The Reading Nook - My Bookish History.

It was purely by accident I found the youtube world of books... also known affectionately as Booktube. Much like my stumble into the filofax world I was intrigued.

As a self labelled book nerd and all around book lover all through my schooling, I had a huge passion for books since I was a small girl. My family always revered books and reading, and one of my fondest memories was of my mum reading to my sister and I, a Roald Dahl classic,  Fantastic Mr Fox We sat still (which was rare) for hours as mum read to us, it was magical and one of my very favourite memories still to this day.

I read book after book in my early teens, spending summer holidays in Sydney with my Nan, pouring over her bookshelves as she picked age appropriate books for me,  which I devoured one after another, I loved books but that love became a somewhat dormant love for many years, I would read a book here and there, but that was it.

I stopped making time for books.

You wouldn't think that I was a dormant book lover,  between John and I, we had enough books to house two and a half utterly huge bookcases, like I said I loved books, and couldn't bare to part with the collection I had built up during my high school days. So I packed them up into boxes each and every move, and believe me,  I have moved a lot during those years.

 Our shelves before the rearrangement

Fast forwarding to present day, well a little before present day...to the day I found booktube, it was like a breath of fresh air had been breathed into the shelves of my books, like they sprung to life like the movie Ink heart. I sat up watching video after video, devouring like I once did the books which now grace my shelves.

These videos were of passionate readers with book backdrops that would make some libraries ache. Giving opinions and emotions, book rants and book loves. It was like almost coming home to hug the 15 year old version of myself as I lay on my bed, propped on my elbows,  feet up in the air turning the pages of a well worn John Marsden Book, Tomorrow when the war began. Even now I smile as I type this recalling the memories.

I spoke to my husband at high speed, explaining that we need to start incorporating reading back into our every day life, we needed it, our kids needed it almost more than we did, living in today's world where kids are bombarded with electronics and hours of TV I felt our kids were losing their ability to use their imagination, and books were the starting spark for that creative fire, action needed to happen

My teacup humans after a trip to a bookstore in the city.

We began by rearranging our bookshelves,  sorting them into genres and authors, we both came to the marriage with many many books so it was interesting to spend a Friday night with the man I love discussing our favourites, and creating homes on shelves for them. We bought in a slim shelf to put next to the bigger ones, to create TBR shelves, books that we intend to read, a his and hers if you will.

We began planning trips to op shops (thrift stores) as books in Australia are on the rather expensive side, so what better way to start collections than by trying to find second hand books that need new homes, the kids had ideas of what they wanted to find and most trips each of them came home with 1-2 books each, Elijah scouring the shelves to find weather and disaster books and Lily looking for books on animals. It has become a bi monthly adventure for the family, where we go visit different bookstores and each come out with a small haul.

The first books from an op shop trip - the Sibella Court book was my glory find that day.

I have honestly loved every second of our new journey as a family, it gives John and I a new avenue to explore together, as we talked very little about books even though we clearly are big readers once before, and now again.

It has been amazing to take some time each day with lunch, and at night to just curl up on the couch with a book and forget life for 30 mins, I had forgotten how truly magical it is to just immerse yourself in a book, I've found myself laughing out loud, sobbing my heart out and just plain giddy with the array of books I've devoured this month (which has been quite a large chunk!)

I even created a whole book in my Journal devoted to books! Writing down the books I read, and taking notes during them, has been a rather enjoyable task, also helpful if John and I decide to start our own Booktube Channel, which has been thrown around a lot lately.

I've even enjoyed the little bookcase image, where I've been pasting down little images of books I've been reading, I need to add a few more! as I've read much more than whats on the shelves currently.

I know reading isn't for everyone, but I think one should try it before they decide they aren't a reader! It helps open up your mind to so many ideas and thoughts! Its a mini vacation from the mundane routine of life. Its done wonders for the kids, with our daily allotted reading time, even to the point where Elijah has asked for longer books to read.

I will continue the Reading Nook on the blog each month with an assortment post of what I'm reading, and what have been my faves from the month, with mini back stories.

Even though this is a rather lengthy blog post, I feel it had to be written about, this post has been bubbling away in my brain for sometime now, and I felt it was time to get it all out. I hope I helped spark something in you the way Booktube did for me.

Drawing videos and blogs will be coming soon now that my husband is home! and I feel I can create again.

All my bookish love 

Courtney

My Good Reads Link - https://www.goodreads.com/LittleRavenInk

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.

The Evolution of a Journal Keeper

I am a journal keeper, and have been for as long as I can remember, my first journal was a little fairy one with a padlock that my nanna gave to me one Christmas. Now I am an Art Journaller, and that' s how most of you who read my blog know me as, but before I got to where I am now....there was alot of journals that came before the arty art ones...

to help give you an idea of my journals, I did a couple of videos, showing you the pages of my older journals, that haven't really been seen on this blog before...

I kept my life between the pages of these now well worn journals, from cheap notebooks to leather journals, I wrote and wrote, filling pages with my life, an odd collage here, a stack of self portraits, some doodling, stickers and journal fodder...I never expected to expand my journal keeping into what I do now...so we all dont magically have amazing journals, we grow into them...we get better, more refined..with more doing..comes more learning.

I didn't care how pretty it looked, I didn't care what supplies I used, most the time it was a glue stick black pen and some coloured pencils..the occasional sticker and a folder of scrap paper.

If you haven't taken the steps to keeping a journal, and you want to..then just do it! there are no rules, you keep a journal for yourself, and only yourself.

I intend to keep a journal till the end of my days, I believe its made me a better person, and now I can say that it has definitely made me a better artist. I've traveled many steps with a journal in my bag, to far off places and home again, documenting, writing, drawing, photographing. Sometimes all you need is a black pen and a notebook..strip it down and just enjoy

there are more parts the the video's I just have to finish uploading them...I want the barrier between just starting, and being an 'old hand' at journalling to be broken down...we all started somewhere.

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

Inspiration Tuesday - Paper and Words

 

Back on the topic of letters...welcome to Juliet's Wall of Love. Since the 1930s, letters addressed to Juliet keep arriving in Verona. As of 2010, more than 5,000 letters are received annually. he letters are read and replied to by local volunteers, organized since the 1980s in the Club di Giulietta (Juliet Club), This alone makes me smile, yes I have seen the movie, Letter's to Juliet, but this image fills my heart with such passion. Just the idea of the wall of love inspired me...filled with pages and pages of letters.

What is also inspiring me today are these

 

Tree Libraries in Berlin Germany. 

 

These hollow-log bookshelves were erected in Berlin a few years back to help encourage the reuse of books. The project adopts the idea of putting up a bookcase in a public space, in which people could release their used books to be picked up by others. In other words, books DO grow on trees! If you want something to read, just go pluck it from the book orchard.
*sigh* these should be everywhere! The beautiful feeling of an actual book is a fast fading notion! I will keep the love for books alive! one soft cover at a time.

I hope these two little things have inspired you! as they have me
enjoy your Tuesday
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

oh where oh where have I been!

It's been a little while since my last post, and I am well aware of that! but where oh where have I been! I took a little adventure... one of my first alone in sydney and let me tell you..it was amazing.

I took a train...

and walked across the beautiful Sydney harbor to get to the entertainment center.

and I by chance, I fell into working alongside the lovely Jane Davenport. I helped Jane and her lovely hubby who had a bad back, so I stepped in, and what an experience it was! talking about art, and supplies, inspiring women at the craft and sewing show...it was some of the best times I've had in a long time....who wouldn't enjoy working amongst this!

 surrounded by beautiful artwork...

 working with a woman that has changed my life in many ways.

but dont fret, in my absence I have been arting, I haven't slacked off, my journal was on display with jane's at the show, but when I got her back into my hands, I opened her up and got lost in the pages again...here is some of my work from the last few days

catching up on some of my index cards, working on homework as a re take the I heart drawing class, to work out my issues with bodies and hands...

working on collages...to paint over

and finally being happy with a body shape!

and after having my peerless watercolours for over 6 months, I thought it was time I put them to use!

so while I've been gone...what have you been up to?

post your link in the comments I'd love to visit your blogs and see what you have been up to the last week! one of my favourite past times is blog hopping, with a bit of an art perve.

take care my lovelies

xx Courtney