Notebooks- One for me, One for Sale

Hello!

I finished two notebooks this week :)

The first one has been one of my long-term notebook projects (in case your curious, I am currently in the middle of making 3 other long term projects lol)

I had collected a lot of these full pages that I didn't want to cut up or fold in half but still wanted to use in a journal. So I decided to try making a ring bound notebook.

Mickey here was the cover of a school notebook that was too cute to chuck when the term was over.

I included several photos from an old calendar I'd hoarded (I am always asking people if I can have their calendars when the year's over!!!)

I found a pack of  cardstock on clearance ("watercolour painted rainbow") that has  faux-painted backgrounds in pretty colours

They are good, thick cardstock & the opposite sides are white! Which is perfect for me, because as much as I like using pretty coloured page when I am making notebooks- when I actually get around to USING them I always wish there was more plain white pages. White pages & black pages actually..

Anyway, here are a few more pages in my ring notebook.

Some fancy stationery.

and an image from an alumni newsletter sent to the previous occupant at my address.

The other book I made was this pretty one for my shop.

The cover is made from the same cardstock, and the pages are made from K & Co's "Jubilee" paper- which is SO pretty!

It is sewn by hand & the binding is tied off on the inside.  Since my knots tend to be big & obvious- I used a little butterfly cut out to camouflage it.

knot camouflage!

I added a few other butterflies too. And even gave this creepy looking bug a makeover!

I did one of my fold up pocket pages, but instead of closing the ends up with tape I used some of the scraps from trimming down the page.


What do you think? :)

June Calendar & Art Purchases

A new month & the first calendar in my new journal! 

Ooh it is nice being able to do full two-page spreads again. I decided to make a fun cityscape for June.

I also bought a few little art prints this past month. This first one is by Zindy Nielsen- an amazing artist I've followed for years. 

 

I got a greeting card print because I figure I can use it for a bit of hidden journaling on a spread (and because they were on sale hehe)

And I got a couple of ACEOs from Jessica Grundy's etsy shop. 

 When I first saw this one, I thought it would be perfect for my reading page!

 And of course- I had to get the bumble bee girl.

She threw in an extra ACEO card as well- this one of a little girl with her pet angler fish ( "My Fishy Friend"). I put her in the pocket next to my zombie girl... seemed fitting since they share an affinity for monstrous pets ;)

She also sent me a  notecard that has Ripley and a little alien.

Aren't they cute? :)

Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?

I have been breaking in my princess journal!

This is my "Smile List".

There has been a Smile List in every journal I've kept since I was about 11 or 12.  It's a fun way to break in a new book. :)

Another recurring page I have in most journals is the "me" page.

I do the "me" page a bit different every time. This one is actually a variation of an "all about me" web I once had my students do.

I also decided to write a little blurb for the back cover.

I have a thing for alliterations.. can you tell? >.>

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On another note- I was the featured artist on Jenniebelie's Tell on Tuesday this week. :) Check it out.

TAT

 

 

And I know I have some new followers who found me thru her blog, so hi new followers!

Inchies, Twinchies, Betwinchies- Oh my!

For the last several weeks I have been steadily filling pages up with little inchies & such.

Some of them are just me using up some cute stickers or doodling...

inchies, betwinchies & some ATCs

However,  I really like to use them for tiny bits of journaling.
Sometimes the idea of filling up a page with how I feel is a little intimidating (especially if it's a "bad" feeling).... or even silly. Like: "Do I really want to do a whole page about THAT?" 

But filling up a little 1-2 inch square? Easy-peasy. ;)

I've got the month of May...

May already??? sheesh

 April all filled out-

and May ready to go!

I ended up re-doing the title several times until I was happy.

Next month will be in my new journal and I can do BIG calendar spreads again!! :D Yay!

Most of the little images you guys see on my finished calendars are Korean "diary deco" stickers. They are adorable and I wish I could claim credit for them- but they are stickers.

My favourite has been "My little friend" by Pony Brown.

Altho, recently I found "Bonnie Series" by Wannathis.

I like her because I think she looks like me! She's got crazy long wavy brown hair same as I do.

I find my stickers on Ebay or Etsy. Just search for "diary deco" and you will find a bunch. 

They are made for Filofax type planners I believe, so they work well for calendars. In fact, they are partly why I started making calendars in the first place... >.> And then I found The Kathryn Wheel and my calendars got fancy!

Transitioing to a New Journal

I think I've already mentioned it (lol)  but, my little "daybook" journal is getting pretty full.  A date has been set for it's retirement (June).

This is what it looked like when I first started using it:

Pretty right? :) It was my first homemade notebook. ♥

This is what it looks like now.
It's a little beat up.

The edges of the cover are badly frayed (I ended up cutting off most of the corners because of this.) The butterfly "flew away" a few weeks ago- altho I know it's somewhere in my house >.> It has paint splotches on the back (from my not paying attention where I set it down).  And it bears tell tale signs of weekends spent at my bestie's & visits to my gentleman friend's place. I somehow managed to yank the ribbon COMPLETELY off at least twice!. It is also about four times as thick as it was when I started.

It's funny- as soon as I know when I will be switching to a new journal, it's like a floodgate is opened & suddenly I have TONS of things to write about or add to the current one! I have filled up more pages in the past two week than I did in the past two months! This phenomenon happened with at least the last 3 journals.

I have started working on pages in my princess journal. One of my little "rituals" when I start a new journal is to do the "things that make me smile" page & an "all about me" page.  It's a nice, positive way to start off a journal :)

Does anybody else have ways to break in a new journal?

Writing pages

Sorry about the long break between posts. I was having some technical difficulties (like my internet being shut off...)

I have been working on some writing pages. I still really prefer writing on lined or grid paper so I decided to put together  a few pre-made ones that I could just stick in my journal as I go along. lol Basically they are over-sized journaling cards ;)

Some bright grid paper plus fun images from an ad I got in the mail ("sale on Dr. Seuss books!")

 

This is just a bigger version of the easy-peasy journaling cards.
These are chalky watercolours though.. which do not blend as nicely as my regular Crayolas. Blah :/

 

This one I DID use what's left of my Crayola watercolours & I like it much better. The circles are made by stamping acrylic pain w/ a lid from a glue stick :)

The painter's tape that I used to mask off the lines still had plenty of sticky left on it when I peeled it up. I stuck it on my old sketchbook so I could reuse it as faux-washi tape.

I

lol I think the rainbow tape looks better than the page!!

 

My growing collection of painted tape strips on the back of my sketchbook^

April & Altered Book Backgrounds

Wow, April already? o.O Whoever is fast forwarding thru my year needs to stop it right now!

Anyway, here is March all filled up:

 

And April all ready to go:

I did my April calendar awhile ago & I didn't like it at first. Then, this week I added the green butterfly & it brightened up the page & now I quite like it :) 

Like I said last month- I can't add any more pages into my little overstuffed notebook so I am trying to work with the ones already in there. I used some of the scraps left over from making the notebook for the squares.

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I have also been working on prepping some backgrounds in my altered book journal.  I try to do a few pages whenever I get new paint- that way there will be a nice variety throughout the book :)

lime green acrylic sprayed (with a mini mister) over dried black acrylic

 layered acrylics

bubble wrap + acrylics

acrylics tinted w/ watercolours

For this spread, I mixed dark pink watercolours in with the pastel pink acrylic paint to brighten it up a bit :)

I have a vague idea of keeping this journal for sometime when I will be very busy (say.. the first year I have a FULL TIME teaching job maybe? lol)  That way I will have a book with lots of pretty, ready to go backgrounds (that I still did myself!)

Hope everyone's April is off to a good start!