Three into one

Right. Bear with me, this will be a long post on how three projects will turn into one huge project as of Nov. 1st.

First of all: Nanowrimo. Nanowhatoh? Nanowrimo; (inter-)National Novel Writing Month. It starts on Nov. 1st, and it's all about writing that book that you always said you wanted to write, in one month. Yes, you heard that right, writing a book in one month. Or well, writing a 50,000 word novel in one month. I've been doing this for a few years now, this year will be my 6th time, and I absolutely love it. Last year, I actually finished the story at the end of the 50,000 which had not happened to me before, and I was quite pleased with myself. I can't wait to get started again this year and not only get those 50k down, but also finish the story I want to tell.

Ok, now hold that thought...

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across this blog, telling me about Fake Journal Month. FJM is in April, and the idea is to keep an art journal, but not your own. You keep one for 'someone else', living or dead, or maybe even fictional. You might want to use materials you normally don't use, or techniques you normally would not use in your own work. Try something different, but as if you were someone else.
Sounds cool, right? But April is so far away...

Now, hold that thought too...

The other day, I was going through another 'I don't know what to take a picture of today' sort of mood. I'm still loving my Project 365, but sometimes there is simply 'nothing to take a picture of' and then it's hard. As I was looking around at my stuff and things to see what I could use for my daily picture, I saw my old Little Red Ridinghood doll. It can change into the Grandmother and the Wolf, but I only took a picture of Little Red Ridinghood. Here it is:


Nowwwwww... Put all those three together and you've got: a Nanowrimo novel about Little Red Ridinghood (but different, I promise) and a Fake Journal I will of course take pictures of to go with it! Ha! Because after 5 years, I know I can do the writing, and this would make it a bigger challenge. Besides, I love art journals and I can't wait until April to try a Fake Journal.

I'm already doing backgrounds in a Pokemon magazine that we got for the 3D glasses so we could watch a 3D episode of Chuck (it did not work... wrong colours I guess) so come Nov. 1st I can let Red pour her heart out in her new art journal! Can't wait!

Spill it!

You know how the other day I was saying that I want to embrace being a messy journaler, and that neat and tidy just isn't my thing? Guess what I stumbled across the other day:

Straight Talk with Carmen from Carmen Torbus on Vimeo.

How coooool does that sound? And her enthousiasm is killing me, it's great to see!
So hurry on over to the Spill It workshop page to sign up, and have a peek at Carmen's blog too!

All I want for Christmas...

Almost every week we drive by this sign, and today was the day to finally take a picture of it.
Oohhh yes, vintage is hip, baby! And just in case you did not understand what vintage horse shit means, this is what is says on the other side:

Also note the Please return bag, thank you' on the sign. Not only are you getting horse shit that is already rotting away, you need to take the bag back so it can be used again.

Vintage and recycling. Who said farmers can't be cool?

Had enough of neat and tidy

I don't think I could ever be a traditional scrapbooker. All these bright colours, everything exactly half an inch from the side, or an inch from the other.. The precut materials and layouts copied from books and websites, I don't know.. It just isn't for me.

Lately, I've been bloghopping a lot. I tend to do that when I'm bored. I check out who replied to blogs I read, and then go to their favourites or the blogs they follow etc. etc. Keeps me busy for ages. And on one of these bloghopping afternoons I found Steph McAtee's blog. Now she takes scrapbooking to a whole different level.

Yes, she still uses pictures and blocks of text like the more traditional scrappers do, but her pages are grungy and dark and layered and I love them! I think this is more the way I want to start Art Journaling. Not that my life is grungry and dark and horrible, but there is just something about getting all messy that makes me very happy.

Even before I found Steph's blog, I did this page below. I first added gaffer tape to my cardboard, and then layered paint on top of it. The text is done in permanent maker (not Sharpie because it died a fairly horrible death when I tried to use it on the page) and then dots on the letters in white Posca, my new favourite white pen.

Enjoy!

About that Travel Art Journal...

I had great plans. I had a little suitcase full of materials. DIY paper, collage paper, tags, more pens than I knew what to do with, my trusty gluestick, tape, and four pages a day in my Art Journal.

I would journal every single day after Tye, my family and me came back from whatever it was we went to see. After our shopping trip in Birmingham, after our days out in Stratford-upon-Avon, after going to see Warwick Castle. I would write and add anything that I would find along the way. Brochures, receipts, leafs, little notes.

And I did journal. I wrote about how we got to the campsite, set up our tent, and what we did in Birmingham when me and Tye and my sister went for a shopping trip there. And when we went to Stratford-upon-Avon I picked up some amazing Shakespeare tape, with the titles of all his plays.

And then, that was it... I did not touch my Art Journal until after we got back. No time, not enough space, and it felt a bit strange to get the journal-suitcase out when we were enjoying a drink and some nibbles after spending a long day walking around seeing the sights.

But hey, it's finished now, and I love it! I covered it all in Shakespeare tape and hopefully in years to come I will still remember what we went to see, the meals we had and how I teased my parents and sister by singing the song about Henry VIII.

Getting back into the swing of things...

Coming back from holiday with tons of laundry to do it's sometimes difficult to get back into the swing of things. I know it took me a good few days before I was used to hectic life again, with phones ringing and schedules and getting back to healthy food. ;) Yes, we're still on the 'No More Crap' diet, but it's proven more difficult this time then when it was when we first started.. Oh well....

And then there's my new Art Journal. I'm still not completely sure if I like doing the backgrounds first, adding bits here and there until it's 'finished', and then adding the journaling. I loooove the background work.
Getting messy. Not really thinking about things, just adding paint and magazine clippings and DIY paper and scraps. It makes time fly! But to then flip through to another page, and another, and another, without finishing what I started... hmm... not so sure....




I know I felt better after adding some journaling, complaining about this very thing..

Maybe I should just give it a bit longer, to see if I might end up liking it after all....