by Linda | Jun 15, 2010 | my creative journal
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!!!
by Linda | Jun 8, 2010 | my creative journal
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! 🙂
by Linda | May 26, 2010 | DIY printables
Happy hump day to all! I have a busy week working on pattern designs and of course doing my art journaling as always. I really wanted a clock image today, so decided to just whip up a few versions and see how I could incorporate them into my pages. I thought it would be lovely to share, in case you need a clock image yourself! So here are two versions, feel free to download the PDF and use for your personal projects.
Download the Printable Clock Graphics PDF
Let me know if you find the graphics useful…I would love to see how you use it as well. Enjoy! Ciao ciao!
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by Linda | May 19, 2010 | DIY printables
Today I needed a quick shape template as a guide for cutting out some tag embellishments, so I opened up Illustrator to mock up a shape for printing. What began as a quick and easy shape suddenly turned into a discovery of all the preset brushes and decorative patterns in Illustrator. I was able to whip out a bunch of cool shapes in no time at all! Now my only problem is decided which one to use…hehe! I thought it would be cool to share with all of you, so here’s a PDF with all 3 pages of tags, blank and lined versions.
Download the Journaling Tags Frames to Cut PDF
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Feel free to use in any of your personal projects and let me know if it’s useful to you. Journaling tags are often included in scrapbook pages, but you can also make altered decorative tags for gifts, use them in your art journal and add them to altered books. It’s always nice to have a slightly fancy shape to use rather than just a plain rectangle or circle. I don’t have a die-cut machine so I have to cut shapes out by hand. I find having a guide helps a lot, so that’s why I create them digitally to print out and cut or sometimes I use the print-out as a cutting guide on top of patterned paper.
Hope you enjoy…ciao ciao!
by Linda | May 12, 2010 | DIY printables
This week has been full of computer-time and digital work for me, so when I needed to make a birthday card for a friend I naturally started with a digital design. With birds on the brain from my daily bird exercise, the phrase “bird-day” instead of “birthday” popped in my head.
I decided to go with it and designed some pieces to print out, then put it all together for more tactile feel. I will be creating a nest for the birdie with strips of kraft paper on the front of the card. Who doesn’t love hybrid handmade, goodness, right?
I thought I would share the graphics with all of you, in case you want to make a quicky bird-day card for someone!
Download Happy Bird-Day Designs PDF
Feel free to use it in your personal projects. The printable has the first page for the front of the card and a second page for the inside panels, if you want to include them. Happy hump day to all and until tomorrow…ciao ciao!
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