In another lifetime…
Credits: Art Journal Caravan Parcel 8 (Scrapbookgraphics); K. Pertiet Basic Journal Spots (Designer Digitals); brushes from A Rockwell’s CU grunged pattern brushes (Scrapartist); font is Academy Engraved
This is very clever!
Chalkboard Book by etsy seller erinzam
(Seen on Poppytalk (who found it via SwissMiss)
Just too darn wonderful!
Note to self: Get out the Keith Smith books and learn how to do coptic stitch! I mean, I bought Vol III Non-adhesive binding: Exposed Spine Sewings with the intention of getting this right… (although I bought mine years ago from Artisan Books – and their booklists have just been updated, yay! [not that I'm buying anything. Nope. Not until we get some bills out of the way...])
(Although if I WAS in the financial position to be buying books, these two are definites:
[click images for links]
but sadly, boring things are eating up the small amount of discretionary income our budget allows.)
Junque Journal
Exercise book: 39 cents; deeply discounted scrapbooking paper and cheap ribbons from Spotlight (and stash): $4;teeny weeny little bulldog clips $2:
Having a really fun journal to play in: PRICELESS!
Busy Work…
So - feeling blah still. But was forced to leave the house to go to Social Cre8te this arvo (otherwise known as playgroup…)
Working on my Junque Journal a la Tangie (the scrapbook paper and exercise book at left of pic)
and in the orange-with-lots-of-stitching-cover is my first Remains of the Day journal from Mary Ann Moss’s class.
(Apologies for flash glare – the other shots had flare from fluoro lights, I’ll try and get better shots in daylight tomorrow)
So – prep for art journals to come, but not much else creative happening.
Found out there is a school reunion in October for my Yr 10 class. Hmmm, do I want to go?
An Artist Trading Card
For the Altered Artspirations challenge on StudioGraphics.
{clicky for biggy}
Background: Studio Alana “Before Dusk” paper turqmetal (from SBG Welcome Wagon)
Digital Scrapbook Place “The Haunted” creepy chequered floor element
Curtain from a freebie by Freubel (site may be considered NSFW, be warned!)
Tangie Baxter’s “Journal Anthology” kit fish(“Pinkfishiefoo”, love that name!),banner and frog
font: Beyond Wonderland
Crown from Ztampf! ARTiStrokes Heart to Heart
Studio JenU door (from her “Doors” pack)
I’ll be printing this out at standard ATC size (2.5 x 3.5 inches) later this week.
No big plans for Australia Day – popping round to friends for a cider in the arvo, that’s about it. Don’t like yobby crowds so we’re avoiding any official “celebrations”.
I wasn’t feeling very creative this week…
[clicky biggy...]
The verb of the week was “Accept” and one of the tasks was to make an illustrated calendar.
Background is my own watercolour paper scanned in; most of the elements are from Studio Tangie and/or the Art Journal Caravan packages at Scrapbook Graphics; grassy alpha from MissBehaving (link to come).
Linky Dinky Dooo!
Just a quick list of some of my faves:
Teesha Moore (THE Goddess of art journals)
http://www.teeshaslandofodd.com/1/temp.html (main site)
http://www.teeshascircus.blogspot.com/ (her blog)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z6qmXGRrsE&feature=related (Her you
tube videos start here with making your own journal – but the collage
and lettering ones are AWESOME!)
Kelly Rae (Very different style, very cool – you’ll need to scroll down
to get past all the Christmas stuff and see her art)
http://kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com/
Dina Wakley – QUEEN of stencils and masks (and very cool scrapbook
pages, too)
http://dinastamps.typepad.com/ponderings/
Marsha Jorgensen, Tumble Fish Studio (her stuff looks so complex you’d
think it’s digital but it’s ALL hand cut, coloured, and glues. Freakin’
amazing. I wanna be her when I grow up.)
http://tumblefishstudio.blogspot.com/
Nancy Baumiller (Crowabout) – I did a class with her in November and
she’s a cool teacher! She also gives away a free collage sheet every
week (via Flickr) – the link is in her sidebar.
http://crowabout.blogspot.com/
Different style again (and she’s been in a lot of scrapbooking mags:
Julie Fei Fan Balzer, very cool art journals
http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/
Samantha Kira was featured in the most recent issue of Art Journaling
mag and I love the way her stuff is messy
and honest!
http://www.journalgirl.com/
And the digital/hybrid year long “Art Journal Caravan” class I’m doing
via http://scrapbookgraphics.com has a gallery here:
http://www.scrapbookgraphics.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=3500
(I’m rather intimidated by everyone else’s work there, to be honest!)
Cover for new journal?
[clicky for biggy]
Credits: Fonts: CK Ali’s Hand, ShangriLaNF Small Caps; Pink and grey plane “sticker” from the “Greetings from Paris” digital collage sheet by Itkupilli; Page Border from the KitschGarden Brushes set by Studio Berna; all other elements and papers from the Studio Tangie Steamer Trunk, part of the Art Journal Caravan.
I’m planning on printing this out at 8×8 (well, getting it printed on an 8×10 sheet at somewhere that does nice photo prints and cutting it to 8×8) and binding it with about 30-40 pages as the first month’s journal. There’s no point trying to use the one book for the whole year – I know I get BORED, and I know that the book would get hopelessly fat and ratty over that time frame.
I really like the overlay on this page – that KitschGarden Brush set was something I Just Had To Have as soon as I saw it – luckily I was able to grab it on Christmas Day as my last bit of the quota free download.
I’m off to the respiratory specialist on Wednesday, just the two year checkup to see how I’m doing with my sleep apnoea and tolerating my CPAP machine. I’m about 25 kg lighter than the last time he saw me, so I’m hoping he won’t rouse on me too much! I find it almost impossible to sleep without the mask (connected to the machine) on; although apparently I can still fall asleep enough to snore if I put the mask on and forget to restart the machine if I get up in the night. No, it’s not particularly romantic, but neither is having Mr Beloved lying awake, tense, waiting for me to start breathing again!
Steamy here today, after the lovely rain (4 mm yesterday – we’re not getting the wonderful (flooding) rains they’re getting down South, but 4mm isn’t bad!) and I’m off to get bread, milk, and the post. Oh, and of course the new Sacred Hot Water Bottle of Happiness…
(ETA: D’OH! Boxing Day is Mondayised this year, TOOWOOMBA is SHUT!!)
Phew! Next!
Happy Christmas to those who celebrated. I managed to avoid saying that AT ALL yesterday (although Mr Beloved did utter it once, to my parents in The Christmas Phone Call.)
We had a Very Geeky Christmas: our internet provider had a quota free day and I was able to snag an abso-bloody-lutely GINORMOUS set of digital scrapbooking stuff – well over a gig. Took about 7 hours.
Not something I would have been able to do at all, usually – and what’s more, I had a coupon (from joining Tangie’s Art Journal Caravan) so it didn’t cost me financially, either! WOOOT! 9 kits of different colours, some repeats, but – what a resource! Now I just need to find a way (that works with Linux) of organising/tagging my digital scrapbooking stuff - there’s too much to just try and remember what was in which kit.
Any suggestions?
Mr Beloved was very patient and late in the day he was able to download a rare Brain Eno and Robert Fripp live recording, so he was happy too.
[start whinge here] Our internet usage is a constant source of angst: every month, we run out of quota, but because we’re on a grandfathered plan we get Such A Deal. And given that our internet access is via ancient copper with dirty old corroded lead joins, which tends to be unreliable at best and non existent if we get enough rain, there’s not a lot of point in trying to buy more bandwidth. Grrrr. The exchange is “Scheduled to be enabled for ADSL2″ by our ISP but they’ve been saying that for a couple of years now. (And of course, that won’t fix our phone line…) I am so envious of US friends and other people who have unlimited access! [end whinge]
I’m seriously looking at investing in that Bind It All machine… it would be super cool to have journals the size I want with the papers I want and with a coil binding – I COULD make sewn journals, yes, but I really want to make loose pages of various papers into a book to use. Many books, actually. But I can’t buy it from the (possibly cheaper, local megacraftstore place) S***Shite, because what if I need warranty service or help? They’d be bloody useless.
Anyone got one and have advice to offer?
And in sad news: The Sacred Hot Water Bottle of Happiness perished. Long Live the Sacred Hot Water Bottle of Happiness. *sigh* For now I am making do with a coke bottle filled with hot water, wrapped in a sock (!) but it’s nowhere near as effective, of course. On Monday we shall hold the coronation of the new Sacred Hot Water Bottle of Happiness, with due pomp and ceremony. These things are important.
Inspired…
There is much HaPpY dAnCiNg at the house of Caitymakes today: the new issue of Somerset’s Art Journaling arrived! WHEEEEE!
It’s so exciting to see stuff from bloggers I read all the time as well as people who are completely new to me. I didn’t get much past the first flick through before I had to dive into my art supplies… don’t you just love it when that happens?
Also VERY high on the hApPy DaNcInG list today: Mum and Dad bought me THIS (well, they gifted the money, which I chose to use for this, *mwah* thanks!)
[clicky to go to the Art Journal Caravan blog]
As soon as I can work out how to get the blinkie working, you” see a link over on my sidebar there. I’m super happy about this because it’s designed to combine digital and physical stuff, (or can just be one or the other) and Tangie is an AWESOME designer! Starts January 1, but you can join anytime, and it’s 52 weeks worth – oh bliss!
If I can sit up today I’m, hoping to start work on a cover for my expedition journal.
The “if” is because – dagnabbit – the PAIN IS BACK. Yep, the exact same endometriosis type pain, lower abdominal, radiating down to my knees and through my lower back – in other words, the same sort of pain I had every bloody month until the relief of the TAHBSO (job lot clearance of all the girly internal bits) op.
Went to the doc yesterday, who agreed that yes, the eating fatty foods then doubling over in pain an hour or so later is very likely gall bladder related, but easily solved: don’t eat fatty foods. Duh. The possible return of the endo (coming soon to a theatre near you: Gutwars Part II: The Endo Strikes Back) (ewww!) will have to wait for the Feb appt with the very nice gyno doc.
I haven’t yet decided what format the journal will take – at this stage I’m leaning towards a box full of separate, differently sized pages which will eventually (when I have *sob, please, I want one sooooooo much* one of these – and to continue this dreadfully parenthetic entry, I *could* theoretically go buy one in the next fortnight, but I am trying to carefully carefully carefully shepherd the wonderful parental gift $ Just In Case … (Miss Constance needs to go to the vet again, or Something Else Dire happens.) where was I? Oh yeah – loose pages, varying sizes, eventually bound together. Yep.
Only problem I can see with that is the possibility probability that I will lose pages, or be tempted to chuck the ones I’m not 100% happy with. Both of which would be Bad and Not At All In The Spirit Of The Thing.
Right, I’m off to see if Mr Beloved will make me some lunch (whiiiiiine!) and refill the Sacred Hot Water Bottle of Happiness. These things are important.
