Book of Days update

Back again to finally show you some art...

While I was away last week, I did do a few pages in my Book of Days which I can show you now.  I am a bit behind in art journaling the pages but because I am also working through Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance I am writing it all down so I can refer to it later on. I am really enjoying this process as it stops me from sailing through each week unconscious of what is going on around me but also within me. If you feel like joining in, just visit Book of Days here.

This is a page with the challenge of doing a mosaic of some kind. As you know I love my spirals so this was the shape I first thought of. It expressed perfectly what I was feeling on the day, going within and listening to your inner voice instead of all the chatter that can sometimes send you off course.

  This was my first spread for the start of last week using crafters workshop stencil in the background (white sponged over the stencil on a blue background), glazing with various colours of Copic markers, white paint and punchinella, cut outs of thongs from a scrapbook paper collection, and a white signo pen for the writing.  

 As I had limited supplies, I actually used a few supplies that I don't normally use and it just shows how much you can do with very little. The background for this one was water soluble crayons, then white paint and punchinella and journaling with a black copic marker.

 This last page of the week was to celebrate my youngest sons 20th birthday 

(yes I did say 20 and this makes me feel.... ummmmm... well more advanced in age than I was last year lol).  I am not saying 'old' because I think that it is all in the mind but it did make me pause - in a good way :)

The background was Inktense pencils, a circle border stamp in Black Staz-on and journaling with a purple artline marker and white Signo pen.

The message on the right hand side describes how I was feeling after a lovely relaxing week away, realising that you don't need all the latest gizmos, the clutter of "stuff" and other distractions to make your life complete. Sure they can make it easier but I have found recently that they can also make it more stressful. The technology that was supposed to make our lives easier can often end up taking up more of our time as it gives us more and more things to do while we try to fit it into our already busy lives. 

Sometimes you just need to  

stop, breathe and listen to the stillness. 

Find a quiet retreat, even if for only a few hours and  

just "be". 

This is often when you realise just how much you have to be thankful for.

My quote today is the one I used on this spread.

"Who is content with nothing,

possesses all things."

Have a lovely day

Namaste

Lee

Nearly back from holiday mode

Just checking in while I get back into the swing on things from my holiday at the beach last week. My head is still relaxing in the sun so i would like to share a couple of photos of my week. 

So we were at a lovely beachfront caravan park in Anglesea.

 This was the view that greeted me as i wandered down to see if the tide was high or low....

 .....with my morning cup of tea.

we had lots of lovely beach walks with friends and family...

 drove a little way down the Great Ocean Road.....

 saw some spectacular coastline.....

 worked a bit in my Book Of Days journal.....

 more beach walks, swimming and catching waves on the boogie boards....

 and shared breakfast and afternoon tea with a little family of wrens that came and visited us each day at our campsite.

I did work in my Book of Days which I will share later in the week.
So you can see why I am taking a few days to get back into it. I am slowly working my way around to visiting my blogging friends. I am sure I have missed a bit so I can't wait to catch up with you soon.



Have a great week everyone

Namaste

Lee

It must be birthday month!

Hi everyone

December and February are very busy months for birthdays in our family too so the card making supplies have been out. I have a few cards to show you from the last couple of weeks.

 On this card are Kaisercraft papers from the Utopia 6x6 paper pad, Kaisercraft stamps, white sheer ribbon with diamontes on it and silver thread. Edges are embossed with silver lightening embossing powder.

 This one is using a paper from Tim Holtz 12 x 12 Paper Stash Vintage Shabby, a gold key that I turned silver with dew drops ink, white rice paper and Dreams stamp.

 This one was a simple one with Docrafts Mum stamp, gold happy birthday sticker, and valentines day papers from Papermania. My mums birthday and wedding anniversary are both on Valentines Day. I know, how romantic :)

This card is using paper from the Kaisercraft 6x6 Gypsy Sisters paper pad, Kaisercraft stamp, cream webbing ribbon (don't you love this ribbon, I have it in a couple of colours now and can't wait to use it on other projects.) The flowers are punched and the scraps are used along the bottom of the card and the flowers are embossed with clear sparkle embossing powder as is the edge of the title paper

Have a great week everyone

I leave you today with the quote from the first card

"Cut not the wings of your dreams, 

for they are the heartbeat and the freedom of your soul."

-Flavia

Namaste

Lee

A days with friends and a vision board

Hi everyone,

Well I'm still in the land of the living but had to take a little break from blogging to recharge my batteries for the year ahead.

I have been working on my Book of Days, albeit slowly, and getting the samples ready for my next art journal class on Saturday at Scrappers Warehouse. When the weather is so hot it is hard to sit inside and paint, even with the air conditioner, so I have been grabbing little snippets of precious time to create.

Another thing I did do last weekend was a fantastic workshop called "Your Awesome Year"  with the lovely Louise Gale and Kathy Kirwin. It was so much fun to finally meet some of my blogging friends including the darling Wini and make wonderful new friends at the same times. We had a great day cutting, pasting, eating, talking, meditating and working on our visions for 2012. It was a very productive day enabling us to set clear intentions for 2012 and it was so motivating I recommend it to anyone if you have the chance to attend one of these workshops. Louise and Kathy were the perfect hosts, teachers, motivators. Thanks ladies for an inspiring day.
Here are some photos from the day

 

 

 Here is my vision board for 2012. I have wanted to join in on Louise's monthly vision boards for a long time now so it was great to finally complete one.

 Here I am with the lovely Louise Gale

And here I am with the lovely Wini.

Have a creative week everyone

Namaste

Lee

Book of Days update

 Hi everyone,

Well it's been a busy week, painting and art journaling. I've been having a lot of fun with my Book of Days and would like to show you today how I did the cover of the book. For this year long project we are altering a book and in her comprehensive videos Effy shows us the steps to alter an old book or to make a Book of Days out of a composition book. So I scoured the charity shops and found my book - From here to Eternity. I thought the title was appropriate for me at this time in my life. Effy suggested to use your word for the year on your cover so thats what I did and with out further ado I will take you on the step by step with me.

 So, after preparing our book I covered my book with Jo Sonja Blue Lagoon and Harbour Blue in a slip slap motion with a flat brush. I just love these colours together.

 Next I found some scrapbook papers with some script on it, ripped it up and adhered to the book with Atelier Binder Medium.

 i used my make up sponge to rub the two colours of paint lightly over the papers and the book to blend them into the background somewhat.

 I then used Jo Sonja Warm White and a circle dot stencil from Crafters Workshop. This is the centre of the Peony 12 x 12 stencil. Inside that I doodled with my white Gelly Roll pen. Now I love these pens, they write over anything and they are so versatile. I love circles as you know, and these two are representing the endless possibilities that await me this year in balance from beginning to end.

 I also used the 6 x 6 cosmic bubbles stencil with the make up sponge and Jo Sonja Lilac to stencil randomly over the cover. I picked up some Warm White as I stencilled so there is a variation in colour in the bubbles.

I then found an image off the internet that really represented my word of 2012 which is Balance. i printed it out on photo paper, then sprayed it with Matt fixative spray so it wouldn't run, tore the edges and adhered it to the cover with Binder Medium.

I then did some stamping with StazOn in Midnight Blue and a Kaisercraft script background stamp and Kaisercraft saying, wrote my title on the cover with the Sakura Souffle pens and there you have it.  To finish the cover off I rubbed perfect pearls over it although it doesn't show up on the photo. It gives it a subtle shine and shimmer.

Now I know the words balance looks out of balance ( I'm not very good at spacing words without measuring) and when I sat back and looked at it I was disappointed but you know what, that is to me part of finding my balance in my life at the moment, meaning that I have to let go of the little things and concentrate on the important matters. My choice was - do I rub it out and start again(which wouldn't have been easy) muck up my cover that I loved and probably put it away in frustration and probably would still not have been finished, or do I embrace it how it is with all its imperfections. After all, that is what I love so much about art journaling, knowing that nothing is wrong, it is your expression and getting it on the page is more important than fretting about whether it will be perfect or not.

Book of Days has a huge following with over 1000 members online and over 500 members on a very encouraging and inspiring Facebook page. Do go and check it out if you would like to join in on the fun.

I would also like to share a fun video from you Tube that is going around Facebook at the moment. Is is only me that recognises myself here. 

What else can you add to the list of crafters sayings?

So I have pinched the saying from my Book of Days cover for today's post

"Remember that something incredibly wonderful is always possible"

Hope you are having a creative week

Namaste

Lee

Almost back on board

Hi everyone

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year and break afterwards, I've been on a nice little break which has helped to re-charge the creative batteries and plan the upcoming year. Over the break I have dealt with feelings of overwhelm and excitement as I realise how busy I am going to be over the next 12 months. It is going to be an exciting year with new classes to teach and classes to take. I have also had a lot of time to think about what is important and what is not, what to concentrate on and what to let go and to ultimately prioritise effectively. Janet had a great post last week that expressed much of the same feelings. For years I have always been in a rush at the end of a deadline and have become stressed with all that is on my plate. This year I am feeling that it is going to be a year of new habits and different thinking. My priorities are changing slightly and I have committed to using my diary more effectively. Part of my daily practice towards that Balance is meditation, which helps to stop the scatter-chatter that is in my mind. 

And so on to the choice of my word for the year....  

Balance,

balance in all areas of my life

balance between family time, friends time, art time, spirituality and relax/recharge time

So having said all of that, I signed up for Effy Wild's Book of Days and have become a bit addicted to it. Effy has a wonderful program for artfully documented the next year and gives excellent instruction and encouragement through bi-weekly newsletters and videos as well as a very supportive group environment on Facebook. It has enabled me to sit and art everyday, even if for 15 minutes, which is something I have been trying to do for a while now. Along with Book of Days, I am doing Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance. I originally thought it would be committing to to much but am finding that the daily reflection required for Simple Abundance goes perfectly with my journaling in Book of Days. I have kept a journal sporadically but never recording my thoughts every day and I am really enjoying the process. Anyway, if you pop over to Effy's website you can find out how to join in on the fun.

Here is a couple of photos as a sneak peak of my Book of Days. In the coming week I will be sharing my process for some of the pages and the cover.

Have a great day everyone.

My quote today is from one of the lovely ladies from the Book of Days group, thanks Kel :)

"Art has the power to unveil the mysteries if we look closely enough"

Namaste

Lee