Monique's journal pages completed

Almost at the end of the round robin with just one more journal to go. Monique's journal was really fun to work in. She bound it in leather to look like the River Song book from Doctor Who and made removable signatures for us all to work in.

This Ralph Waldo Emerson quote was the theme for the journal:

Each signature had a Da Vinci lady on one of the panels. I've added colour to her eyes and lips, a piece of washi tape running vertically, and a gold sticker.

This is my sign-in tag, gelli-printed with circles and then sketchily outlined in white with a uniball signo pen. On the other side are a few things about me also written in white. 

This is the outside of the signature, opened out. The two end pieces are flaps that fold back inside. The right hand end is a ghost gelli-print from the tag. The left hand end has gelli-printed greaseproof paper with white writing.

Monique had popped an envelope of goodies in a pocket in each signature. I refilled the envelope with a few bits and pieces of printed, stamped, embossed, and inked papers and tags.

This is the inside. I split the quote into three parts to journal it: what is behind - the past. What is before - the future. What is within - ourselves in the present. 

I've used the open flap up to the half pocket to do about the past. The background is made of a map, some spray inks through a stencil, and an embossed dandelion seed head. In my case, the past is literally another country, having lived in the UK for forty years and then moved to Australia five years ago.

Then the middle page and the pocket were used for the future, which is unknown. And here are a couple of close-ups of these spreads:

This is the signature with the central page turned and the small flap opened to make a spread for the 'within' part of the quote. The gold letters are stickers by Luckies of London. My husband bought me a set with several alphabets and decorations.
Thinking about what is within us made me think of the literal organs and most obviously, the heart. This heart is drawn on greaseproof paper and glued on with gel medium:

The quote made me think about how we cannot change the past and we cannot know the future, but if we each bring everything we are and everything we have to the present moment, we can be a powerful force for good. Being fully present, listening with full attention to the person who's talking to you, can have a huge effect on someone - more than you might know in the moment.

And now the journal is ready to make its way to Canada, to Gayle, it's last stop before it makes its way back to Monique in the Netherlands.

Monique wanted to have the postage somehow included in the journal to show the journey it had been on around the world. I used the strap on the back of the signature to slip in the stamps and sticker from the parcel.

Round Robin - work in progress

After a couple of months of waiting, I finally have another journal in the circle journal/round robin. And what a beauty it is! Monique's journal arrived from Germany last week where Beate worked in it last.

Now it's my turn. And when this is finished, there is just one more to go! Here are a few photos of the bits and pieces I've done so far. Monique provided lots of lovely pockets and flaps to play with. The middle two panels of the photo above were already decorated for me and the rest of the pull-out signature is in black. I'll post more when I've completed my part.

One Little Word - Adventure

One Little Word has a new challenge, open until May 15th, and the word is adventure.

I do not like adrenalin.
I don't find adventure in extreme sports or foreign travel.
For me life is an adventure in itself.
The journey into the unknown each day is enough adventure for me.

Pay it Forward Art Project

A couple of weeks ago I joined in with the Pay it Forward Art Project (blog post here). As the project is completely open to any form of art, I thought I'd have fun with leather on the gelli-plate again and make a pen roll. 

Last week I managed to squeeze in a little time in between preparing for Easter and doing a heap of sewing to get out the gelli-plate and print the pen roll and the lining. I used my own design circle stencil to print the leather and then ghost-printed the cotton for the lining. Here are some close-ups.

Then zigzagged round the edge of the lining and added a strip of elastic to hold the pens.

Next I took out my handy leather sewing tool and added a strip of leather and a button for a closure.

All that was left was to adhere the lining to the leather. I went with the gluing method as folding in the leather to make a narrow hem was difficult because of the thickness.

And there you go! So Marji, it will be on its way to you this week :)

Why I am like the moon

I've only done a little bit of journalling in the last week, with the preparations for Easter and the large pile of sewing sitting beside my desk. But I found this page that I hadn't blogged, so here it is.

With the end of my journey through Journal Fodder 365, I have been thinking about a new project. I read on a couple of blogs about April being fake-journal month, but I'm a bit late to join that. However, it did get me thinking. A fake journal would be a great way to tell a story. I have two semi-formed ideas in mind at the moment. A little more percolation time and hopefully they'll turn into something.

Watch this space!

Learning Lettering

Warning! Photo heavy post!

I've always admired beautiful lettering - the skill of Mary Brack, Miriam Schulman, and of course, Joanne Sharpe - and have spent time trying to emulate them. Last month I bought Joanne Sharpe's book (I had to order it in from the states as it doesn't make it to Australia until May!) and am working through the exercises in a random fashion. Here are some of my lettering adventures:

This is a spread in my Bible study journal done after having a go at some of the exercises. Quite often I don't manage to arrange the words very well, but this time I'm pleased with how they came out, stacked neatly on one another. 

Stacked letters.

The 'little black dress' outline.

Practicing in white on black. I enjoyed using the black lines to guide the size of the letters.

My first go - a few alphabets with different pens just to loosen up.

The 'playing' at the bottom is done using a dropper - there isn't much control which helps me to let go of perfection. The 'play' above was done with a paintbrush and then outlined with thick and thin markers to give a shadow.

Whoops! A bit blurry, but you get the idea.

I already used the little black dress outline quite a lot, but I really like the reverse one with a colour outline. Must use that more :)

What new skill are you working on?

Journal Fodder 365 - prompts #47 & #48

The journey through Journal Fodder 365 has finally come to an end after almost a year. I did the last two prompts this week because it's always fun to finish a journal :)

This spread is inheritances and legacies - what do you bring from the past and what will you leave behind?

I thought about the inheritances as seeds that were planted in my life and the legacies as the fruit that comes from them. I think my main inheritances are a desire to keep learning and sharing skills. The ability to read and follow instructions (not as obvious as it seems!) means I have been able to teach myself several skills by reading books. I love to learn from others, but sometimes there aren't the opportunities to do that, so you have to make do with what others have written.

As for the fruit - I hope to leave people with the knowledge that they are creative, even if they haven't found their niche just yet. I hope to be generous in sharing skills and encouraging the creativity of others, just as I have benefitted greatly from those who have been generous to me. And I hope to leave an abundance of beautiful books and jewellery. 

The final prompt was to look back at the journey through the book.

This journey has been a long one. Some of the prompts I have found easy, some of them I just didn't seem to be on the same wavelength as the authors. But I have interpreted the prompts as they appealed to me.

Working through the book has helped me to nail down my hopes and dreams; to see which fears are holding me back; to be grateful for all that has gone before, because it has made me into the woman I am, even if it wasn't fun at the time.

Thank you for joining me on the journey!

I will be sharing this page with Mix It Monthly, which has the subject of maps this month.