Discovering your style

Hi everyone, I hope everyone is doing well, it's Rose here again with a post about how I am discovering my art style.  This month so far I've been catching up on October art posts.  I got sick in October and it meant I couldn't face doing much, so it's been nice to feel well enough to create.  And, if I'm honest, pushing myself to art has probably added to me feeling better within myself.

I have been working through October's Patreon class with Anna.  Last month's video was Anna working on a painting of a fox.  There was a watercolour fox and an acrylic version.  I loved both, but because I really find watercolour difficult I decided to concentrate on that.

First I worked through a version with Anna and created this:

I really enjoyed using the autumnal colours and was really happy with how he turned out.  Then last week as I was walking home from picking my little girl up from nursery, Mr Fox crossed our path.  He saw us and we all watched each other.  So when I got home I thought I would have another go at sketching and painting him, again in watercolour.  This is what I produced:

I don't really know what my style of art is, but taking art classes and working in other people's style really helps me to understand what my own style is not.  I know that my style is not loose and I struggle with painting loosely, so I wanted to push myself with the fox on the top to try to be a bit looser.  I'm not sure how successful I was but a few paint splatters makes it look looser than he was originally.  If you're struggling to find your own style, give it a go - copy some other artist's work and see what makes you feel uncomfortable, what colours do you struggle with? What mediums are difficult for you? Do you struggle with looseness or preciseness? From creating in someone else's style and working out what you like or struggle with, you can really start to understand your own art and your own style.  Even the art you choose to recreate can tell you a lot about your style.

I know Anna has all these classes on her Patreon just waiting for you to join and create.  I like it when you can learn a technique in a class and then use it as inspiration to create in your own style, and Anna's classes are perfect for doing just that.  Why not join us if you haven't already, and if you have I'd love to see your fox paintings.

Don't forget to check out Anna's Patreon and you can find more of my art here, or on my blog, or on Instagram.

Making your own travelers notebook and journals

As you know I was recently sent the big shot machine from Sizzix and dies to make a small book and a travelers notebook with. In these videos I show you how to make the books but also give you an in depth chat about the issues I had and my tips on making it.

I was very kindly sent a box of goodies from Sizzix to share with you all and to make and share as a result. The itesa you see are available to purchase from: https://www.sizzix.co.uk/ and https://www.hochanda.com/or https://www.sizzix.com/ if you are in the US as well as other scrapbook companies.

PLEASE NOTE: I was given this / these product(s) in exchange for my honest review and opinion, the fact that I was given these does not alter my opinion in anyway. This review is my own personal opionion on the product / company, given in good faith and has not be sponsored or endorsed. None of the links are affiliate links. Unless otherwise stated, all photography is my own.

Making travellers notebook inserts

Hiya folks!

At the end of September I was full of determination to take part in October Daily and journal regularly in a special traveller's notebook insert to celebrate the change in season. Unfortunately I was not able to do the project justice and failed to keep up with writing every day, as October became an extremely busy month for me. One of the reasons for distraction was a wonderful holiday to New York that I took with my fella, the documentation of which has its very own journal that I will be showing you folks at some point soon. However, I did bind together a fun insert and I am excited to show you some of it today. The cover is made from some autumnal scrapbook paper that I have been hanging on to for absolutely ages decorated with Anna's watercolour fox from her September Patreon collection of collage elements that are still available to you should you sign up now - how great is that?!

 

I fell in love with Anna's inviting mug of hot tea as soon as I saw it and it was a given that it would take pride of place at the beginning of the journal. But by the time I had all my craft supplies out for the task I had had a supersonic idea! I decided to create the tag for the teabag, that until now was drawn on but lost when I cut out the cup from the page, and turn it into a bookmark for the journal. In fact I made two.

I backed the mug on some lovely blue card stock and used a bookbinding awl to make a precise hole in the teabag drawing. I threaded two different coloured threads through that hole and tied knots to secure them and taped them in place. To hide this I then stuck the cover of the journal in place, causing the image to be on the inside front cover of the insert. At the other ends of the threads I tied a knot and fixed some grid washi tape.

Throughout the journal I have used autumnal papers and colours, including bits and bobs from Anna such as these adorable acorns, pumpkin and watercolour owl journal spots.

Thanks, as ever, for reading. Until next time. Steph x x x

Christmas Paper Wreath

ITSSSS CHRIIIISTMMMAAASSSSS!!

haha .. sorry I couldn't resist.

The  November brimbles sticker club kit this month is so full of Christmas spirit and I just couldn't wait to get into it.

I did an unboxing of It on my channel if you wanted to take a look. 

Theres one Christmas craft I really wanted to try, and that was make a paper Christmas wreath.

I used various papers from some Christmas paper pads I had in my stash.

I made a lot of paper rosettes I have a how to video on how I make these, and then glued then onto a cardboard ring I had cut out. 

I then stuck some of the decorative stickers from the kit onto some plain white card stock and fussy cut them out, I did this so they would sit nicely on top of the rosettes. 


I have really been loving my Dina Wakley Media Journal lately. I got it for my birthday from my lovely mum and I've pretty much been doing a page in it every day.

I loved the little Mouse stickers from the decorative sheet especially this little guy ( they do have names but the escape my mind) I painted the background with just some basic red acrylic paint then used some paper from the Christmas paper pads that came from the pound shop last year to make some card presents.
I then used my posca paint pen in white to write on my quote.
I punched out some stars with some of my star punches just to add some detail onto the background.

then I added some christmas phrase stickers from the mrs brimbles shop to finish the bottom of the page.

Gemma Silk

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Beginning a new Journey

Hi guys! It's been a couple of weeks since my last post and I'm feeling a little rusty! Today I thought I'd catch you all up on my progress with Anna's fantastic Adventure Journaling course. Just a little bit about the course before we get started, for those of you who may not have seen it. Anna takes us through what adventure journaling is and what it can be, quick jaunts out to the park to fabulous holidays away. Anna shares some great tips and tricks from which supplies to pack to how to create beautiful pages documenting the things you have done. 

What is adventure journaling to me? Well, because I journal most days, about the day to day goings on in the household I tend to view adventure journaling as something separate. Adventures, for me are any event or occasion that removes me from my everyday routine or where I find my myself in someplace new.

Sometimes, that'll be something big like a family holiday but mostly it's when my partner and I take the day to explore a new town or park or a road trip to visit friends or family. Although they are both adventures, I still view them differently, mini excursions for the latter is perhaps more appropriate as they happen more frequently. I also tend to journal when I am back home, in my cosy little (and messy) office. At the minute I don't have a dedicated adventure journal and these tend to go in my everyday journals.

Synchronicity at it's finest. The day I picked to make a start on the classes I  headed to the supermarket to pick up some bits for dinner. I couldn't face doing a 'big shop' so I headed to the little local one. I wandered over to the magazine section, generally speaking there is never much more than a couple of newspapers and the celebrity type magazine which are not my thing. However, that day they had a few copies of  Project Calm featuring travel, adventure and storytelling! Snapped that up quick. It is a really lovely magazine, full of all sorts of things, mostly craft related, writing and stunning photography. It is a little on the expensive side but it is definitely worth purchasing a copy if you see one. 

This year it is all change in my family for Christmas, my siblings are off to their respective inlaws for the festive period, we are having our roof reroofed (that sounds funny!) and so we are all in different places, usually we all head to my parents for Christmas Day but this year that's not possible. So J and I decided we'd take the opportunity to go away somewhere. With the pets holidays can be a little difficult, not impossible, but logistically it is added stress. We have also spent the last couple of summers working on doing up our house, so realistically over Christmas is the best opportunity for us to go somewhere together. Definitely a cold somewhere, can't be doing Christmas in a hot climate!!

As this will the first holiday away we've had together I wanted to go with something a little more special than my everyday journal. Then came the age old problem for a stationery addict....which notebook should I use? I had a rifle through my stack of unused journals and notebooks, which I'm a tad ashamed to admit is huge. I settled on the one below, which is rather fitting seeing as it is a handmade journal I picked up whilst on adventure earlier this year. J and I, after many years (and I'm talking about 8 years or so!) of driving past and me saying I'd like to go, finally visited the Imperial War Museum North on a very wet and miserable day! Ever since I was a wee thing I've always bought myself a pencil or pen from the gift shop. It is something that started when my parents would take us on outings and we'd always visit the gift shops after. I was allowed one small item, which would always, always be a pencil or a pen! I've hoarded these pencils..haha and I now have quite a collection in my pen pots.

I digress! I'm looking forward to cracking this beauty open and filling it with all the things I get up to on my holiday! I'm often nervous about starting on the first page and will often skip to the first double page spread. I'm going to follow some of Anna's tips, for example I love the idea of having a master To Do and To Pack list at the front and a list of places I'd love to visit! There are several signatures of recycled cotton rag paper, it'll be the first time I've used this kind of paper in a bound journal so that'll be an adventure in itself!

I'll be back to update you on my progress soon. But for now, thankyou for stopping by and getting to the end of the post! One of these days I will learn the art of being concise..haha. Don't forget to check out Anna's course if you haven't already!!

In a bit guys xx

You can also find me on Instagram and over on my own blog here.

Kelly's Autumn & Halloween Journal Pages

This month on Anna's Patreon we have been spoilt again with beautiful artwork. We have been given a mixture of abstract mixed media and Anna's signature sketches. I carefully selected and printed the pieces that stood out to me. I never really know where I'm going to go with the artwork or what I will create. Instead I group imagery together and place it on the page. Then I add paints/pencils and slowly I begin to piece something together.

 

The first spread I created has a Halloween/Witchy feel. It had to be done! It's the month of Samhain! I love the Pumpkin that Anna has created, the page started with this. I then added the cute little Witch in the opposite corner and the black floral pattern to the centre. Then the quote "Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and Cauldron bubble" popped into my head. With this in mind I painted the whole spread black. I decided to outline a Cauldron sketch in the centre of the page over the flowers. The quote is written in large letters over the whole page, I had to use several different medias to get this text to appear! Lastly I've added little stick on gems I recently received in a swap.
 

The second spread I created has an Autumnal feel. It was easy to create with Anna's artwork, as soon as I laid the images down I was getting ideas popping into my head. I had to use the Mouse as it is so cute! I love the Coffee cup with the Pumpkin and the Wellington Boots, so on they went! I then picked out a watercolour palette to match the page. I wanted to add something a little different so wrote words that remind me of Autumn repeatedly over the pages with little leaves between them and surrounding the images. To finish the pages I used a small amount of white Acrylic brushed on with a sponge and some stamps. The clouds, jar and tick boxes are from previous Brimbles boxes. I like that these are currently 'empty' so that I can add journal words later should I want to.

 

The third spread takes a different turn. Without going into specifics, I've had a few difficult weeks recently, it's been challenging. I saw the drawing of what looks like to me a sad character. She basically in that image showed how I'd been feeling. I paired this up with the flowers on the dark background and on the far right the Sunflower which I teamed up with more Wellington Boots. I created a background to show change, the gloomy colours on the left and brighter on the right. The word 'Grow' has been placed in the centre to show that this page reminds me that I can rise above bad situations. I have written some journal entries around the page in reflection to the time and as a reminder that I am strong. That's my three journal spreads for this month, thank you for stopping by, Kelly. Where else you can find me: Blog YouTube Instagram Etsy

Grace's Gift Tags and Planner Pages

It's Christmaaaaaas!

Well... almost. As I write this it actually isn't even Halloween yet, but I'm trying to be super prepared this year. My birthday is in mid December and my goal is to get everything Christmas card and gift related completey sorted by then so I can really enjoy the season. And some Christmassy Brimbles stickers have helped me on my way to that goal!

I started out doing something a bit different, as I fancied trying something new with the stickers. And so I made some gift tags!

I made the tags on my silhouette machine with some standard Christmas cardstock, but they're very simple shapes it would be very easy to draw and cut them or use a die cut machine. The cardstock needed to be something simple so the pattern wouldn't take attention away from the stickers. I cut up the washi strips, as well as some red and green glittery washi I had in my stash, and layered them at the bottom or sides of the tags, then added the cute mice from the decorative sheet as the main elements. 

Then looped either some Christmas ribbon or washi through the top of the tag and they were done! A really simple craft but I think quite effective. The tags are super cute and will look great either on gifts or in the pockets of my Christmas planner. I could also use them in happy mail, as bookmarks, and even as decorations.

Next was my usual sticker project, which was to decorate a week in my personal size planner.

There was quite a lot of layering and sticker clustering involved in this spread - one of my favourite things to do! Here are some close ups:

With some of the remaining stickers I decorated some pages in my Christmas planner, just to add a bit of fun to some otherwise plain pages.

With the remaining checklist and other functional stickers, I'll be using them in my Christmas planner as and when needed to make to do lists, shopping lists, or highlight important things.

This month's kit has certainly made me feel way more Christmassy than I usually do two months before the event, I hope my projects have given you some ideas and inspiration. Thanks so much for reading!

Grace @ms.paperlover

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