Building a Stash: Part 1

I think most artsy-crafty types have a "stash" of stuff that they've bought. You see something cute when you're at Michaels or skipping thru the office supply aisle at Target >.> ....
& you snatch it up and take it home to squirrel away.

As much as I love pretty coordinated paper lines & stickers and all that, I've found myself wanting to use less store bought things on my pages. I want there to be more of ME & less mass produced elements that are on thousands of other peoples pages.

Of course it's usually quicker & easier to grab pre-made elements from your stash. So I've been working on building a stash of my OWN creations. That way, even when I don't have time to make something myself right then, I can still have my own work on the page :)

Stickers

I LOVE making stickers! Whenever I make some for my etsy shop, I try to make a few extra for my own use.

These are some stickers I made for my journal calender. I use a lot of   "diary deco" stickers on my calenders (especially My Little Friend by Pony Brown) but wanted to make some that are more Anne-specific lol

Some emoticon-type stickers I made after searching for similar ones that were NOT just happy faces!

Ideas & Resources:
Avery label stickers are pretty easy to find anywhere that has office supplies and are great to doodle on.

There's also a lot of sellers on Etsy which sell cute blank stickers:

•  Berry & Rabbit

• Knot & Bow

• Chickydoddle  

Journalling Cards

I LOVE journalling cards!! (Can you tell?)

And they are not hard to make yourself. In fact, if you look at a lot of the commercially made ones- the design is pretty simple.  I have  several different ways that I like to make journalling cards (which I hope to share with you soon) however in the meantime there are lots of tutorials out there by creative crafters!

Ideas & Resources:

• The lovely & talented Jennibellie has some fun ideas for making your own journaling cards in the 2nd half of this vid (the first half is worth watching too!) Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcyoDyH5Azk

• If you are computer savvy, you could try making your own digitally: Make your own project life journal cards by Krista Lund

 

Patterned Paper 

Making my own patterened/background paper is something I tend to do when I feel like being artsy- but don't really have any focused ideas... I just start randomly doodling & flinging paint around. It's also one of my stress reducers!

lots & lots of layers!

watercolours over flowers doodled in permanent marker

Ideas & Resources:

• If you (like me!) prefer kind of crazy, layers-of-paint type backgrounds, check out the tutorial over at Peony & Parakeet (I love her papers!)

• If you like more neat & simple backgrounds (nothing wrong with that!) check out this one by Dawn McVey

Photos

I have a folder called "Random Photos I Took" on my computer.  There are a lot of shots of the sky &  flowers & trees... and people's shoes (cuz I'm weird like that!).  I've been steadily going thru & ordering prints of them.  There's a lot of "found images" used in art journaling- which cool but I think there's something to be said for using your own photos.
 
When I had access to a printer, I used to print my photos on regular printing paper- which is ideal if you like to write & doodle on them!

But now I usually order collage prints which I then cut up so I have lots of nice little pics ready to go.  I reused the clear plastic envelope from a sheet of stickers to store mine.

Ideas & Resources

• Walgreen's collage prints
• Make mini stickers from your Instagrams! on Printstagram

Quotable Quotes

 

I was watching "Harriet the Spy" the other day & totally understood her panic when they took her notebook away. If you're a notebook keeper- that's how you record & process things that happen,  how you sort out your thoughts & let out your feelings, so to have it taken away?? o.O *shudders*

Art Journaling: My Way

I would love to do "proper" art journaling with lots of layers of paint & ink & collage elements... The problem is- my paper can't take it!

Now, I do have a fair amount of paper stashed away. But I didn't start playing with paints or wet media until this year so most of my paper is colourful notebook paper (which I LOVE!) and cheap scrapbook paper.  This type of paper buckles badly & will pretty much disintegrate with too much paint. I don't have the funds for gesso or anything to treat my paper so I have taken to doing this:

 

 

mini art journaling "pages"

 I do my little art journal "pages" on small scraps of paper or blank ATCs & glue them into my book.

This eliminates a lot of barriers for me.

1) It doesn't matter if the paper buckles or the paint seeps thru- because it's just going to be glued down anyway!

2) I use less paint & ink, which means I don't use up my supplies too quickly

3) My notebooks don't get filled up faster than I want (I generally like my journals to last me 6 months- 1 year)

3) I've found that I prefer to make smaller paintings & drawings rather than larger ones.  It keeps me from getting overly fussy about details & making it perfect. Full page spreads for every idea would be too much.

4) I can work on my journal even when I don't have it with me

Prepped backgrounds

I have a bunch of pre-cut cards that are stashed in my journal pocket, purse, wallet & a couple other convenient places. Most of them are blank but I do sometimes prep the background ahead of time, like the ones above. I also use scraps or scratch paper & cut them down later.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw this out there into cyber space.  Maybe somebody else will find it helpful :)

And I Start to Complain When There's No Rain

"Oh but EVERYBODY loves sunshine!"

Sorry, no... some of us are odd little Bee Girls who just wish it would rain already..

Seriously sunny days are usually miserable for me. But there seems to be a lot of things that "EVERYBODY" loves, except me.

If you don't get the reference in the title, you should really google the video for "No Rain" by Blind Melon. The little Bee Girl is representative of all us oddballs who dance to a different beat ;)

Starry Night Notebook

Ta-da! Another notebook! lol isn't it prettiful? :D


It's another one that is made out of a Hamburger Helper box (I just think they have good dimensions for books!). However, instead of covering this one with paper, I just painted the box itself.

The outside cover is painted with blue acrylic & then Yasutomo shimmery watercolours over it.

(The Yasutomo watercolours were sent to me by a wonderful Crafty Fairy Godmother! )

The closure is made from salvaged bits of chain from broken necklaces fed thru an eyelet. 

 

 

jump ring to act as a stopper

I got this idea for the closure from one of Kathy Orta's videos.

inside front cover

On the inside covers, I used leftover paper scraps (from making the pages) which I painted with Crayola watercolours with a bit of the shimmery Yasutomos over them. I used something like 5 shades of blue but the effect is very pretty!

 

I made a little library card style pocket out of some leftover cardstock (lots of recycling going on in this notebook!)

back inside cover... soo sparkly! O.O

 

side view

There are 3 signatures that are stitched into the the book. The outside of each signature is blue cardstock with white, mixed-media paper in the middles.

I drew little shimmery star designs on the first page of each signature.

I'm really happy with how this one came out (no pages stitched in upside down!!! First time ever!)

I think I am probably going put it up for sale in my Etsy shop... since I am rich in notebooks, but poor in cash.  Altho, if nobody ends up buying it, I'm sure I can find some use for it ;) hehe

Clouds, Hearts & Compulsive Doodling

Hello!

I've been making more notebooks :)

This is the first one I've made that has co-ordinating papers & a theme rather than just a random mix.

Another homemade notebook!!!

I make a simple little watercolour painting for the cover.
The clouds & hearts were inspired by my favourite washi tape.. which I have used all up, sadly.

decorated pocket pages

After I finished the notebook I decided to make some matching journaling cards & stickers to go with it... >.>

And then I decided to do my November calendar...

And some more stickers...

lol I'm wondering, am I the only one who gets these funny little fixations where they want to doodle the same thing over & over?

Last week I did 3 dozen "creepy cute" face stickers... and before that, it was butterflies >.>


******
If case anyone's interested.. the notebook & matching goodies are for sale here --->Daybook Kit: Clouds & Hearts

and so are the stickers ---> Clouds & Hearts Stickers

:)

Journal Page

Once upon a time

Once upon a time I drew a creepy little face for a pack of Halloween stickers. 

It was so cute that I had to make a whole pack of creepy, cute faces...
and then another...
and another... 

And then, one day... they started to evolve! o.O  
Slowly at first.. something that could be limbs....  and then arrms & legs & hands & hair & clothing!

Until they developed into a new species of doodles. 

"Why did Death cross the road?" (to get Morbid Little Girl to the other side..)

"Cupcake Massacre"

"Morbid Little Sisters"

"A Bedtime Story"

"Princess of Nowhere"

"Tall, Dark & Handsome"

A Parade of Pocket Notebooks

Hi there!
I have several big notebooks that I am working on for awhile now. I think they will be very nice once they're (finally) finished, but in the meantime I just felt like having a COMPLETED project.

So I decided to make some pocket sized notebooks.  I made 7 in a day & a half and now feel very accoomplished! :D lol

Neon Pink Pocket Notebooks
http://www.zibbet.com/ScrappySweetpea/artwork?artworkId=993016

LOVE coloured notebook paper!

stitching in the middle

<3
https://www.etsy.com/listing/111618750/purple-teal-pocket-notebooks

Notebook for my father's work notes :)

for keeping track of cool stuff!
http://www.zibbet.com/ScrappySweetpea/artwork?artworkId=99295