Gift Guide: 12 days tell christmas

So with twelve more days tell christmas you shoule get a move on making presents , so here is a quick roundup with links and ideas pf my own to make and buy.Merry Christmas!!!

For...

...Your best friend:
How about these pretty FIMO friendship necklace?;http://www.cutoutandkeep.net//projects/clay_best_friends_lover_necklaces
Or some nice bath soaks or something(search in google)

...Your Mum,Grandma...
This cute http://bugsandfishes.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-appliqued-succulent-sachet.html sachet

...Wrapping paper
http://ilovetocreateblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/knit-print-wrapping-paper.html cute!

...Your gameaddictat friend(joke)
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Case-for-Your-DS-Lite-Games/

....Yourself
this fab skirthttp://soyouthinkyourecrafty-tuts.blogspot.com/2009/11/when-it-comes-to-being-turkey-its-best.html

...Knitting Friends
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=285832.0

...Your cat
my cats have tested these toys and love themhttp://myfantastictoys.blogspot.com/2009/05/cat-toy-plushies.html

...Your Tee loving Friend
http://weefolkart.com/content/tea-wallet-little-birdie-branch so they can take their teabags everywhere

...Any one who loves cts and tea
make them a catteacosyhttp://bustleandsew.blogspot.com/2009/11/sleepy-cat-tea-cosy-tutorial.html

....a lovely gift
This shrinky dinks necklacehttp://lilblueboo.blogspot.com/2009/11/teeny-tiny-shrinky-dink-leaves-necklace.html


So get crafting!!!

Book review : Journal revolution,Rise up and create

Authors: Linda Woods and Karen Dinino

I really like this book.Its message is to get down to it and create personal art journal pages.It starts off by showing you some cool techniques to use in your art journal such as how to do faux spray paint and how to distress with tape.Then we move on and learn a tone about what diffrent fonts can mean diffrent things but still say the same.This like every other chapter starts off with 'Theory' , then moves on to a project and finishes witha gallery.Alot of this book is aboût finding your personality in art .There are also fun ideas to do like spy on yourself and use your information to make a journal page.Lots of ideas and tips are shared in this book about how you can journal outside your art journal to for eg.On aa paper plate or a paper bag.

In a nutshell: This is a fab book for anyone who wants to learn how to journal the truth, get comfy outside of your art jôurnal and learn lots about art journaling.

Level: Anyone will love it!

Where to get it: Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Happy journaling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty Layers

This is my latest art journal page.Its done with loads of layers.Ive been watchîng lots of art journaling video, reading lots of books and surfing the web a lot.Many people are posting stuff about layers, so I thought id give it ago to.And this is what came out.

My layers:

1.I cut some pages out of an old book and after cutting em done to fit on the page i glued em down.

2.I painted over it with a watery gesso (just add lots of water)

3.Then I coverd the page with some light pink ink from my ink pad

4.And stamped down a celtichorese design in dark pink.

5.I dripped some blue paint down

6.I added two layers of blue paint, not painting over the stamps

7.Next I added some tipex stars and some pencil stars

8.Then using artists pitt pens I drew the girl and gave her a tipex bow

Done!!!!

To get more inspiration about layers go to:http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=art+journaling+layers&search_type=&aq=f

Have fun and Happy Art Journaling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some cool prmpts for your art journal:

1.Did you see a good film lately?Journali about it, add colours that make you think of it, add your ticket from seeing it and write what the story was about.

2.Experiment with diffrent new mediums like crayons or shading with coloured pencils

3.draw mandalas

4.Draw people and add your fave quotes.

5.Make a page with pictures of all your favorite stuff.Use your fave colours and photos ....

6.Design and plan new projects or partys in your art journal.

7.Grab a magazine and use it in your page in some way.

8.Make cool backgrounds and cut people out of an old book page and go from there.

9.Use photos of yourself

10.At the beginning of a new month makew a page with goals you haave for that month and tick em off as you go

11.Go overboard with your fave stamp and add glitter

12.Simply doodle

13.Cut out random words stick em on the page and get inspired from that.

14.Next time you go to an art gallery, make notes and buy postcards . Then make a journal entery about it.

15.If youre in abad mood.Go grab your art journal and express yourself in colour and words .It helps!!!

16.Draw
17.Doodle while you listen to podcasts

Happy art journalin!!!

What I've been up to....

Okay so I have this cool plan to make some photo FIMO coasters as christmas presents, so today i bought the supplies.A huge chunk of white FIMO and FIMO liquid with which you can transfere photos.So stay tuned for how that works out.

The yellow art journal page was made when i was at my friends staying over, so my art supplies where limited. I painted it at home and then did the glueing and journaling at theirs.I think it turned out okay but...As you can see Bella , Edward and Jacob are on it to and this is cause im a twilight junkie and must see NEW MOON( Im going tomorrow ) and I thought later i could post a review on it. That would be fun eh?

Then the next photo is on a canvas.Its going to Marie Antoinette.I felt inspired to paint it , after watching the film ( the one with Kirsten dunst as Marie Antoinette).You should watch it to . the costumes are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!So what do you think so far?Im gonna take and post pictures as i go along. At the end i want it to be a mixed media painting.

The last page was inspired by ihanna's pagehttp://www.ihanna.nu/blog/?p=1016 . If you look closely you will even see I included her fab page in mine.It was so FUN.Its also a marie Antoinette meets LONDON page.

The last piece of news is that I bought the book: Journal Revolution.I will post a review later in the week.

So now you know what Im up to.Happy Art Journaling

Inspiration

A problem a lot of art journalers are faced with:You sit down to art joournal but you have NO inspiration and art journaling with no inspiration is not fun!!

So where do you get some?

Well in your day to day life you can find an applethera of inspifration if you know where to look.Go through a day with me and I will give you ideas to inspire you:

1.The colours or theme of you cereal packet

2.Newspapers:Cut out intresting photos . word and headlines plus you can use the text in your background check out ihannas post on more ways to use text in your art journal pages(http://www.ihanna.nu/blog/?p=998)

3.Adverts can give you inspiration

4.A material can inspire you to, like a pretty paper

5.A cd may inspire you

6.Or a magazine( the magazine was staring at me begging to go in my art journal)

7. Someone elses blog or art

8.A film or book or tv show

9.Food packaging

......

pretty much anything that you like the colour, texture, writing or whatever can inspire you.So once you find something that appeals to you in some way , how do you go about using it?

Well you can just let yurself be driven by inspiration.Or you can take your Magazine (or what ever inspired you) and look at it again...Ask yourself:

1.what do i like about it the colour, the theme, the font, the context, he images ...

Now find a way of using this in your page.You could simply cut out the word or image and stick it in in some special way .Or you could try to draw or paint a face like the one in the photo.Or you could write you opinion and add cut out quotes on the artical.Or you could just use the colour that is so inspiring.Do you get the picture here? Basiclly:

Find out what it is that you like and think of creative ways to use this in your page

______________________________________________________________

So above you will see the 3 photos from my art journal. The first one the giraffe is what inspired me to do the giraffe page beside it .The giraffe just keept looking at me and asking to get in my art journal so I did. This is a simple collage with doodling:Things like this can be preped and then taken to a cafe and you can journal there.The second one is based on Avril Lavignes album The best damm thing.

Happy journaling!!!!!

Tips for your art journaling space

As I got more and more into art journaling, my stash of pens, papers, old books,paints and so on grew.At first I kept all my supplies in a big box, which I took out when I did art journaling and put away again when I was done.But soon this was impossible as my supplies no longer fit in the box, so I decided to make my self a crafty corner.

Your desk
DO NOT go and buy yourself a new one, as you will spill paint , glitter and tea all over it!!!Just use an old one you would other wise throw away or go and get one in a second hand shop. It should be big enough though for all your supplies.Also it helps if it has drawers and lots of room underneath to store supplies.

Lighting
Your best option is to get two lights - one coming from the left and the other from the right, but if you only have onê put on the left if youre righthanded and on the right if your left handed. Otherwise your hand will block the light hitting your journal properly.

Chair
Make sure it has a backrest so you can journal for hours on end .And it should be comfy!!!

Storing supplies
Tins or jars are a great sulution for storing paint brushes, pencils, pens and scissors.
I pile my books I use for art journaling on my desk, but you may want to put up a shelf for them.I think the best way to store stamps is n a drawer.I just arrange a lot of my stuff on my desk. But I do keep paper in a basket under my desk- I have 3-One for pretty patterned paper, one for Junk paper and one for old magazines.


Inspiration
Their are many ways you can get inspiration from your work space:
Create an inspiration board or file-simply fill with images you love but dont know how to use yet.Hang up lots of pictures and postcards that inspire you.Keep your fave books close.Arrange your supplies in an inspiring way.Have lots of magazines around you.Cut out random words in adveance and when you dont know what to journal about let them inspire you. Have some kind of music player near so you can get inspired by your fave music whilst art journaling.

Propmtfile
Keep a notebook or file to record all the great quotes and prompts from the web near so you will always have an inspiration kick!!!!

So that was just a few tips based on the way i have my artsyden organized.Tip: Have some comfy seating solutions near you, so can do the page at your desk and then journal in a nice comfy space:)
Happy art journaling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!