Charlie & Audrey- doodle style!

I was having a little Charlie Chaplin marathon awhile back, and got the idea to do a portrait of him in my zombie-doodle-style.

 

 I am usually not very good at drawing men.. lol But I think I did Charlie justice :)

 And I did another little Breakfast at Tiffany's inspired doodle. (cuz it's my favourite movie!)

I did a Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei Lee from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.. but I was not happy with it. 

I am thinking I might do some ACEOs for my shop like this.. maybe make them like little movie posters. :) What do you think? 

March

I had a little problem with my calendar for this month.

See, what I have been doing is making my calendars on separate sheets of paper & then adding them into my notebook. Usually by folding them in half & taping them into the binding.

But over time I have added A LOT of pages this way, and the poor little book is getting overstuffed. I am only a little bit more than half way thru it, & the pages towards the back are starting to roll under. So I need to knock that off.

None of the 2 page spreads I had already bound in the book would have worked very well for the calendar. what I ended up doing was a little single page calendar, about half the size of my others.

I started out with a watercolour rainbow again. Altho, this one is a TRUE rainbow- with primary colours & everything lol.  I inked the edges with a black ink pad, but I wanted a sharper contrast between the colours & the black.. So I went over the edges again w/ some glossy black acrylic, & added some paint splatters as well.

I did the word "March" using my improvised stencils :)

 

The squares about about half as big as my usually ones, and I still had to re-arrange them several times to get them all to fit >.>

I highlighted the dates for each week w/ a different colour. The rows didn't really line up, so the colours help me keep them straight (I hate when I end up writing on the wrong square!)

Despite the fact that it is a mini calendar, I ended up quite liking it except for one teensy little thing...

THE WEEKS START ON SUNDAY!!

I use my online calendar as a guide when I make these, and somehow I didn't notice that it was set so the weeks start on Sunday.  I ALWAYS set it to start on Mondays.. I hate having my weekends wrap around. >.<   bah!

What I Made This Month

I wanted to share some of the random little things I've made in the last month or so :)

1. Rainbow Monsters Journalling Cards

2. Dragon ATC for my father                             3. Project Life embelishments

4. Shimmery Library Pockets                              5. ink doodle

6. MORE Alice in Wonderland cards

7. Rainbow Watercolour Days of the Week tags   8. Hello Kitty bracelet for my mum

9. Junk Mail Pockets    10. Cell Drawing (inspired by Chel at Ginger Blue)  11. Caligraphy Samples for my future sister in law :)

12. New Etsy Shop Banner!

13. February Calendar filled out!

Quick Project: Improvised Stencils

I've been trying to find some cheap stencils, but so far- no luck.

I have several packs of scrapbook paper which came with these sheets of diecut letters, so I thought I might try using them.

I coated them with gesso so they would be more durable, which was tricky to say the least. I tore the first sheet I tried to do this to.

On my second attempt, I put the sheet on some slick plastic, swiped on a light coat of gesso & then quickly peeled it up before it had time to start drying.

Once they were all dry, I did some experimenting & found that they worked well with ink pads & sprays :)

All in all, it was kind of a pain! lol But I don't like having to wait until I can buy something to do the things I want to do. Sometimes you've got to get a little creative. ;)

Working in the "Courage" Journal

 

I've started working in my little courage journal.

The title page, with the definition..

This is the first little page  I've finished.
 The quote is from the movie "Angus" that I've always liked...
And it seemed like a good excuse to draw myself as a superhero! hehe

New Journal

I finished one of the journals I've been working on! :D yay! I am so happy with it!

 

The light blue on the spine is just masking tape that I painted w/ acrylic paint. I added some silver glitter glue along the edge to keep it from peeling up.. and also just for the sparkles. :)

I have a piece of glitter cardstock in a page protector as the "title page".  I figure once I decide what I'm going to call the journal- I can add some letter stickers to the page protector. 

The inside is mostly cardstock in fun colours- lot pink & blues, teal & green.. 

Pocket pages..

I had these envelopes that were a pretty good match for the cardstock I was using, so I included them as little pockets too.

Fold out pages.

some little plastic pockets for ATCs..

I have a nifty little plastic book cover to protect my drawing on the front :)

It's nice & fat- just how I like my notebooks :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/beadstostring

For the binding I used  Irish waxed linen thread, which I ordered from BeadsToString on etsy.  I loved it- it's easy to work with, and it holds a knot nicely. I also love the colours (I got turquoise & fuschia).

February Calendar

*grumble grumble* too much real world drama lately >.<  

Anyways, it is February now right? So time for a new calendar :)

I did a loose calendar grid & the month with a white Prismacolor pencil (which works almost as well as a crayon for a resist effect & you can get a finer line!) before I made a watercolour rainbow.

After it dried, I added the squares for the days and some hearts in white watercolour & the white Prismacolour pencil again. And some colourful heart stickers I found.  I do wish I had remembered to ink the edges of the squares, but I still like this one a lot. :)

I usually try to stay a few months ahead.. but it is already February & I haven't even started the one for March yet- don't even have an idea in mind. o.O Oh dear. lol

New Shop Items

My notebook projects have been put on hold until I can get some supplies I need to finish them.. In the meantime, I have been busy making new little items for my etsy shop :)

My Alice in Wonderland phase evidently still isn't over!
Queen of Hearts
Alice & the Cheshire Cat
Caterpillar 

Zombie Girl & her Pet ACEO

 Marie Antoinette ACEO

Little Monster Stickers

Big Monster Stickers

Watercolour Alphabet Stickers

 

Robots in Love Stickers

use coupon code "BLOGGER" for 15% off

Homemade Journals Preview

Hello there!

I am currently working on 3 very different journals.

The first one is my "everyday is Halloween"  journal.

It's the biggest journal I've made so far: about 8 x 12 inches..

This book's purpose is to be pretty! lol By that I mean, I am trying to making it so that it is visually interesting & well planned out. I am going to use coordinated papers- the Chillingsworth Manor paper pack (that a lovely friend sent me!) and a few from the Ravenhead Manor pack.

 It is to be my masterpiece :D

This book is probably going to be my next journal once I fill up the one I'm currently working in.
If the Halloweeny one is meant to be pretty- this one is meant to practical (altho, I think it is still pretty! lol). As I'm working on it, I've been making a little list of  problems I've had w/ my current notebook. For instance- I know I need more plain pages, especially black & white cardstock. I also need more pockets & more room to add in pages as I go along.

I decided I wanted to use one of my own drawings on the cover (which I don't think I've ever done before).

Does it look familar to you?
No?
okay, I'll give you a little clue:

ah sparkles! Pretty? Yes. Easy to photograph? not so much..

This last journal started out as a mistake (I'm telling you- great things come from crafty accidents).
Once I had gessoed & painted this cover, I realized it wasn't going to work for what I had wanted to use it for.
Still, it was pretty so I saved it & set it aside. I decided I'm going to use it as a mini-art journal on the theme of "courage" (something I need right now).

This is very different for me- I have always only worked in ONE journal at a time (not counting when I'm transitioning from one that's nearly completed). And they are fat journals, which are meant to last for at least a few months.. so yeah- very different for me.  I am also going to experiment a bit more in it.. after all- that's part of being courageous right? Getting out of your comfort zone.. ;)