Art Journaling: recipe-card journal. Week 4 LSNED

Hi, hi, hi.

Happy new month to you!

As September is now nothing but a fond[ish] memory, a ship that's sailed, a tea-coloured ring mark on the worktop of the year ... this is my final post documenting my  Learn Something New Everyday [during September]journal.

So here are all the remaining pages:

September 22nd:

That blurry word is not a secret that I've blurred out! It's the word 'books' but the ink has bled into the gesso [I thought gesso was meant to stop just that? Shows how much I know!]

September 23rd:

James didn't watch the programme in question and only came in towards the end when he asked: "Have you been crying through this one too?"

Seems like I've got myself a whale wailing reputation.

September 24th:

 
September 25th:

September 26th:

September 27th:

Believe it or not ... I know I tell you about all kinds of all kinds of things here ... but in the outside world I can tend to play my cards pretty close to my chest ... I need to remind myself to share some things sometimes.

September 28th:

September 29th:

September 30th:

Thanks Dad!

Shimelle [who hosts Learn Something New Every Day] suggested we try to summarise out learning experience during the past 30 days by creating a closing page and, fortunately I already had 31 cards ready because ...

... when I decorated and dated all of my recipe cards at the start of the month, so they'd be all there for me to just add my lesson plus some themed extras, I merrily created and dated one for September the 31st. Quite clearly my mind was in other places during September!

 Closing page ... or'September 31st' as I like to call it:

Thanks for all your kind comments during this project. They, as always, were a treat to find waiting for me in my inbox.
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If you'd like to catch up with any of the previous lessons, plus the folder in which I'm storing the finished journal you can find everything here:

Week 1;

Week 2;

Week 3; and

the folder is here.

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Now ... I must go and decide what to do with myself after completing this month-long project ... I'm sure I'll think of something ...

Soon.

Julie :-)

Art Journaling: my 'recipe-card' art journal for LSNED

Hello, hello.

I first joined in with Shimelle Laine's Learn Something New Everyday project last September and, as it was such a positive experience, I felt like I really should make the effort to join in once again this year.

Last time round:

• I ended the month with  notebook filled with scrappy, art journally pages which I was really happy with. Plus I felt that by creating 30 of them in the month really helped me find my art journaling style. Not only that but ...
•  it was during LSNED that I created my 'Art Journal page from Start to Finish' tutorial which remains the most viewed post on my blog and furthermore ...
• it was my LSNED pages which led the editor of Stampington's Art Journaling magazine to ask me to contribute to their Spring issue this year ...

... so you can probably see why I wanted to give it another whirl this year.

This time round:

• I wanted to try a different format - something other than a notebook which my regular art journaling tends to happen in;
• I also wanted it to be in 'landscape' format rather than 'portrait' ... just because;

But by day 6 I still hadn't done anything useful at all on it and was beginning to think I might just quietly drop the idea of joining in altogether ... and then I spotted a pile of folded recipe cards I bought months ago,for purposes as then unknown. But it certainly wasn't for writing recipes on. I don't do recipes. I prefer art journaling ...

... and so my LSNED 2012 project was born ...

My LSNED album consists of:

• 15 folded recipe cards cut in half to make 30 - one for each day of the month;
• a base layer of gesso and acrylic paint either slapped on [very technical process] or sponged through a stencil plus various shades of ink sprayed and flicked around the place;
• a limited colour palette of mainly white, pink, cream and red- just to set myself a challenge;
• a traditional library date stamp;
• an image for each day - cut from my vintage book collection / 'Plundered Pages';
• appropriate wording cut from vintage books;
• half handwritten / half stamped journaling;
• a date at the bottom - cut from the Radio Times;
• plus various paper scraps, stickers and washi tape;
• and they're all stored inside a decorated Collections Elements Creative Folder which I'll share with you on Tuesday in a 'How To' [my 3DJean Design Team project this month].

[If you like the style of my pages I've put together 3 kits containing some of the same elements I've used - so you might like to look at the full kit details here.]

But for now ... here's how Week One looks:

September 1st:

I've only worked on one side of the recipe cards, leaving the back as a more private spot for extra journaling either inspired by Shimelle's prompt for that day ... or where I've wandered off with my own thoughts for the day.

September 2nd:

September 3rd:

September 4th:

September 5th:

For the record: While I'm not going to get into explaining what each page means ... rest assured that this one is not about James! I was thinking more of metaphorical hand-holding. Not the literal kind. I still like that!

September 6th:

For the record: it was a cheese + onion pasty ... ;-)

September 7th:

Right then .. that's the first 7 ... I'll be back tomorrow with my the next 7 cards which go to make up Learn Something New Everyday Week 2 ...

... and in the meantime you can drop by to have a quick look at the recipe card kits I've put together here.

See you soon.

Julie :-)

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You can view my pages from Week 2 in a separate blog post here.

Journal: LSNED 25 - 30

Hello.

September certainly went out in a blaze of glorious heat leaving me no excuse for not sitting at the garden table last Saturday and not moving until my Learn Something New Every Day journal was finished.

It was a dirty job but ... you know ... I struggled through. Now here are the final fruits of my LSNED labours:

Sept 24: That's the page with the Dr.Who reference which I blogged earlier this week here.

Sept 25: Look, dry hands!

Let me assure you that I am, in fact, a good driver - it's just that James does 99.9% of the driving when we go out together so he doesn't often get chauffeured around. He always used to find it hard to be a passenger ... but not so this time. Progress! ;-)

Sept 26: Seclusion

While making these pages I stumbled across an interesting alternative to splashing white paint around: I splash my white poster pen around instead. I had a white Sharpie Poster Paint Pen which was running low on paint and I kept having to really shake it up. I found that, after doing this the poaint sometimes easily splattered out when I removed the lid ... so I started doing it on purpose.

Shake it up. Remove lid. Flick the wrist  ... as if you're from Hogwarts. Result!

[If you can't find a white Sharpie pen then Posca do a very similar version. I have one. It's the one I use 'properly'!]

Sept 27: That's the page I made the 'from start to finish tutorial' about, which you've already seen [unless you haven't ... in which case it's here].

Sept 28: Just plain 'sad'

As the journaling says, it's often the simplest words, the ones we teach children, that are the most appropriate to describe your feelings.

Also, feeling sad for someone else is often far worse than for yourself.

Sept 29: Sunny day philosophy

Unaccustomed as I am to extended periods of sunshine ... I made the most of those few incredibly sunny days we had last week and took lots of photos. And started writing a tutorial and then ... my internet was cut off!!

Long story.

Anyway ... I remembered Shimelle's LSNED prompt for that day re: making time to fit in something nice, making the effort to schedule-in something you'd look back and wish you'd done ... so, rather than stay home, minus broadband, and just do some crafting ... I went for a walk in the sunshine to visit my parents and an adorable 2 year old [from my Month in Numbers post a few days ago.]

And we collected leaves in a dumper truck and played with snailshells and toy cars. Which I don't think i'd have done if I'd stayed home ...

Sept 30: Lucky

Shimelle had suggest we do a 'round-up' page:

"You don’t need to write reams, but a few words to finish your book gives it that explanation to anyone who might read it while also reminding you of the feeling of finishing such a record of your life this month, this year."

If you can remember back to when I was thinking about September's arrival you'll know I wasn't looking forward to it. But while journaling the month I began to realise that I had nothing at all to complain about. Nothing.

I had days out with James, I had interesting work, I saw my family, I had lovely online feedback, I sat in the garden ... I had a much needed haircut!

And so for a final closing page:

I was right ... October, it's only 4 days later and already you haven't been able to keep that weather up!

Here's the finshed book:

Slightly buckled and a smidge crinkly but mostly colourful and cheerful. Not bad qualities to aim for ...

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For the person who asked where I get ideas for my pages I thought I'd quickly add in a few ideas:

• I should say that this particular journal came from me taking Learn Something New Every Day - a class delivered by Shimelle Laine. While I didn't always follow the exact prompt for the day, I would say that a mix of everything she covered eventually found its way on to my pages.
• Alternatively there's a new art journaling challenge each week over on UKStampers , hosted by Effie, that anyone can join in with.
• There are so many prompt / challenge blogs out there if you have a search around.
• Emily Falconbridge did a year of journal prompting for her 52Q series which I absolutely loved!! The tiny journal pages I made in response to her prompts can all be found here and they remain some of the things I am most happy to have created!
• And sometimes my ideas come from something that happened, a photograph, a feeling, an interesting magazine clipping or phrase I come across.

If you have any interesting inspiration sites you'd like to share, feel free to leave a note in the comments.

I'll be back soon with another Purple Phase colour palette, it's an outfit this time, in a similar colour-way as the post from earlier this week.

As for today, I'm not sure how I'm going to spend the rest of it ... but I'll take a guess that there'll be paper involved somewhere.

Soon enough,

Julie x