mixed media mini stitched book

I think I'm going through a bit of a mini book phase - I finished this one in the week and another one (for a magazine challenge) yesterday!

The cover is made from an old wool blanket that I've added felt too with that wonderful 'dumphing' machine!  Then some free machining and snippets of lace.

Inside the page sizes vary.  I used pre painted papers that have been hanging around my studio forever, tags,  old book pages, envelopes...

I got to use two new toys in this project - Tim's washer border and Typeset Alphabet dies which I ordered from the lovely Wendy at The Stamp Attic.  I love the umbrella man die too but decided these had more uses, and they'll make great stencils!

I particularly LoVe the effect I got when I put three sets of papers through my Cuttlebug - the text paper got stuck into the coloured paper one underneath (the stitching's there to keep it altogether, I couldn't be bothered taking each tiny letter out to glue it back in lol)

a couple more journal pages

Thanks for the get well wishes!  After more sleep today my headache has finally gone - yay!  So it's back to work for me tomorrow :)

Most of my journal pages last week were quite minimalist but after a visit to Kate Crane's blog one day I dug out my spray inks and just went for it!  The white lines are courtesy of a tippex pen!  And there's collage and stitching hiding away in there too.

I cut this owl from scrap paper on my desk.  The page isn't finished yet, it needs 'something' more, I'm just not sure what it is yet!  Maybe a bit of doodling, or some stamped or letraset letters...we'll see!  I've missed this journal this weekend, it's been part of an exhibition of my work over in Oldham.  Looking forward to working in it again.

Sewing is a good distraction!

After spending most of yesterday and this morning sleeping, suffering with nausea and headache from my bloomin' sinuses, I managed a bit of sewing this afternoon.

I had a bit of wool blanket lying around that I'd needle felted a while back as part of another project I've been in the middle of for a long while.

At first I sketched out a doodle from my sketchbook using my sewing machine (the orange stitching) but I didn't like it so cut the fabric up into a tag shape then added a flower!

The ribbon at the top is from Ray-Stitch, a fabulous shop in Angel, Islington, London.  If you look closely there are some tiny beads around the centre of the flower.

WOYWW 149 - a work in progress

I had a wonderful, wonderful yesterday splodging paint around at The Cubby Hole, Crewe.  Armed with an old Amazon box, a pile of paper and a stack of paints I spent the day creating a new art journal.

The beauty of working in a shop is that new supplies are right to hand!  I just fell in love with the Graphic 45 door handle and plate and when the rest of the journal cost so little I had no problem justifying its purchase!

With all my journaling over the last week or so I've started missing my handmade journal with its different sized pages (it's at Stampington & Co awaiting publication hee hee) and when my eye caught this Amazon box I decided it would make a perfect cover.

Inside the pages have been created from scrapbook papers, old envelopes, watercolour paper and pre-painted papers.  The file folder is by Cavallini, which I found in my local Waterstones :)

I love the challenge that starting from different papers provides.  I am a little scared now by the size of this journal lol!

So now it waits on my workdesk to be stitched together!  Don't forget to take time to peruse lots of other desks via Julia's Stamping Ground.

more journal pages

These are some more of the pages I worked on last week.  I've been having a sort and a tidy in my studio and unearthed some walnut ink...

The inside of envelopes, Tim's tissue tape and splashy, watery paint have been a bit of a signature this week!

As well as letters and numbers in various forms!

My little journal, empty at the beginning of last week, is getting nicely fuller!

PDCC 126: taking on a colour challenge

I think I've managed to journal every day of the Easter hols so far -it's been great!  I'm working in my little A6 Moleskine look-a-like from Rymans and just going from page to page.  Yesterday I had a go at this week's colours provided by my fabulously talented friend Julie Ranae over at The Play Date Cafe...

[check out that gorgeous fabric featuring silver birch trunks!  LoVe it!]

I started with the grey, then added in the blue, but when it came to finding that green...

..it looked ok, but needed a bit of something else...

... a vibrant pinky purple!  So today I had another go, and just stuck to the three required colours...

The grey flowers are stitched on, and inspired by a card I had pinned in my studio by Angie Lewin whose work I LoVe, LoVe, LoVe!

[note: as co-creator of the challenge I'm not entering for the prize, just for the challenge of using the colour!]

I still can't quite believe it!

"In every quarterly issue of Art Journaling, artists open their journals 

and share creative techniques for capturing their emotions"

and I'm going to be one of them!!!

I received an email from the editor last month, and have duly written my article and now just have to wait to sign off the final copy in May :)  

It being the Easter hols I've had lots of time for some art journaling (in between gardening, shopping, tidying, feeding the family....)  I came across some gorgeous pages by Amanda Hawkins on Pinterest and was inspired to use pencil on my pages.

I added pencil lines amongst splashes of ink...

...and between collaged lines of paper...

I've also been playing around with my collection of envelopes (the insides have great patterns) and letraset rub-on letters

and enjoying that relaxing feeling of just playing in my journal.

Anyone else use an ordinary HB pencil on their pages?  Or fancy the challenge of trying?  Link your page in my comments section, I'd love to take a look :)

from this....to this....

I've been playing in my journal again over the last few days, starting with this

and, a few layers later, ending up with this

The number five has no particular relevance, except that a pile of numbers was lying on my desk and the shape of the five caught my eye!  I laid it down on a piece of scrap paper and cut it out, then stitched it to my journal on the sewing machine.

There's more stitching on the circles, and I dug out my soft pastels recently, for use on another project, and decided to try them as an accent in my journal.  I just love inky, splodgy, stitchy pages like this so last night I did another.

I stitched the flower design on a piece of previously painted paper, then glued it onto the page in my journal that started life like this

After a bit of stamping, cutting and sticking I decided it needed another element and set about carving a stamp from an eraser (15p in the WHSmith sale last year!)

A bit of a design change meant it didn't quite fit (the raindrop's missing it's point at the top), but I can live with that!