Jane Davenport Blog Hop!! 3 Creative Journal Inspirations!

Hello Inkies!
It has been quite the quiet corner over on here on my blog, but I thought I'd jump right back into the hot seat and throw some creative spark starters at you using the new Jane Davenport Artomology Range.

Today I want to show you three simple quick creative ways in which I've tweaked Jane's wonderful stamps for my journal pages. I love to look at stamps in a different light, how can I make it look quirky and a little weird because that's what I like to create and draw.

This is probably the most 'normal' way I've used the ADORABLE Narwhal.

I grabbed a blank project life card and the shade Scallop Shell! (by far my favourite shade) I stamped this at the top of the project life card and just cut around the top part of our Narwhal's body so that my tip in has a nice shape, which is a cute feature when all the items around it are straight lines. I've used the Smooth Markers to create a bright pink boarder and some sketchy lines for Journalling at a later date.

Very simple and instant gratification which I am ALL about when it comes to journal keeping, we only have so many hours in a day, we want quick yet beautiful way to add things to our memory keeping books.

Speaking of quick ways to add things to our journals, sometimes we only have time for the highlights! We want to get down the daily highlights just so we have a record somewhere, short on time and want to make note of one thing that happened that day. I saw this stamp in Jane's range and again looked at it..with my sort of eyes heehe.

 Grabbing my Smooth Markers again, I coloured in her hair bright and crazy knowing full well I will be giving her a haircut and separating her locks from her face changing the entire look.

I wanted to create a cute and colourful way to capture daily highlights. The little things that stick out from the day, when you don't have a large chunk of time this is a great way just to get the important forget me not highlights! I LOVE how this came out and have already made several more to shoot across my pages in the coming months.

Last fun way to use Jane's stamps is a cute little bug girl! I love creating creatures and whimsical takes on things. When I saw these little droopy flowers I instantly saw bug antennas! I then wondered how I could create the wings for our bug, and a flower cut in half would do just the trick! I grabbed a simple girls head with the same floral motif to make it look like a bug head wear.

I took inspiration from an oddball version I created in a pocket art journal that I work in from time to time. So I decided to create a bit of a bug sisterhood on my page. I think the Jane's version is the fancy well traveled bug sister. I used a fine tip black pen to create the line work on her bug body and the page boarder.

Stamp Sets:
Unicorn Sparkle
Relaxed Narwhal
Hair Lines
Poppy Girl
Flower Girls
Marker Sets:
Smooth Markers Feathered Friends
Smooth Markers Mermesmerising

Ink Pads

Squid Ink Scallop Shell

Squid Ink Cave Black
Other Supplies
Black Fineliner
Blank Project Life Cards
Red Copic Marker.
Glue Stick

I hope you've enjoyed my 3 ways to play with your Artomogy stamps! There are so many more ways to play with these! I shall make sure I create some more for you very soon!
Pop on over to Jane's Blog where the hop begins. but if you have started with her then pop on ove4r
to see the lovely Zinia Redo
The other blog hoppers are below:
Kate PalmerMona TóthAnna Komenda
Spellbinders
 

There is also a giveaway for US Davepeeps! If you're interested jump over to the Jane Davenport Artomology Collection Bundle Sweepstakes

Have an AWESOME ARTY DAY Guys!
xx Courtney

2015 Planners and Journals - What am I useing?

This post wont be a long one! as I filmed a rather long video about this which you can find below.
With my word for the year being accountability I had to really think about what I wanted in this years planner journal line up, I needed them to inspire me and also keep me in check.

With the sudden hype around the Hobonichi journals/planners I must admit at first I wasn't as pulled as others were...till I saw this video
and that video is like a drug for me! I watch it more times than I care to admit to the universe. My husband even mentioned the video in his VOWS! yep...I love it.
As I mentioned in my video, I am a left hander and we suffer a lot with writing and what we write in and ring binders well they annoy me...I have had my arm and hand banged up against the rings for a whole year and it get's to a person after a while, so I decided to go rouge and try all BOUND planners and journals this year, and just use a ring binder for my wallet.

As you an see the bulk of my books are hobonichi's. I am using the two a6's as my home and work planners they are small and easy to carry both without putting my shoulder out.

Above is my work a5 hobo month on two pages, as things go up I write them into the calender.

This was a gift for xmas from my Besty Joanne (go check her blog shes just started up and already I know it is going to be amazing ) this planner is AMAZEBALLS it is helping so much with my one little word accountability

It is helping me immensely keep my dates for the blog, knowing when things are coming up.

there is a weekily spread aswell, too much awesome for one planner!

Above is a cheap notebook from Kmart, that I bought for the quote on the front and it now houses all my notes and brainstorming for the blog and my youtube channel then that gets filtered into actual posts which then make it to the blog planner....so streamline...I know proud right!?

and then you have both my journals, my daily drawing hobonichi a5 and my Gillio Giramondo, these are my two journals for the year of 2015!
I have been drawing daily on camera for everyone to see, so if you havent see any of them I'll leave the latest one down below for you to watch.

and that is me done for the journals and planners for 2015 I hope you enjoy the videos

x C

2014 - Update! Goals and Chasing Joy.

Good Morning!
Yes months and months have gone by, we have had Christmas and new years, and a long line of family birthdays! My my the last few weeks have been tiring and lovely all at the same time! I made it one of my goals to try and blog and do a video at least twice a month! (start small and work my way up) The school holidays are in full swing currently, with a lot of minecraft happening...

 we had a big Christmas this year, as we do most years now John and I are together, between us there is a lot of family members. Elijah turned 7! and is on his way to grade 2 this year! and little Boo, is ready to start her journey at big school staring Kindy this year aswell.

 2013 started off with a bang, with me getting engaged, and a whole whirlwind of things happening, including the highs and lows of my weightloss journey which I have written about in the past on here. I am still struggling with the balance between this journey and the rest of me. So I decided that for 2014 I would chase one thing, and one thing only.

I decided that this word would pave the pathway for my everyday for 2014, I want to chase joy, and chase it with my arms wide open...so if something doesn't bring me joy...I need to change it up.

With my word safely thrown over my year like a butterfly net, I decided I needed some other goals to live by, as it seems I always set out with the best intentions as most people do! but this year I really want to do the things I set out to do January 1st. I joined a group 12, 52, 365 where we pick goals to do once a week, once a month and everyday....or just one of those, I jumped in with a goal for each category!

To read a book every week for my 52 goal...currently I'm on my second book for week two began yesterday.  Below is the book I finished for my first week..and what a wonderful book it was.

 I decided that for 2014 I wanted to put pen to paper for at least 10 mins a day in my written journal, and in my art journal...of course my new beautiful art box my dad gave me, made that job an absolute pleasure to work in day in day out, I can tote my fave supplies from the studio to the couch each day with no problems...Its one of my fave gifts of the season.

My Midori Travelers Notebook  is my written journey, and it is where I put photos, and daily writings, which I am dating for the first time in years! my way of staying accountable is to date the pages so I dont miss any...everyday commitment. It doesn't take me long, I've been inking my pages up with splashes of distress stain just to give it some visual interest, and sometimes some photos or stickers, as I take so many photos, this is a way to use them in here, and in my art journal.

 It has been a long time since I've kept a proper written journal, and I am enjoying the process again. It doesn't take up much of my time, and I know once I reach day 365 I will have a nice little line up of finished Midori notebooks to show for it.
I will do a whole post devoted to my Midori Journal in the coming weeks, as I know there are many that would like to have a look at it.

 and of course, the other thing with my 365 goal is pen to paper in my art journal, now 2013 was not a good year for my art, I barely picked up my art journal in 2013, and when I did, what I created within the pages felt wrong..and lacking life and love. Once I finished my big sewing book, no journal seemed to feel like home...I even tried getting out 6 or 7 journals and working in heaps! which was a train wreck waiting to happen.
So this year, I picked up my strathmore journal which I got last xmas as a gift from my mum, and just started working in it, it already had pages from my Jane Javenport Stencil post in there, so there was some bright life on the pages already...so I ran with it... The Friday Pages blog post will come back this year, with everyday arting, there are quite a few pages that will need to be shown!

 Last year, I won a scholarship to the amazing Print and Scan Workshop with Jane Davenport...I was humbled and totally overwhelmed with emotions at getting a spot when only two were given away, this year I am taking my business to full flight, once I work through the course, and do all my homework, my images and journal pages will be available as Fine Art Prints in 2014. I also want to start working on one of a kind Fabric pieces featuring my artwork, so keep and eye out for that!
There will also be one off original canvases going up into the store as well, I have to finish off my commissions and then I will be jumping onto that moving train with gusto. As of now, I will no longer be doing commissions until further notice.

as for planners! well there will be many a blog post on those! from what I'm using for 2014, to the amazing binder that now has my wedding planner in it....stay tuned! It is lovely to be back, and thank you to all who emailed me over my hiatus to check to see if I was doing ok! It is such a heartwarming feeling when I got the odd email here and there. They are all appreciated.

How is your 2014 shaping up! and what is your word for the year!
xx Courtney.

Friday Round Up - Art and Life.

Instead of just Friday pages, I thought I would change it up, and do a Friday Round Up, tidbits from our week, more mine than ours I guess, as I am the one behind the camera all the time!
the 6:30 wake ups have been KILLING me!

 

barely awake, but trying hard! I have a goal to reach by Christmas, and maybe just maybe I will make it. 

 

trying to keep up with my daily writing, knowing it is helping me, get ideas out of my mind and onto my paper. and my planner, the brains of life hehe.

working on art for a dear friend of mine, just the base layers so far, soon they will have more on them! little canvas board filled with original art.

a page from a journal swap I am in, where each month I sent a journal page to a woman in the group, this page's theme was 'black and white' I struggled very much with this, till something clicked and before I knew it, I was finishing it up!

working on homework for Jane's class JOYnal, a dancing flower fairy! she is still very much a work in progress, but I am at least liking how she is turning out!

every afternoon, I pick this little man up, and he makes my heart sing, telling me all the things he did that day, asking me way too many questions and generally being adorable.

so how was your friday?
xx Courtney

What Keeps Me Together.

I am a woman of routine, as much as that drives me crazy its the truth. I hold myself together by doing things a certain way. As silly as that sounds, when you are juggling 50 million things, being a mum to two kids that are developing into their own personalities, being a loving fiance, planning a wedding for 60+ people, changing my lifestyle and losing weight, whilst fighting depression and trying to make a name for myself Art wise...something has to be there in place so that I don't lose the plot.

Now I've posted about my beautiful Malden in one of my latest posts, This is my new love, one that my darling fiance purchased for me, and it is just delightful to live in. It is handmade in Italy by many many talented craftsman and its second to none. A Gillio Medium dark Brown Compagna. She is holding my life together, keeping me 90% sane!

I never thought such a simple thing, could help me get so many aspect of my life in check. It's like My one woman show book.

I use a week on two pages, and have toyed with the idea of a week on one page with a notes page opposite, maybe next year I will trial that. I get our lives down in this book, from bills, to school things to remember, daycare days, letters I need to write to penpals, our weekend plans and so on. Using  highlighting stickers to make important things jump out at me.

I make my planner my own, with little drawings, stickers, bright tape and coloured pens, it helps me feel like I am in charge of my life, not the other way around.

My daily routine was an idea from a fantastic video by Joy over at enjoyette @youtube if you haven't seen her, do watch her filofax vids. they are some of the best I've seen.

I can move my tags around if my day is different, and I should have taken a new shot of this page, because now my work outs are at the crack of dawn lol and my blogging is later on in the day...I've got these post it flags on a hambly screen print dashboard - all my dividers are dashboards now.
Another idea from joy was context boards...which I quickly adopted into my own planner

they get checked off once they are done...the errands one has been replaced a few times already once all the jobs are done, a new board is put on. It's awesome, I love this idea.
Major daily things that MUST get done go into the weekily board.

my planner is where I go to remind myself of little important things...

it is where I store things that I know will make me smile when I flick to them

I don't just use mine as a planning tool, I also use my Gillio as a wallet...it is working so far, but I see another pocket sized Gillio in my horizon.
Some people may think its silly, or archaic, but for me...pen to paper is how I get through life be it art or writing...so paper planning is the only thing that makes sense to me...even if I am a digital girl in so many other areas of life, it will never be part of my planning life.

 I will do a more updated set up video soon, so keep an eye on that if that is something you would enjoy.
maybe paper planing is something that youre missing in  your life...
It keeps me together, it makes me happy...and I collect things that make me happy.

I will be more present within the walls of my little blog nook...enjoy your evening, and thankyou for reading.

xx Courtney

a little bit of book binding!

After my Inspiration Tuesday Post on hand bound journals, I got the itch...and itch to make my own! So I gathered up some supplies, started folding signatures filled with card stock, scrapbook papers, old papers I'd been hoarding of johns old engineering homework, and some mixed media paper to filled out the book. Some Canvas boards some bookbinding thread and some upholstery fabric for my tabs!

I did and exposed spine look for this art journal, and used lots of collage materials to make my covers, some of these are collage sheets from Mermaid Circus, some old wallpaper, scrapbook paper and some coloured copies of my art work, little washi tape and I'm done!

I even added one of my little Moo business cards to the front cover with my Details on the front! I loved making this so much, I bought the supplies to make a couple more! I also promised my sister a sketchbook before she arrives for my engagement party!

in my other art journal, one that Im reluctant to keep working in because I know I have this beauty ready to be used! I worked on some mermaid circus homework.

on Friday, I have a post about the evolution of my journals, to see where I came from...to where my journals are today...for people that get clouded vision about your journals having to look like master pieces! I assure you...you will be shocked at my first journals!

Hope you have a fantastic Thursday!
xx Courtney

Friday Pages - Bursting with colour!

welcome to another friday of Fridays Pages, a collection of stuff I've been working on, so you guys can keep up with my bits and bobs!

I've been trying to work on my homework for mermaid circus, so alot of it based around that, actually looking over my images, all of it is related to that course lol.

getting some face work back into my journals, I've spent so long living in my nookdweller world that I'd not given faces much of a look! so it was time to start sketching and getting out my pencils and markers to make some faces!

My darling man took me to officeworks the other day so I could photocopy up a storm! including collage sheets by the lovely Teesha that she designed just for the course, and pages of my own stuff to start using for collage work...I re sized an image I did during one of Janes courses, to turn into my next mermaid in my book!

Week one had me cutting up a storm, I had such a fun time making this collaged beauty, I've never really collaged in the traditional sense, but I really enjoyed the process, one I think I'll incorporate into my work more often! something I can do while watching tv with the Mr.

Playing with my creatures, and some more facework, I'm really liking the general size of this journal, its a nice holding size when I'm sitting and drawing.

That's all from me today!
if there is anything you'd like to know about these pages, just ask me in the comments and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
xx Courtney