2015 Planner cover

I used to make my own weekly planners for years - design them, print them, in various colours and shapes. But then I moved to daily planners and these were too big a challenge for me - not design-wise but format-wise. With one day per page and 365 days in a year, this would be too bulky to print on regular paper. So I moved to Moleskine planners. 

But now, after almost a decade with my daily Moleskines, I decided to embark on the adventure and print my own daily planner. 

I was always a bit OCD about my diaries/planners. None of the existing ones on the market were fitting my needs perfectly. This layout seems ideal to me now - NOW is the crucial word - only time will tell how I like it. What I fear the most is that it would start to bug me soon - and I'll have to stick with it for the whole year [insert a sarcastic laugh here]...

I wanted to go for a plain cover - probably plastic so it could be easily maintained during the year. But then I saw Emma Godfrey's journal cover in this PaperArtsy blog post and decided to make my own. 

I gessoed the chipboard covers first:

 Then I started to add some paint using a sponge:

 ... and more paint:

Then I added some stamping using my hand-carved stamps:

Then a little bit of stencilling:

And some drippage:

I added a little bit of purple, because I didn't like it turned a bit too green. Then I added the embellishments to the front:

This is how the finished diary looks like - as I suspected, it's a bit too bulky and will be a pain to write in... But after all that effort, I guess I'll have to stick with it now ;-)

Thank you.

P.

Happy Holidays!

This is my Happy Holidays card for this season:

Of course, I made some in my native language...

And there's a Making of YouTube video, if you're interested.
Looks pretty easy, but believe me, there was a series of misfortunes along the road...

Numbers Journal: Three and Four

I have three more pages from my Numbers Art Journal to share. I had a couple of days off work so I spent this time arting (and watching the third season of Revenge - who knew it would be so addicting...).

The first page was created for the latest Mixed Media Place "exercise". The task was to use black, white and grey together with one more colour of our choice.

My colour was blue. I collaged black and white scraps of paper, then I used various sprays and my beloved acrylic inks.

Three

"Numbers" Journal - new pages

During the last two weeks, I completed four pages in my Numbers Journal. I had quite a productive time but it had its limits - there was another page but it came after my productivity had gone away. I didn't like it much, and I also felt it didn't "belong" to this journal so gessoed over it...

"Zero"

"One"

"Two"

"1-2-3-4"

Shape of my Heart

Recently, I came across a challenge over at Mixed Media Place blog.  We were to create a piece inspired by a song "Shape of my Heart" by Sting.

Sting's music is not exactly my cup of tea but as I was pondering about the lyrics and going through the Designer Team's contributions, I had a brief visit from my Muse and created this journal page:

I had a page waiting for me in my journal for some time - I used it to test my newly cut stencil and didn't know what to do with it next. I really disliked the stencil when it was just a design in my computer but when I cut it and tested it, it was a love at first sight!

I had to gesso the page first because I wanted to start on a white background. Then I added some bright colours with the FW acrylic inks and collaged some scraps of paper. Finally, I distressed the look a bit more with some background stamps and I also splattered more ink on it.

I'm in love with this mess!! ;-)

Christmas in July

Last month, I was asked to create an inspiration piece for IndigoBlu "Christmas in July" challenge.

You can find out more about these two cards here.

ArteDar's Art Tag

I was tagged by Barb and Jean to answer 5 art-related questions.

[Sorry, I can’t do a video at this moment.]

Who or what inspired you to make YouTube or Ustream videos?

No one. It was pure peer pressure... I first streamed when I was opening the box from my “secret sister” in a Secret Sister Box Swap. I stream occasionally, I usually need to retreat into my private state of mind when I create my “art” and that cannot be achieved during a stream. But sometimes I put the camera on when I’m creating and then share it on YouTube.

Your favourite medium to work with.

That would be acrylic paint. Well... it depends on the definition of a “medium”. I’m a pen&paper person. As a kid, I preferred stationery stores to candy stores. I used to spend my pocket money on pens, pencils and markers or notebooks … 

Your favourite colour.

It’s blue. Any shades, tints or variations of blue. Basically, any colour that has blue in it – from teal to purple. But... in my art, yellows, oranges and reds work the best – which is curious, as I hardly ever use any of these colours in my real life. When I wear red, people tend to ask me “are you feeling OK? you look a bit sick” ;-)

If you could take just 3 things with you to a deserted island, what would they be?

I don’t like to craft outside the comfort of my craft room (well, craft “space”). So I wouldn’t probably need any crafty things. But I wouldn’t really want to be stranded anywhere without a pen and a paper – so I would take a ball-point pen (multicolour, if I couldn’t take a set of different colours), a notebook, and either a big tube of glue or a craft-knife (because I’m a DIY girl).

If you were a product, what would you be?

I would be a ball-point pen. Or a notebook. 

What I've been up to lately

My Muse is on holiday - though I fear, she got stranded on some tropical island (to mock me, because I hate heat, so I won't go after her). My creative mojo is at its lowest (toothache and tropical heatwave in my country might contribute to that) - from time to time, I manage to force myself to make a card or two, usually for a challenge, but that's pretty much it...

I was asked to do a birthday card for a friend of my friend. I made two so she had something to choose from. I was really proud of this one - all the die-cutting and fiddling around...

Background: Hero Arts Lattice stamp + white embossing powder + distress inks

Flowers and leaves cut on Silhouette Portrait machine

Flowers: Lumiere paints

Leaves: Embossing Enamel by Stampendous

["Gratulace" means "Congratulations"]

.... but she chose this one instead (teal is the new black, apparently):

Background: various acrylic paints

IndigoBlu stamps with some holographic embossing powder

I also got my first IndiguBlu stamps, so I could enter their challenge "Tag ... You're it!" with this tag:

Background: Distress Paints

Stamps by IndigoBlu stamps + black Archival Ink

holographic embossing powder on the grass stamp

Flowers/words: pencils, Wink of Stella glitter pen

Words: Distress Inks

[giving myself a pat on the shoulder here] I got to Top 3, chosen by IndigoBlu DT (yay!) which means I was invited to create an inspiration piece for this month's challenge "Christmas in July".

Almost forgot to mention - I've been quite busy designing and cutting stencils on my Silhouette Portrait...

Update on my “Numbers” journal

So far, I only painted four entries in my "Numbers" art journal. Somehow, I can't find energy for art-journalling these days.

I really like Roben-Marie Smith's style of journalling. I wanted to try to do something similar but (apart from the "Half" page) I don't think I did a good job. So I'll probably stick with "my" style ;-)

"Half"

"Quarter"

"Two-thirds"

"Three-quarters"

Journal Page Swap - Rounds 2&3

After a very successful Round 1 of the Journal Page Swap, there were two more rounds of the swap.

The rules remained the same:
  - create 5x8 journal pages
  - pages did not have to be identical
  - whatever media or style

This is my Round 2 page:

... and my Round 3 page:

I filmed a "Making of" YouTube video:

Cover of my “Numbers” journal

I still haven't decided on the name for my new journal but I thought the cover needed some title. When I saw this blog post at PaperArtsy, I finally had a solution.

PaperArtsy's guest designer Kate Yetter created a journal cover with a window, so I cut out a hole in my cover and now, the word "numbers" from the first page is showing through of the window. And I don't have to think about the title!

I really wanted my new journal to look a bit like my Alpha Journal so I used a similar stencil on the cover.

For more photos from my Alpha Journal, go to my Flickr page.

New art journal

I finally decided on a “project” for this year. (about time, right?) This new art journal is going to be a continuation of my Alpha Journal.  When looking up quotes for my alphabet-themed journal, I discovered some “number“ quotes I liked. I first meant to have my alphabet and number pages in one journal but it got too bulky so I decided on a separate journal. This decision was made many months ago, but I guess I just needed some impulse to get going. (and it finally came this week)

This is the first page:

I was inspired by Darcy's journal page in her Journalling Month series over at PaperArtsy blog. She started her page with a collage of various scrap papers that she'd stamped on. I had a pile of experimental gelli plate prints on deli paper and I didn't know what to do with them. 

I also liked Darcy's colour combination. I first applied some Distress Paints in various shades of purple and green.

Then I collaged my scrap pieces.

Finally, I added more paint, a bit of drippage and a quote.

So, this is the title page in my "numbers" art journal. I think I like it. Very much!

Gelli tapes

Making gelli tapes is my favourite Gelli Plate technique. It was actually the reason why I bought the plate.

These are some of my tapes – washi tape addict’s dream!

Unlike the “regular” techniques, this one works backwards. Normally, the first layer you put on the plate ends up being the top layer on the paper. Here, what you see is what you get – so you can add layers upon layers till you’re satisfied with the result.

The only rule is to WAIT. You need to wait till one layer dries on the plate (no, don’t panic, it won't hurt your plate!). If you don’t wait, you will lift the paint from the plate.

You can use stencils, masks, you can even stamp on your plate, paint with a brush, pretty much anything - but always remember, the surface you are working on has to be completely DRY. 
[and... this is important - don’t use your heat gun!!! just wait patiently]

Here is one example of the process:

And here is another:

Once you’re satisfied with the result, take a regular adhesive tape and start sticking it to the plate, one strip next to another. Use your bone folder or a brayer to remove any bubbles and smooth the tape properly.

[note on tapes: the tapes come in various widths, or even in big sheets]

Then, start peeling the tape off. If some of the paint remains on the plate, just stick the tape back on, brayer it, and then continue removing it.

[this is also a nice trick to remove paint from your dirty gelli plate]

The back of the tape may remain a bit tacky so you can stick it on something right away. Or you can apply a bit of Perfect Pearls or some glitter – it will then shine through at the front. I usually store my tapes for future use so I prefer to go over it with some medium to stop it from sticking.  

So, now you have your drawer full of tapes and you are thinking what to do with them. I like to use them with my regular washi tapes to create backgrounds. 

If you have wider tapes or if you made the whole sheet, you can run it through your die-cutting machine. Here, I die-cut some leaves. 

Or, you can make your own Project Life cards.