Autumn Planner Pages

Hello again,

Hope you're all enjoying the new season we're in. I've been enjoying getting my wellies and woolly jumpers back out from the back of the wardrobe. There'll be lots of autumn walkies to enjoy. I'm not a huge fan of hot weather so Autumn time is when I start to feel like I can enjoy going out again - sooo much nicer now I don't need to think about sun cream, insect repellent and how many bottles of water I need to stop myself from dehydrating. Yes, I'm not the happiest of creatures in the summer, but there's nothing like a walk through autumn leaves and curling up under a blanket when I get home to make me feel better again. With that in mind, I have a beutiful sticker kit from Mrs Brimbles to share with you. I love, love, LOVE watercolour and animals so these guys are perfect.

I think the fox is my favourite - how about you? I love fur effect Anna created with the watercolour - just so huggably soft. Also he reminds me a bit of my housemates dog, so what's not to love?

I decided to keep things fairly simple this week. I used the checklists and headers to create some daily lists to keep me organised. Then I used the beautiful images to fill in some of the white space with yummy autumny (is that a word?) cuteness.

Spotlight on gold foiled washi tape. It's no secret that I'm usually into bright and bold colours. Generally brown isn't my thing, although I do love the muted autumnal colour palette Anna has chosen this month. I add a pop of sparkle I've used this gorgeous gold foiled washi. I think it compliments the spread beaufifully and, since it's also from Anna's shop, you could put one in your shopping basket when you get the sticker kit.












Well that's it from me this month - i'm off to make myself a hot chocolate and settle in for a cozy evening watching movies from under my blanket. Happy planning guys! xx

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Collage Flower Art Journal Page

Well it's finally Autumn, my favourite season, but that's no reason not to still create pages with hints of Summer right? The collage sheets from Mrs Brimbles Patreon are stunning and allowed me to do just that. I have created a page by cutting up her artwork collage sheets that she created originally for canvas work. I must say I love the final result of the art journal page.

Creating the page:

The page I have created is for a Travelling Art Journal Circle over on my Facebook group Kerrymay._.Makes a Mess. I was sent a stunning book from the person before me in the circle (Sarah Gamble), I was really scared of ruining the page and paper. I applied a thin layer of red hued acrylic paint which I added to the page using a brayer roller. I went over this with white acrylic paint to dull down the colour and allow the background of the page to peep through. I then used a stencil which came free with a magazine and applied heavy texture paste to create small flowers.

Next I used some homemade spray inks over the flowers and to the right of the page to give it texture and shine. I think the gold spray in particular looks lovely and really makes the page pop. A little gem was used in the centre of the two mini flowers for added sparkle.

Next I used a stamp pad and stencil/mask to add more texture to the page. Now came the fun part: adding the collage sheets. I printed off the canvas artwork sheets then put them all together and held together with a paperclip. I then drew a flower petal shape on the top layer and cut this out so that I had 10 cut out pieces all identical. I then arranged and glued them in a flower formation to the left side of the page. I added detail using a standard black and purple felt tip and then added some gold glitter glue blobs to add a bit of bling.

Finally a circle vinyl sticker for the centre of the flower was added and I used individual letter stamps with black ink to add my caption to the page: 'You Are Blooming Amazing'. I love the way the collage sheets really bring out the colour in the page, they look so textured.

The final page looks lovely in the book I was given to create the page. I hope the recipient likes it.

In addition to the lovely artwork collage sheets, Anna has provided a multitude of other stunning collage sheets using her own artwork. There are the beautiful Autumnal animal paintings that you may have seen on The Happy Place... I am saving these for my next post though as I plan to do a spot of Autumn creative journaling and dashboard making.

Thank you for reading, do check out the amazing collage sheets and videos at Anna's Patreon here.

Kerry xxx

You can find me on my blog; http://kerrymaymakes.weebly.com

and on my social media below: ​ ​Instagram | You Tube | Pinterest | Twitter | ​ ​​FB Art Journaling Group

I'm taking part in October Daily

I realised how much I loved doing a daily memory keeping project in December last year and that I couldn't wait to do it again this year so to bring it forward a bit I am taking part in October daily. Here is my vlog talking about it.....

Monthly planer pages

Hello all!

It's Chloé here on the blog again today, and for this month's post I thought I would show you how I've used my September sticker kit to decorate the monthly pages of my planner. I'm currently using a mini happy planner cut and punched to fit a personal-sized filofax, and I found the stickers really versatile!

I always keep my monthly calendar pages quite simple; I like to include university lectures, work-related events, big life things, blog posts and youtube videos. Normally, I write down exactly what I want to post/upload, however I wanted to keep my videos for October a surprise! Because I include so many things, I like to just write it down with a simple colour code and not decorate at all normally!

The Brimbles sticker kit for September included these beautiful, understated florals, and I thought they'd complement the colours already printed onto these pages. I layered up some of the washi strips at the bottom of the pages, and created some embellishment clusters in the corners using the decorative elements.

The functional sheets of stickers were perfect for my monthly calendar too; I used the bin icons to show when our recycling days are, some flags to mark my main bill days, and a little pound sign for payday. Perhaps most exciting of all, I could use one of the half boxes to mark in my trip to Brussels for Planner Con Europe!

I was also super excited to mark half term in with that little grey arrow!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I did with some of my September sticker kit, feel free to follow my social media for more photos and craft projects!

Chloé

Youtube | Instagram 

Pink Cats Planner Pages

Hello, fellow planner fans! 

I'm back with some more planner inspiration for you this month, this time featuring the awesome black and white cats from Anna's Cats in Bloom collection.

I knew as soon as I saw the cats that I wanted to use them in a layout on their own, with a pink theme, because I'm a sucker for all things pink and white and black.

Along with the stickers, I pulled some washi tape from my (admittedly, very old now) stash of tapes and used my Micador Stylist Brush Markers to create this cat-tastic layout. 

I hope that you're having an amazing week, wherever you are in the world, and that your planning is going well! I'm always happy to talk planners and decorating with everyone - you can catch me on youtube and instagram!

Stef xx

Painting the Sacred Within - Book Review

I recently purchased a book - Painting the Sacred Within and I thought I would do a review of it. If you are interested in the book I mentioned here is the link for it (Please note the link is an affiliate link, you don't pay any more for the book but I do get a very small % from it. You don't have to use this link but I very much appreciate it if you do):

PLEASE NOTE: I PURCHASED this / these product(s) with my own money. The author or publisher did not know that I was doing a review. This review is my own personal opionion on the product / company, given in good faith and has not be sponsored or endorsed. Unless otherwise stated, all photography is my own.

Autumn art journal pages

I have loved the artwork Anna has given us this month. The style is very much aimed towards Autumn, yey! I decided to create two spreads, it took me a while to work out what I wanted to do. I always look forward to seeing Anna's mixed media work, this month featured one of my favourite colours, purple! It has depth, there's splashes of gold to give it a rich feel and it HAD to go into my art journal. I teamed this page with a similar background featuring a Badger painted at the front. I've looked closely at the Badger and love how Anna has used different textures in the facial area. Once I had these stuck down, I remembered I had some Recollections washi tape that would match perfectly. I wanted to finish the page but not use washi that would distract the eye. At this point, I didn't really know what to do. I didn't want to add too much more as I liked it how it was. However I need pages to have meaning, although the page looked lovely, it had to soul. So I had it open on my desk for a good week. After a while I started to recognise the Badger as a character. He began to have personality. I've now come to the point where I would love to write a Children's story based on the Badger. This sparked the title on the opposite page of 'Tea with Mr Pottinger". I have the story in my head, or at least the bones of it and that is where it will stay until I get it on paper.

 

I then created a second spread. There were so many beautiful elements, I needed to use them! I decided to create a spread dedicated to Autumn and being cosy. Anna's large half mug of tea became the focal point and everything else worked around this.
 

I used watercolours to create a movement background, to feel like leaves in Autumn. I then added little messages about what I love at this time of year.
 

Happy Autumn! Kelly xxx Where else you can find me: YouTube Instagram Pinterest Twitter