Weekend Wrap-up

I hope you all have some good weekend plans. It’s funny how our definition of a good weekend has changed over the past year. I was always a bit of a homebody, but I am now an uber-homebody. With all of this time at home, I struggle to stay away from work (especially when work involves paint, paper and glue). Having plans for the weekend help me have a little more balance.

This weekend I am planning on doing some baking for Valentine’s Day. I have a few boxes of goodies I want to send to some friends and family. I found this recipe for Valentine’s fudge, so I am definitely making this. My dad loves poundcake, so I have been searching for a recipe I can bake in a loaf pan, so it will be easier to mail to him. My usual recipe has to be cooked in a bundt pan, so I am considering this recipe or this one.

This week I started listening to “Soulful Simplicity” by Courtney Carver. She talks about simplifying her life after an MS diagnosis. I am excited to keep listening to this. (Plus the Kindle version is on sale right now)

On Sunday, I am joining the Bookmaker Collective introduction on Zoom. Some of my favorite bookmakers will be teaching workshops throughout the year. I can’t wait to hear what they have planned.

I had hoped to get some time in my garden, but now it looks like we will have a rainy weekend. I am hoping to squeeze in a bit tomorrow morning before the rain starts. Maybe I should take my Saturday morning yoga outside? Multi-tasking self-care is okay, right?

Happy Arting!

I have a new journal!

You’re probably thinking “do you really need another one?”. The answer is yes, I do need it.

I have told many of you already that I enjoy working in a variety of journals. I do this because I may have a particular idea in my head and I need a specific type of paper. Or I may want to work small (or large). I may want some text in my background and a book journal cuts out a step. Maybe I am working with wet media and I need a journal that lies flat. Plus there are my “go to” journals that I always enjoy working in.

So now I have added another journal to this mix. I’m not sure what other people call it, but I call mine a flip journal. It is a stack of miscellaneous papers, about 4”x6”, and is sewn together along the top edge. This way I can flip through and look for a page that inspires me.

If you want your own Flip Journal, I have several available in my shop.

I just recently started working in this journal and I wanted to share my first page with you. Since this is a small journal, it allows me to work quickly. In this video, I used my box of collage bits and a stamp and stencil I had at hand. I find that working quickly like this frees me up and allows me to try things without overthinking them.

My 2021 100 day project

A few weeks ago I talked about creative challenges. If you read that article you know that my most successful challenge was last year during the 100 day project. This challenge usually starts in April, but the group decided to move it to January this year. (Want to learn more about #the100dayproject ?)

I have spent a few days thinking about what I wanted to do this year as my challenge. Last year was all about collage because I wanted to challenge myself to use collage as the main focus of my art. The small journal I started last year has moved into a second journal and now a third, so this was a successful project.

I started thinking about what I could challenge myself with this year that was still manageable. I found the size of my project before I found the project itself. I bought this drawer from an online vintage sale by Tremblay’s Paper Shop.

The drawer was so perfect to hold my 100 day project, I just knew I had to use it. So I quickly measured and determined that I could cut watercolor paper to 2”x3.5”. I also grabbed some of the scrap paper around my desk and cut it down, so I could have a variety of surfaces to work on.

So, now I had my project supplies, but what was my project? Obviously nothing too big.

One thing I have been exploring the past few months is color. I have been reading about the origins of colors and looking at how colors play together. This seemed like a perfect challenge for me.

I have decided to complete 100 days of color palettes. I want to build a set of cards I can refer to when I am stumped picking a palette. I also want to push myself outside of my comfortable teal box.

I knew that I needed to sets some parameters for my project because that had led to my success last year. My size was already limited, but I decided to limit my color choices. First I made a list of weekly color focuses (I included my list below). My palettes will only include 3 colors, one of which must be from my weekly color list.

Are you challenging yourself this year?

Weekly Color Focus:

week 1 - green

week 2 - pink

week 3 - yellow

week 4 - orange

week 5 - brown

week 6 - purple

week 7 - red

week 8 - blue

week 9 - gold

week 10 - gray

week 11 - violet

week 12 - teal

week 13 - silver

week 14 - periwinkle

week 15 - favorites

I’m a not quite early bird…

I have never been a morning person. When I worked a “regular” job, I was forced to be a morning person, but since then I have gone back to my natural rhythm. When I wake up, I am not ready to go. I need some time to get going before I can have a conversation. Until recently my morning routine included making coffee, flipping through my phone and shuffling around the kitchen. Not exactly the most productive start to my day.

I recently had a conversation with a friend, the Confetti Coach, about her morning routine. She inspired me to re-think how I started my mornings. So I sat down and thought of things I wanted to do and how I wanted to feel in the morning. I recently learned the word “hygge”, pronounced hoo-ga. It is a Danish word for a sense of wellbeing, absence of frustration and savoring the present moment. This is what I wanted to feel.

Hygge

I knew I needed a relaxing routine. As much as I love to exercise, I am NOT a morning exerciser. I needed something slower….that included coffee. Here is the list I ended up with:

• Coffee and then some more coffee

• Get a little sunshine

• Read a chapter in whichever art or business book I am reading

• Stroll around my yard and garden

• Journal my morning pages

• Listen to a podcast or audiobook

• Update my planner with my top 3 tasks

• Catch any ideas or to-do’s in my Catch-all book (just a Moleskine where I keep lists)

Since I wanted this to be a relaxing routine, I allow myself to modify or reduce this list depending on what else I have going on that day. I also aim for doing this four mornings a week. I usually do more, but I didn’t want this to feel like a chore to check off a list. The purpose of the routine is to relax and enjoy my morning time.

I also make the time special. When weather allows, I do my morning routine outside on my patio. Right now I use my patio table, but I have plans to convert my son’s unused treehouse into a morning retreat. I see a comfy chair, little table and a few decorations.

So, has a new morning routine changed anything for me?

It has. I feel relaxed but also like I have accomplished something right away in the morning. It is a slow, but focused start to my day. I also feel like has a relaxed mind has allowed for more creative space in my head during the day.

Do you have a morning routine?

What do you do?

Is it all glue?

If you have ever walked into an art store looking for glue, you probably already know there are many kinds. Knowing what each glue is best for will help you select the right glue for your projects.

This is a list of the glues I prefer to use and what I use them for. I am not a certified glue expert (but I would be if that were a thing), so these are just my opinions.

Matte medium - my most reached-for glue. I prefer Liquitex’s professional fluid matte medium. It is a watery medium that allows you to adhere thinner collage papers (less than cardstock weight). I like that a little goes a long way and it soaks into papers quickly.

Gel Medium - I grab this one when I have paper about cardstock weight. I like Dina Wakley Media gel medium. It comes in a small pot and is easy to scoop out with a spatula. It is thicker and can hold a thicker paper. This is the one I use most often when gluing down ephemera.

Lineco Adhesive - this is my favorite glue for book making. It is a permanent PVA glue that dries clear. When I am assembling a handmade book, this holds everything in place and dries fairly quickly.

Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium - I save this one for gluing down 3D elements in books and journals. You can also use this for collage. I like that this comes on a squeeze bottle with a small tip. It allows for precise application and less waste.

Fabri-Tac - this is perfect for anytime I am gluing fabric, either onto other fabric or onto paper. I also use this for some heavier 3D items in books. It also dries clear and is fast drying.

Glossy Accents - this is an ultra clear glue that I use when my glue will be visible, for example gluing onto acetate. It dries perfectly clear and also comes in a squeeze bottle with a small tip.

Do you have a favorite glue that is always on your desk?

Creative Challenges

If you don’t challenge yourself, you will never realize what you can become.

If you are feeling a pull to try something new or to re-establish your creative practice, a creative challenge may be the perfect solution. I resisted taking on challenges for a few years. I thought they would box me in or make my art practice unspontaneous. I have learned that neither of those are true and, in fact, creative challenges have help me expand my art knowledge in areas I would have never explored on my own.

About four years ago I signed up for the Index Card A Day (ICAD) challenge. At the time I didn’t have a regular creative practice, I was just trying to squeeze it in whenever I could. I thought this challenge would be great because an index card is small. I could easily do that each day, right? That was the year that I learned no magic happens when you sign up for a challenge. I completed about 10 days in a month and gave up. Next I tried the 100 Day Challenge with a very similar result. I started to think that challenges just weren’t my thing.

I stopped trying challenges for awhile, but kept feeling the pull to try again. One day I decided to write down notes about the challenges….what I liked, what hadn’t worked, what I wanted to try. Through this I found out several things that were hindering my efforts. First I realized that many times I was taking on a much larger challenge than I could accomplish. For example, I would set my goal as an art journal page every day. I would also set me goal as something too broad, like “paint every day”. I started to narrow down what I thought I could really accomplish every day. Then I looked at what I wanted to try more of.

As I finished all of that exploring, the 100 Day Project was about to start again. I had decided to use a very small journal (about the size of an index card) and to focus mostly on collage. I gathered my little paper scraps and placed then in a box. I added a small paper of scissors, a glue stick and a Moleskine sketch book to the box. That was my challenge kit. I decided that I could only use things in that box. One hundred days later I had a chunky collage journal that I loved to look through.

Why did this work for me? It worked because I set parameters that allowed me to be successful. I limited the size of my project and I limited the supplies I could use. I never set an official time limit, but I tried to work as quickly as possible., not letting myself overthink things. This challenge has now become a regular part of my creative practice. I use the same size book and collage box as my warm-up many days that I am in the studio. I have lost track of how many days I have completed, but I am on my third Moleskine book. (To check out a page from this journal, click here)

Adding a creative challenge can help you explore or finetune your art practice. My challenge led me to explore collage further. Before this I had always used collage as part of my underlayer, not a focal point. So adding this little challenge has broadened my art practice. I have yet another tool in my toolbox.

Are you ready for a creative challenge? Here are some to try….

The 100 Day Project starts again on January 31, 2021. Still one of my favorite challenges because you set your own guidelines. This can be anything you want to do for 100 days.

The Index Card a Day challenge usually starts in June, but there is nothing saying you can’t start you own challenge now.

This year I will be hosting a monthly art journaling challenge in my Patreon group. The challenge will include a monthly prompt, photos and a video of my pages related to the prompt and a place to share your pages with the rest of the Arty Gang.

Have you taken on a creative challenge? What worked for you and what did you learn?

2021…the year of the creative

Happy New Year, my arty friends. We made it through 2020, mostly intact.

I have been spending this first week of the new year planning for the upcoming year but also thinking about what I am supposed to learn from 2020. I keep thinking about a post I read on Instagram that talked about how the plague lead to the Renaissance. I also think about how darkness leads to light. A seed grows toward the sun. Bubbles rise from the depth of the oceans. I want to add more light to this year and my brand of light is creativity.

So how can we let our creativity grow this year? Are you ready to join me for a year of creative exploration?

I am excited to work alongside you this year, exploring new supplies and re-visiting techniques. I have so many ideas and I know I will find more along the way. I have some new online classes coming this year. I am also hopeful that my in-person creative retreats may be able to return this fall. My shop, the Art-ish Bazaar, will have some new products. The mid-tier of my Patreon group is expanding to include even more art journaling videos. And I will be sharing more inspiration on my YouTube channel.

Are you ready to get inspired?

My weekend wrap-up

My weekend plans….

• “A Discovery of Witches” season 2 is coming, so I plan on re-watching season 1

• I am working on a new online color theory class, so I am doing some extra research this weekend.

• I am working through my 2021 planning process, so I plan on spending a bit of time with my planner and goal setting pages this weekend.

What are you up to this weekend?