it’s also such a sweet love song. Aweee…super cute lovey-dovey, the sentiment she is expressing! I was inspired to play a bit with drawing eyes and coloring them. Fun fun…
In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed more and more often the use of corrugated cardboard in scrapbook layouts and crafting in general. I’m sure it’s always been there, but I saw Marion from A Piece of Craft in a video using it for a layout and also cutting out flowers with it…combining the rough look with really glitzy pretty stuff as well. Then I saw episode 144 of Paperclipping that totally encouraged mixing styles, including an example of corrugated cardboard use – thus adding it into my creative vocabulary. When I saw a cardboard box that had a thicker double layer structure I was literally pushed into starting a new project – immediately!
I used some inspiration from many of the fabulous bookmakers out there and added some leather strips to my cardboard book covers, sewing up the book quickly and roughly. You can tell it’s a bit roughly done – I didn’t measure anything because I was just entranced in making what was in my mind – a real thing.
I’m really surprised how nicely it came together with little planning and have realized that over time I am liking the grungy look more and more. I suppose it comes a bit naturally if you start to use more recycled materials. For example, I never buy chipboard or bookboard…I just use cardboard, food boxes, backing of notepads, etc. My task now is to embellishment this eclectic book in a fashion that contrasts with the rough and tough look it currently has. Pretty bright flowers perhaps? White lace? One thing I noticed was the ripping of the cardboard to expose the inner textured part results in a lot of linting…I’m not sure if I did something wrong or if I have to spray fixative on it. If anyone has tips, please let me know!
Another Thursday and another peek into my creative workspace. Here are some photos of all the little projects I have going on…little experiments, prototypes and works in progress. I am realizing that it’s a lot more fun to always have many projects going on at the same time. You can jump to whatever sparks the most inspiration and in that way you are really enjoying the creative process so much more than grudgingly having to finish xyz. I suppose I can understand how painters might work on many different pieces hanging around their studio. Now I just need some more space to store everything!
After my vacation from last week, I finally finished up the two little bookbinding experiments you see above. The purple one is covered with patterned paper, but I didn’t feel it was thick or strong enough. The black one is covered with leather and an illustrated canvas panel of my bike illustration. I definitely like the thicker leather cover, but the inside papers aren’t that thick making it less stable. Both are accordion style books, but the way I glued them together doesn’t really make it usable on both sides. I guess it’s like Goldilocks and I have to find just the right one, the right combination that will work the best. More experimentation I suppose…
In my bookbinding adventures, I also like to try new techniques and recently learned about the Jacob’s Ladder. It’s that flip flop accordion style booklet that is fun to play with and you’ve probably seen it before. I was so surprised to learn it’s quite easy to construct, even if I still don’t understand how it really works 🙂 I tried to make a sample, but tried with string so that there is less coverage on the panels. I soon realized why people recommend ribbon – because it’s flat and can sandwich between the boards much easier. You can see mine gets a bit bent up and twisted at times…another lesson learned.
On to another little project I am working – painting up my tissue paper rolls for minibook making. It gets really messy with the inks and paints and I also have to let everything dry, but I’m looking forward to putting it all together.
Finally, you can see the 3 little canvases that keep morphing in the photo above. I keep painting over them and can’t decide what it is I will do. More mulling time needed – I guess you can call it the art marination process. So those are the photo peeks of all the little projects spread throughout my creative workspace. A little here, a little there. It keeps me busy and keeps the creativity fresh, jumping from one task to another – I think so anyway! It’s definitely more fun, although I suppose there is probably a scientific limit to how many ongoing threads of thought a person can have at one time. Hmm…well, hope you enjoyed checking out my photos!
Happy Wednesday to everyone! Today I was playing around with drawing a sun for the cover of a mini scrapbook project and ended up with a bunch of versions.
I think that it’s always a good creative exercise to do multiple versions of something. It’s my way of experimenting with multiple options and seeing how little changes effect the end result.
Either way it’s just fun! I always end up with something quite different from my original idea as well. It’s a great way to play-storm… like brainstorm you know? Of course, now I really can’t decide which one I like the best. Perhaps I can combine them in some way? It seems I am neverbored of the drawing suns. I’ve noticed that I morph it into a flower oftentimes. Are they suns or flowers?
Whether they be suns or flowers or suns dressed up as flowers or vice versa – I hope you can use them in your personal crafting projects. Feel free to download the PDF above with all the variations and let me know what you think. Hopefully I can share my little book project with you as well… ciao ciao for now.
Happy Tuesday to you! The sun is shining brightly and the weather is super hot here in the Tuscan hills. Although most people complain about being uncomfortable and sweating too much – I on the other hand completely love it! Is it bizarre that a Fall baby like me loves the super hot version of everything? Hot showers, hot peppers, hot sun…even the super hot air trapped in your car on a sunny day. Yup, I actually look forward to getting into a warmed-up car in the summertime. That warm wave of air just feels good. I guess we’ll see in a few months if my senseless glee holds up! Nevertheless, the colors of warmth and happy thoughts definitely influenced the color palette for my art journal page today.
It’s all about yellows, oranges and earthy tones. This was a little lady I sketched up and started coloring in with colored pencils. Then I decided to fill in with watercolors and outlining with ink. Nothing fancy here, just another lady in my simply bound leather sketchbook. Although I started to realize how I automatically draw full-frontal faces instead of any other view. Coming from more of a cartooning experience of drawing, I always find profiles and other views very challenging. Another exploration to add to my list of experiments…3/4th profile views…profile views. Lately my mind has been swirling with so many different ideas. Art journaling discussions in the Milliande and Art Journaling ning communities, sharing tutorials, designing printable graphics, patterns, making journals, flip books and zines… I could go on and on into a laundry list stream-of-consciousness brain dump. I’m sure many creatives have this same swirling in the mind and sometimes making lists and just writing out the possibilities helps a lot.
I sort of scribble and make random notes in my idea book. Sometimes I don’t even understand myself after the fact, but I suppose it’s about the process at that moment…of getting it out of me. The muse had to speak, right? At first I started writing my ideas for art journaling posts. Perhaps something for beginners to start but really as an exercise for myself to document my process. I know there are a million resources out there about art journaling techniques, but we all have an individual point of view. I thought about writing tutorials or maybe trying to do a video or two as well. Or maybe I should make an e-book to make it more official and incorporate my graphic design skills. But then I thought that was too professional in a sense and a handmade zine would be much cooler to send to friends. Ideas and more ideas…but the zine idea really stuck. I suppose it was destiny because I actually received a zine in the mail today as well. What zines do you read? I like how they are limited and coming from that one person. Cool and interesting tidbits…factoids…little bits to add to our own creative lives. It’s like how we buy cookbooks and like to see photos and follow along with the recipes. However, over time you write in your own notes and alter to fit your particular taste and style…how cool is that? I wonder if I could make a zine as cool as that…what do you think? Would you read a little zine if I make it? If you build it will they come? Any comments or suggestions would be great…thank you in advance and have fun art journaling. As always, thank you for dropping by, ciao ciao! 🙂
Happy Monday to all and hello to everyone again as I’m back from my little vacation! I had a great time and thank you all for your well wishes. My husband and I took a road trip to the East coast of Italy and it was great to see new places and difference things. The weather has suddenly turned into full-on summer heat here in Tuscany and I’m totally re-energized by my trip and the sunshine combined. As I get back into the swing of things…let me first share some travel inspiration photos with you.
Ahh…vacation! I think that taking a break, whether traveling afar or just changing your immediate scene by taking a walk – helps to open up your perspective and shake up your normal routine. We all need that sometimes, so remember to let yourself go free when needed. You should not neglect yourself or your delicate muse! Any kind of break-time will definitely pump you up and refresh your mind for creative thinking. That’s how I feel now! I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing a bit of my travel inspiration!
Hello everyone! I’ve been wrapped up in a lot of scrapbooking projects lately, but thought I’d take a little break from all the photos for a bit of digital work. I went through my digital files, adding a whole bunch of digital stamps to the store and decided to offer up these birds as free stamps. They’ve just been sitting around, so I hope you can make use of them. You might have seen me use them in the past as well.
Angel policy: All free printables posted are for PERSONAL USE ONLY. Feel free to share as long as you link back to this website. Thank you for spreading the love!
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