Final 2 CBC and a couple of others

I finally finished the last two CBC challenges! I kept up all the way through until the final two! I am also taking note of the prompts on 'the 30 day journal' course, but I am only doing the ones that appeal to me.

This one was day 3 on 30 day journal, 'share with someone why you love them-draw a picture of someone you love and write them a letter telling them how much you love them.'

This is a journal page about my sister

On the left is my page for CBC day 12 'smooth'.

I struggled with this, I wanted to convey a smooth blank page in my journal and how you get started on that new page. Confronted with a new blank page I have the tendancy to go blank myself because I don't want to mess the page up. I am actually not happy at all with this page but I have posted all the other CBC pages so here it is.

The right page is from prompt number 4 on 30 day journal-'what does your heart look like?'

This was just a doodle I did.

This page is the final day of CBC 'smile', another little doodle that I coloured in with pencils.

And this one is in my new Moleskine journal, that I was saving until I had filled the other one, but have decided to take to Glastonbury this weekend. It is a Goddess drawing in honour of Glastonbury!

We are not going to the festival we are just going for a nice relaxing spiritual weekend. Glastonbury town is very quiet festival weekend so I expect to spend a lot of time in all the really cool shops!
I am going to take my journal as Glastonbury is such a spiritual place I want to try and capture some of that with some art and maybe some poetry while I am sat at the Chalice well!
Thanks for looking,
Sami x

CBC Day 11

Day 11 word prompt

Hush

This one was a little rushed. I used acrylics on my journal page. I copied this from a photo I took a couple of years ago.

I was taken to stonehenge on my birthday (winter solstice) by some friends. The stones are magnificant but the whole place was filled with tourists doing the 'stand in front of the stones holding their palms out thing' so the photos would look like they were holding the henge in their hands. To me, the stones are a very spiritual place, with deep significance to the pagan path. I longed for all the people to disapear so I could feel the power of the stones. I just wanted some HUSH! I managed to get a photo with the sun setting behind the stones and no people in the picture. To me this represents my kind of hush!

TFL

Sami x

CBC Day 10

Word prompt for today

Full bodied

I tried my had at collage today, its not great but I had fun!

My mind was not fully on this today because just as I started the postman brought my new CRICUT!!!!!

Yay I finally got one, its only taken 3 years to be able to afford it! So obviously I was some what distracted from my art journal because I had to unpack it and have a play straight away!

I just wanted to say thank you to people for the lovely comments I have recieved for my CBC stuff. Its really encouraging me to keep at it, and hopefully I will continue after CBC has finished.

TFL

Sami x

CBC Day 9

Day 9 random word prompt

Drizzle

Well, I had a good run, 8 days of creating and I was really pleased with all my work! Day 9 dawns and I've hit a brick wall! I just could not think outside the box on this one, it didn't inspire me at all, no reflection on your word maegan, its all me!

I thought I'd try the oils again as they worked well with the jellyfish but heres what happened..

1 1/2 hours later and I've got a very childlike picture that im not happy with at all! My oil pastels would not blend today no matter what I did. So I thought I'd just try again before the kids got home from school...

The page on the left is ok but I don't feel it represents drizzle, and the other page just doesn't work for me either. Im trying not to stress about my lost mojo, this is supposed to be fun after all but I am a teeny bit disapointed with my efforts today. Heres hoping my mojo sneaks back into the house tonight while im sleeping, all ready for a fresh start tomorrow!
TFL
Sami x

CBC Day 8

Creativity Boot Camp, Day 8, random word prompt

Ornament

I drew around my hand on a piece of card and doodled the Mehndi design on it with a brown fineliner, then I cut it out. I put a bit of background paper on the page and swirled paint all over it and then stuck the hand down over the top.

I love henna tatoos! I work with ethnic women and some of the designs the ladies do on their hands are works of art in themselves.

TFL

Sami x

CBC Day 7 & Scrap with us #17

CBC Day 7

Random word prompt

Fly

This has not photographed well because I used some metalic acrylic paint on it. Quite a simple journal page today, I have not thought outside the box as much as my other pages, but I think thats because I did this at our monthly crop today, those little feelings of 'is it good enough' were creeping around my head because there were other people there! Stupid I know, but there you go!

If you cant see what it is, it's dandelion seeds flying on the breeze!

I found a wonderful blog last night through a link photo on CBC, its called One Blackbird (link on my bloglist). I stayed up untill 1.30am and looked at every single blog entry! This is my first attempt at an art journal and I am not sure what I am doing, but her blog inspired me. There are amazing journal pages on it and I even found a starters kit list with essensial supplies for journalling! I will definately be popping back to check out her work on a regular basis!

Today was our crop and week 17 of scrap with us which was
'I'm feeling distressed'
Not a great LO but my head is full of CBC and my art journal at the moment! I love the photo of my sister which I took last week at a reaissance festival we went to. She was so engrossed in watching the Bloodstone border morris dancers she didnt even know I'd taken the photo!

I know thoughtful is spelt wrong, it was intentional!
PP was Kaisercraft Airyfairy which I have had forever, primas, thickers, Cosmo Cricket alphas, lace and buttons. I did scrunch up the paper and tear the edges but it doesnt show that much! I also distressed the edge of the photo.
If you want to join in with Scrap with us, pop over to our Wight craft circle blog, link on top right.
TFL
Sami x

CBC day 5 & 6

Day 5 on CBC, the random word prompt was

Grow

This is my attempt

I used acrylic paint for the picture. It hasn't turned out as well I'd hoped but I just keep reminding myself it doesn't have to be perfect!

The journal prompt for day 5 was about music and remembering all your hopes and dreams when you were younger. I did have a go at this as you can see on the left hand side of the page. Must admit to remembering all sorts of fav songs from my youth and then spending an hour on youtube listening to them!

Day 6 word prompt

Fluid

I have just finished this at 9.45 this evening as I had to attend yet another boring training course today...I sat there doodling on my paper trying to get my ideas for todays word together!

The daily thought today was about getting trapped in your own style, does it stiffle you, try a different technique or style today. So I rummaged in the cupboard untill I found a packet of (barely used) oil pastels that I knew were there somewhere! I have only used oil pastels a couple of times, I find them difficult and I get in such a mess! I said to hell with it and got on with it!! And I am really pleased with how it has turned out. I have pastel under my nails, on my face and I have had to clean my sofa but I think it was worth it! I have tried to capture the fluid movement of the jelly fish, don't know if I have succeded but I had fun doing it. I have not had time to do the journalling but for me this course is about getting going with my drawing and painting again, not so much with the writing.

By the way, does anyone know how to 'set' oil pastels? I have placed a blank piece of paper between the pages at the moment. I know hairspray works for chalk pastels but don't know if it works on oil???

TFL
Sami x

CBC Day 4

Yesterdays random word prompt was

Heavy metal

(I did do it yesterday, I just didn't have time to post it! My DH has taken over my computer to play in some fantasy football league online, by the time he had finished last night, buying and selling players, it was gone 10pm and I was to busy watching Most Haunted!)

I read the prompt over my cup of tea at 7am and my first thought was 'wedding rings'. On my way to work however I thought about the huge rusty chains of the chainlink ferry I have to catch every wednesday to get me to my friendship group. I was lucky when I got there that the ferry was over the other side so I had time to take some quick photos to help inspire me when I got home for my art journal page. The photos are not great, I took them on my little digital camera and people were giving me weird looks as I was standing there taking photos of the chains! Im sure they thought I was some sort of inspector, assessing the condition of the chains!!

I was not going to use the photos on the page but when I started to try and draw the chains it was really difficult, I just could not get them right. So I printed the photos off as I had taken a few others of a sculpture and a big crane as well, both metal. I still had lots of blank space so I wrote down all the sounds the chains make when they are pulling the ferry. It is really noisy sitting on the ferry, luckily it only takes a few minutes!

As I am a scrapbooker it was quite liberating to just stick the photos down randomly, with masking tape no less..no way I would normally do this!

I must confess to not having time to do the journal prompt, hopefully I will get to it today along with the new word prompt!

TFL

Sami x

CBC Day 3

Todays random word prompt over on Creativity boot camp is

Multilayered

I have only had an hour this evening as I have been on a really boring training course all day.

Here is my attempt.

TFL

Sami x

CBC Day 2

It's day 2 at Creativity bootcamp and the random word prompt is 'Picnic'. This was my interpretation.

The drawing is not the best but I like the concept of the picture. People that know me IRL may think its a bit dark even though they know my obsession with Twighlight, trueblood, Buffy and vampires in general! This was probably floating around my sub concious because I read The short second life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer yesterday (another good book!)


The journal prompt today was, in short, what makes someone else an artist and not you? Thought provoking...not sure I came up with any answers but I scribbled my thoughts down in my art journal. I am trying really hard not to be precious about what goes in this journal, just scibbling away as it comes.

TFL
Sam x

Creativity boot camp

I found this online 2 week course called Creativity Boot Camp. Its run by Maegan Beishline, link on the left. It looks interesting so I thought I would have a go. You are supposed to chose one medium to work in throughout the course so I have chosen mixed media and thought I would have a go at an Art journal. I have never done a 'proper' one of these before although as a girl I always had a sketch book on the go and still have some of my college sketch books from my fashion design course.

I found an old, hardly used notebook last night and thought I would just start with a bit of doodleing to get the creative juices flowing. Heres what I ended up with.

I am a little rusty in the drawing department but hopefully this course will help me get back into the swing of things. Hard to believe I spent my childhood drawing and painting and now it scares me to put pen to paper in case it doesn't turn out right!

I just have to learn to let go, not worry about producing a work of art, not worrying thats its not perfect, that it doesn't look like what it should be, and just learn to create again. No ones going to see it but me, Im not doing it for anyone else but me so so what if its crap??!!

This is day 1 of the course

The prompt was to write a letter to your future self as if you had already done this course. Tell yourself what you got out of it, how you met and exceeded all of the challenges set and how all your creative dreams have come true. Then you put the letter away and dont read it again for the duration of the course. Also the random word prompt to be incorporated was 'Ivory'.

This stumped me for a bit...I wanted to start the art journal, Im not great at writing and I wasn't supposed to read it again during the course???
So I have just gone my own way with it...see I've learnt something already...theres no right and wrong way!

I wrote my letter on good quality ivory parchment paper then I made an envelope to put it in that I could stick in my art journal. The letter would be put away and I have my first entry in my Journal.
I drew a picture of future me..I so wish!....then I covered it with ivory paint and ink. I used it as a mask to paint around, creating what looks like a door, then stuck the picture above it. Then I stamped and painted swirls with the ivory paint and ink.

Now at this point I would normally be obsessing over whether it met the criteria, had I done it right, is it good enough..but I'm not. I've done it, I'm happy with it, it gave me a couple of hours to myself just to play so day 1 accomplished I'd say!

TFL

Sami x