Lil Journal Project...Still Having Fun!

Thank you, Ashley Hackshaw at Lil Blu Boo for helping me keep up with my art journal for almost a month!  This is monumental!  I love Fridays, when we link up and get to take a look at what everyone else has been up to. 

It was a busy week, so most of my entries were doodled while I waited in pick-up lines at school or sat with the fam at night.  I put together a bag of supplies to carry around with me...makes me feel like a school girl! 

This week we made a timeline and listed all the jobs we've had over the years.  Since I stayed at home with my kids for so long I also made a list of all the "Hats I've Worn".  Whew...it makes me tired just to look at it!

Tuesday's prompt was to list magazine subscriptons we'd like to have and on Wednesday we drew a map of a route we travel often.  I decided to have some fun and let one entry randomly spill over onto the other.  I really love this page.

Yesterday's descripton of my favorite vacation as a kid looks like a page straight out of my high school binder.  I really got in touch with my inner teenager!

Finally, I just needed to remind myself of some truth one day, so I sketched out a bit of scripture and this wise little owl...just a reminder to be still and know.

If you have a few minutes, head over to The Lil Journal Project and check out some really fun journals or better yet, pick out a prompt or two and do a little doodling of your own this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lil Journal Project Part 3

I am excited to tell you I am still keeping up with the Lil Journal Project!  Following the prompts from Ashley at LilBluBoo has really helped me stay stay faithful to my journal.  The change of seasons also inspires me greatly (as I'm sure it does you) so I've been journaling en plein air (in the open air) as much as possible.   

Here's a recap of this week's prompts:

On Monday we drew a map of a neighborhood (other than our own) that we remember from childhood.  I drew the neighborhood where both of my grandmothers and several aunts and uncles lived.  It was a magical place to me.

We made a list of our favorite childhood reads on Tuesday.  I revisited some of the books I still have and practiced drawing characters just as I did when I was a little girl.  It was a fun exercise.  The world would be a better place if we all read children's books instead of newspapers once in a while.

Wednesday was a day to collect little scraps of interesting paper to use as embellishments here and there in our journals.  I also used this day to finally decorate the cover of my journal.  My inspiration came from this:

which I turned into this!

I added a sari silk ribbon to keep my growing journal closed.  It is getting pretty hefty already!

I'm going to spend this weekend with my family back home and my journal is going with me.  I hope my mom will help me work on Thursday's prompt to make a family tree. 

This weekend's exercise is to draw something with our non-dominant hand...always a fun exercise.  Why don't you try it, too?  Let me know how it goes!  You don't have to post pictures ;-)

Have you checked out the site that sponsors the Lil Journal Project,  LittleBlueBoo.com?  This amazing blog is worth a look...lots of tutorials and inspiration.  Be sure to read Ashley Hackshaw's story....she is one talented, amazing, beautiful girl.  

Enjoy your weekend! 

Lil Journal Project Week 2

Yay for the Lil Journal Project at lilblueboo.com!  The journal prompts Ashley posts each day offer such fresh ideas for my art journal.  Every day she takes us in some totally new direction.  It's so much fun!

We began this week by drawing a map of our childhood neighborhood:

I wanted mine to fold out so I drew it on an old paper sack and glued it into the book.

Tuesday's assignment was to draw and write about different cars we had when we were growing up.  Well, okay, everyone else probably wrote about cars that day.  I woke up thinking about buntings that morning (go figure), so on Tuesday my journal page looked like this:

I told you before, I don't always follow directions :-)

I also created a Pinterest board that day named "Buntings, Pennants and Flags".  Click here to see some gorgeous images and fun tutorials.  I am a bit obsessed.

Okay...back to the journal...On Wednesday we created color palettes so we could give each color a name.  This was maybe my favorite project this week.  I'm fairly certain my color names would never make it onto lipstick tubes or paint samples with names like "Used Motor Oil" and "Mountain Home Countertop".  (I promise it's the same color of tomato red used in the kitchen of the first house the huz and I rented as newlyweds.  Those countertops were out of control.)

Thursday we wrote memories prompted by a group photo we pasted into our journals.  It could be any group at all.  I chose a picture of my mother's family taken several years before I was born.  It was nice to spend time honoring the memories of some of the beautiful people that were such a huge influence in my early years.

There's just one more assignment this week.  Over the weekend we will sketch a few things that we treasure, taking note of where they came from and why we keep them.  I'm just looking around now to see what I might sketch...
I know my journal entries thus far have been a little labor intensive.  I guess I'm just so excited to have a little inspiration and focus that I've had fun losing myself in the process.  Sometimes our creative energy gets so bottled up inside of us it just needs permission to bust out!

Click on the link below to read today's journal prompt and see links to other journals.  Better yet, grab a pencil and paper and join in!

Adventures in Handwriting

Following the journal prompt offered on Lil Blue Boo this weekend was great fun!  (Click the button below to learn more about the project.)  Being challenged to work specifically on handwriting helped me stretch a bit and it is great to know that others are thinking/creating along the same lines.

My inspiration for my latest journal entry was this piece I created a few years ago.

Lots of words on that background...why not try out some different handwriting styles on them?  While doodling and sketching I revised  my original wording and explored some different font styles I found at KevinandAmanda.com. The creators of this site turn handwriting samples into fonts and make them available to you and me for free! They call it Fonts for Peas and you can check them out here. Download a few fonts or just enjoy studying the different handwriting styles...the slant of this one, the loops in that one...just looking opens our minds to creative possibilities.

Now for my favorite part (I never seem to be able to leave things simple)...

I created a background by drybrushing brown and then orange acrylic onto the prepared journal pages. I also added some brown "spatters" with a paintbrush.  I love the texture of the underlying words showing through the paint.  I chose orange because a.) it's one of my favorite colors and b.) it contrasts nicely with the aqua blue used in the lettering.

I added a title by outlining letters in permanent marker and filling them in with acrylic paint.

  

Unfortunately I had to actually rewrite my text on a new page as I was unhappy with the starkness of the white looseleaf paper against the warm values of the background. The loose leaf paper was also a little thin.  To help keep my writing somewhat consistent I photocopied a lined sheet of paper onto a sheet of tea-stained card stock. The lines came out very light...just right.

After trimming the calligraphy pages down I rounded the corners and used a brown inkpad to "antique" the edges. (I use this technique a lot. It gets rid of that white edge and anchors the object to the background.)

My first few entries in this journal have been heavy on the cutting and pasting, so tomorrow I'm challenging myself to actually write in the book!  There's something about writing in a bound book that intimidates me a bit...always has.  Hmmm...I really need to let go of that.

I hope this is the beginning of a great week for you!