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

Inspiration Tuesday - Handbound beautiful

There is something magical about a hand bound book, it has a soul, it whispers...it beckons you to flick through its pages...I am an avid believer in keeping journals, and to add to that passion, is to keep handmade journals.

Mary Ann Moss over at Dispatch from LA, is a woman who makes some of the most unique and beautiful handbound journals I've seen to Date.

they just look so loved, and so filled with life and memories. I have taken two classes from her on bookbinding and I adored every second of both classes.

another beautiful book binder, is the adorable Pam Garrison

who also sings to my journal keeping soul, with fabric and vintage flowers, pops of colour and a lot of handbound beautifulness.

 

so magical, it makes me want to go into my studio and just start making books, so I can spend the rest of my years, filling them with memories and photosgraphs.

 One last book binder who I adore, she is so down to earth and such a genius when it comes to making handbound books is Jenniebellie 

if you have never bound a book, I suggest you immerse yourself in these women's blogs and fall head over heels in love with them. I will be spending my weekend this weekend, folding pages, and creating books for myself, and my little girl, as I know she will love a book bound by mummy

enjoy your evening...make a hot drink and go blog hopping.

xx Courtney

Friday Pages.

It has been so very hot here the last few days, the heat sucks your creativity like a wilted flower!
I have been working on somethings, nothing ground breaking, but we must always create in order for new ideas to flow through us.
I have been working on my Scrappy journal that is a free class over on christy's ning site, I watched her videos drinking in every step as I usually do when Christy makes something fun and quirky...so I grabbed my glue stick and scrap bin and got to work.

here are some aspects of the pages I have developed from old drawings, to random odds and ends in my scrap tub.

my nook dwellers that I had drawn and discarded into the bin months ago, found new homes among these pages.

I have a bag of old postage stamps that finally had a use!
While I was making these, I decided I wanted to do some animal studies little journals filled with drawings and paintings of the one animal, then slowly turn them into a nook dweller, to give my hands that knowledge of an animals shape without using a reference. So I got some random junk together and make a little quick journal...my rabbit book.

just white cardstock and some old boxes that I cut down to size, little book binding thread and ta dah!

I even started drawing on the cover, which I may paint a little later...but I'm excited to go on this journey, to draw a multitude of animals till they tell me how they want to be drawn in dweller form.

after some tweaking, and a lot of unlady like swear words, I will be making some little handmade writing sets in the coming weeks...nothing like the above image, i was just seeing if I could do it myself, since finding a printer seems to be like finding a unicorn.

I am very excited.
xx Courtney

BLOGTOBERRRRR!!! Day 1 & 2

I'm a day late but I've been gently nudged to do a blog everyday in October challenge. So here I be! I haven't blogged that much lately, and I honestly have not much of a reason! About two months ago, my partner and I embarked on the Paleo way of life and cleaning eating, so my focus and time has been spent doing a lot of cooking! ( A LOT OF COOKING), but it has totally been worth it, and some posts during the month will be on food, and our lifestyle. We are also moving house..yes again. The landlord wants to move back in, so the nook needs to be packed up...but that's ok, in my new place...I'll have my very own studio! detached from the house and everything, so that will be a very exciting feeling.

 

My desk lately has been a crazy mess, but just recently I got given a parcel of lovelyness, a journal and a little bag cover made by the delightful Tinniegirl

It's going to be my on the go journal, as my current journal...is much much to big for travel now.

 

 as you can see...its a shoulder ache to carry it in my bag. So she stays at home on my desk and get's worked in almost daily. I don't know how I will deal with more than one journal, I know so many do it, but I'll give it a whirl. 

I've been bookbinding a lot lately, just making journals out of book covers that I've been saving for a rainy day...I have this little one almost finished.

a journal spread in the big girl. Playing with new stamps my mum and I ordered from Elise Joy the you are here stamp and you're my favourite (yes I spell it the Aussie way) are my faves by far. Ive used them quite a bit since getting them. Playing with new pens in this page my mumma gave me two big brush pitt pens and I do love them! they will be something I will look into getting more colours of. A photograph from one of my old letters from Miss Sophie over at her library adventures. We used to send each other a stack of photos from our week (back when we weren't so busy with life) So sometimes, some of her old photos make it into my art. I'm sentimental like that. We may even be embarking on a traveling moleskine in the coming months...just a maybe at the moment.

  

now I have been asked to do a supply video by many people and maybe in time that will happen, but for now I want to highlight one supply a day that I use more than twice a week...there is no point saying to you..here use this amazing expensive supply...and I've used it once...If Im going to tell you what my fave supplies are...I need to use it almost everyday. And these do get used ...HEAPS.

They were my first supply that I literally had to save money for. That time in my life, supplies weren't important at all...so I had to save on the side for them on the sly. I finally had the money to buy the Caran D'ache Neocolour II's They are a watercolour wax based crayon. Very high pigmented and very easily moved around with water. I bought the 40 colour tin, and I've had them for almost 3 years now and they are still going strong. You don't need to use a lot to get results which is why I love them, I'm all about budget budget budget!

So I've made my post long enough to compensate for the fact that it's day two of October here! 

have a fantastic day, and I'll be back tomorrow with more art, and another one of my budget crunching favourite supplies.

xx Courtney

My Days are cluttered with colour!

I know I know, I've had emails and messages..where am I! I've been off making notes and pulling myself together before a huge blog overhaul. A little revamp is always needed before spring. A more creative lifestyle is my intended goal...

whilst working out my layouts..I've started making notes for daily posts, what would you like to see on the blog? Reader input is very highly valued over here in the nook, so if there is something you want to see covered..or talked about daily...do tell. There will be a few tweaks to the nook..a little plus size fashion, some DIY home stuff, more art than you can poke a stick at, and more videos.

stayed tuned.

I have a dear friend who just had a birthday, and whist I went shopping several times to buy her a bunch of cute one of a kind things that I thought she would love..I came up short...very short. So I started making her a journal, we are both avid journal keepers, me more the messy kind lol, but lovers to the full of the paper collecting experience...so I started putting the pages together for a journal that will be nothing like what she has in her collection...a real one of a kind book for her to carry around. I sewed...

and I created artworks to be scattered through out the journal...and much more..I can't show too much as she reads my blog! (or at least I think she does lol) 

While I was on the journal making kick, I also started one for myself, just to get the practice in, trying out different ways of binding, different types of signatures, this one is an old book I've had for a while, starting to collage things to the cover, a photograph I love, a post it note from a letter, stickers...small parts of my life. I also used a cute fabric from my quilting stash to wrap the spine in, to give it a little colour pop. I have one signature left to put into the book, and then she will be finished...underneath the book is me practicing my smiles in the new addition Ink week to Supplies Me workshop with Jane, It's been a while since I'd opened my art journal, so I let jane put me to work in it again...

another colour love of mine at the moment..is bright coloured tights!!! I went on a search for tights for big girls, being an artist, I like to dress with a certain BOOM of colour...and these tights well they certainly make a girl feel happy. Over at We Love Colors they have a big girls tight range in a rainbow of colours... I have the teal and the BRIGHT yellow..I cant get enough of them, I hope to purchase many more colours in the future.

I hope I've brought you up to speed with whats been going on..there will be changes coming! I just have to work on the design features of the blog, which takes time while running a family! 

do  comment below if there are things you'd like me to talk about, or ideas for regular post features! I do love hearing what you do and don't want to read from me!

x Courtney

Its Cold and Wet!

Its one of those days, rather cold and wet, grey, where coats, boots and scarves come out to play their role in keeping us warm! I waited for the bus in the rain, and golly gosh it was cold! I havent posted for a few days, got a bit stuck in a rut, but slowly slowly you pull urself out, with the plans to open up a little online store bustling through my mind, I need to think about alot of things...and thus stopped me arting. 

Today in the cold, I played in my journal

I worked on the girl a week ago, and didnt like her, today I finally finished her, enough to get rid of her into my book, so created a tip in for her, she is just another stepping stone to other things I guess.

playing with washii tape and inks, taping down photographs and just making marks. 

I also had the pleasure of going to my parents place last weekend, and finally got my birthday present from my mumma, project life!!! I skuttled off to get some prints printed, and start making memories withing the confines of this amazing layout style from becky higgins, never worry though...there are lots of left over photos that didnt make the cut, and they will be smashed into my art journal covered with paint and life

because my journal..is where art and life collide.

have a lovely evening

xx Courtney

Remains of The Day...a journal, a journey

Evening my dears, today I spent the day with my mum crafting up a storm. I started my Remains of the Day journal a little while ago now and I had a bit of sewing rage hehe with snapped needles and things not going to plan. Well today I took over my mums new sewing machine and got down to business.


some of the signatures being prepared lots of loose thread that needed to be cut off!!
the inside of some of my pages, some of the boarders on alot of my journal pages are from the lovely GulfSprite's digital boarder download! they looked awesome against some of my pages, really popped which made me smile when I sewed them on.

coming together slowly...I spent more of the day patchwork sewing papers together.



adding accents to certain pages, sewing them on, the rest of them will be glued down as I finished up at mums but hadn't gotten all my accents on, another Gulfsprite boarder, and a cut out from page from Frankie Magazine.

I even went so far as to start the cover, sewing fabrics together to make a patchwork then slipping the cardstock template inside, and then stitching in the ditch to make sure the card doesn't slip around inside the slip. I'm also toying with the big wooden button to help with my wrap around closure when I make that...Since that shot, I stitched a little calico panel onto the front with Raven Ink hand stamped onto it...looks rather cute.tomorrow I hand bind the signatures into the book, create my wrap around closure and finish the accents and the journal is finished. I am rather in love with it!

enjoy your Tuesday evening, I'm going to curl up with my art journal and some pizza and just soak up the kid free silence.

xx Courtney

Get Your Art On Day 24 - a book binders heart.

As Traci stated in her blog post wow its already day 24 almost done but not quite. Today I started laying down messy watercolours onto an ATC that I bought in a pack of 10 from spotlight, I wanted to challenge myself to work in smaller form for a few days, excuse the weird little markings on the ATC thats a little bit of my lily's work on there hehe its all layers right? playing with the watercolours on the old letters again, to rip up and start collaging them onto the ATC tomorrow me thinks then maybe one of my girl sketches, we shall see!

While I've been in Sydney I've made a few purchases, nothing major but just little things that add to my world first was a mug from typo, since the boy has just plain white mugs a girl needs a little bit of colour and girlyness to her morning tea! so for a mere $5 I bought this cute little arty mug and I adore it.
as I mentioned in a previous post, I went to a bookbinding paper store in Sydney called Amazing Paper this is where I picked up the supplies for my new little venture of journal making. I really want to get into making leather bound journals and junk journals as they have won my little paper heart.
pop over to Traci's blog to see her lovely artwork for the day! and I shall see you tomorrow with the progress on the ATC and also some random little sketches I've been doing to fill in time I guess.

xx Courtney

Get Your Art On Day 12! - Whimsy Love

working in my art journal this morning, I drew something a little simpler than my girls faces. A little whimsy fairy in a cute heart background. It was a nice change of pace for me to all my other work, just some sharpie pens and my watercolour paints and I was a happy girl. I really love the little whimsy girls I always forget to draw them!


a little later on I got all my stuff out to start working on a gift for my boy's two girls the fabric journal covers I wasnt happy with so I changed it up. I used my heavy heavy mixed media paper thats almost like cardstock to make covers. Using my distress inks and water I created bright marbled effects. I did a little doily spraying on the backs, and I'm filling them up with plain white paper and one with mixed girly papers from my stash. The girls are getting thee little notebooks each, and a Black Apple Doll made by me...fingers crossed lol I go into town tomorrow to get some calico and some felt.


that's all the artyness I've done today but it seems to have taken up quite a bit of time!
I want to get these note books finished and packaged all nicely they are simple but made with love and are one of a kind. I also used glimmer mist in a diamond finish so they sparkle, what little girl wouldn't love that?

pop over to Traci's re worked photo post for today!
See you tomorrow for some more art..and maybe a finished doll! its kid free day tomorrow so I'll have the time to sew thankfully!!
xx Courtney