Teeny Tiny Journaling

Probably about eight years or so ago I included some small journaling in one of my art journals ...

... and over the past few months I've wanted to get back to it, but hadn't found the right way, until now!

This teeny, weeny, traveller's notebook is made by Monica, on Instagram as @moon.4.life, and available in Cafe Analog's Webshop.

It comes beautifully packaged in a tiny little box.

Being tiny, it makes it extremely portable (but you have to keep your eye on it so it doesn't get lost!).  I love being able to take a pencil case of papers, glue stick, scissors and pencil and journal wherever I am.

Gelli printed deli paper makes for a great background,

.. and it's a great place to use up the tiniest of snippets of paper!

The trouble is, Monica's produced some new colours ... I can feel a collection coming on, oh dear!!

stages of a journal page

For me, the more layers I have in my journal page, the more likely I am to have 'eek' moments when I really don't like it.  These pages had a number of these and although I'm ok with the end result, they aren't my faves; and that's ok!

I'm challenging myself to art journal every day and from the middle of Jan to the middle of Feb I incorporated Rae Missigman's 30 day art marks challenge.  Today I thought I'd share the progress behind a couple of those pages.

I started with a madly coloured page which I toned down using Dina Wakley's heavy body white paint through a Stencilgirl stencil.

I challenged myself to use colours I don't normally use for these pages, and I was also trying out a different process, following one of Rae's videos and trying out different layers ..

...which included different papers added as a layer.

Adding a focal point of my own creation, rather than basing it on a stamped image, was a challenge for me.  I chose to tear paper into a shape and at this point the flower was my favourite...

..but once I added colour it was the leaves I was happiest with!  More white paint around the images made them 'pop' a bit better from their busy backgrounds.

I'm particularly pleased with how this challenge got me using my own marks, rather than always using rubber stamps.  I carved some of these into stamps of my own and I'm loving using them in a variety of ways.

detail from flower page

I love how challenges take me out of my comfort zone and encourage me to try new things.  Rae is putting together another challenge for March but it's not too late to join in this one here

#the100daysproject

I am finding it much easier lately to post on Instagram rather than my blog.  You'll find me over there @sarahthemoodler.  I rarely blog hop either these days, which is a shame, but I guess it's the immediacy of seeing and producing images onto Instagram that makes it so much more accessible. No laptop to start up, just a touch on my phone!

I've recently decided to play along as part of the 100 days project on Instagram.  I suspect that I'll end up doing a collage a day but I didn't want to restrict myself to this so am using the hashtag #100daysofbeing creative.

day one

I have a feeling that the most challenging time will be when we go away on holiday as this year that is abroad :)

day two

I'll just have to be prepared with some stamped out images, and other collage fodder in my suitcase!

day three

I have to say, the beauty of collaging everyday is that you can let it take from a few minutes to a lot longer.  This fits in well with my life as I often come home from work absolutely exhausted from a day in the classroom, so getting out my paints etc is a bit overwhelming..

day four

...but a bit of cutting and sticking is definitely do-able.

day five

Each day I've included the number for that day somewhere in the collage.  There are often other numerals there too but the day number will also be there somewhere.

day six

Some days have a bit more inkiness.  Days when I've had a bit more time or energy.

I'm rather liking having something different on each page of the journal.  I am using an A6 hardback watercolour sketchbook and including a variety of ephemera, as well as some stamped images.

day seven

day eight

day nine

day ten

day eleven

Today's page came about following on from last Saturday's Documented Life Project prompt. Numerals are my thing, I have to say!  

day twelve