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 - Paint Chip Tuesday

The humble paint chip! you get them from hardware stores and paint shops, free 90% of the time, and you don't really notice them...and I admit it, neither did I...until I delved into pintrest searching for something to inspire me for the week...and I found some very cool uses for paintchips!

Putting them through your printer! and giving such a fantastic look to your family photos! this may not appeal to many, but this sung to the artist in me and the memory keeper! this is deffinately on my to do list! even if the photos just end up in my journal! still a great way to use your photos and give your art journal a splash of colour! totally my top pick.

 

How about adding some art to the walls of your house! This blew my mind, John wasn't sold on it, but me, I was in love! I may even make a mini version for my studio wall, I thought this was a stunning home decor way to use a stack of paint chips! and a very budget friendly way to give one of your walls a little attitude and brightness.

 

 One of my faves, purely for my little girls sake and her love of notebooks! was turning them into little notebooks add a little cheap white paper sew them down the side to hold it all together and before you know it, you have a great array of little notebooks! My little Lily will lose her mind over these, as she is a notebook hoarder, and has such a collection (almost as much as mummy) so I will be making these for sure...for the both of us, an easy way to throw a little book into your handbag for your daily reminders.

above is another take on the notebooks...can you tell I love them hehe. Such a simple idea...used in so many ways! there was alot of ideas for paint chips but I had to pick my three faves, or this post would be huge!

I hope this has inspired you a little to look outside the norm for something to brighten your day on a budget!
xx Courtney
see you tomorrow for my first wedding post!

 

things starting to get done

As the new year begins the organization kicks in! I got myself some big notebooks to fill with ideas, notes, research and tutorial thoughts for the next coming months, to keep myself on track and ever evolving throughout the year.  How do you get your thoughts and ideas down?

We finally took our lovely tree down today, and the little kid inside me pouts as the decorations come down and the magic of Christmas gets packed away once more for another year

away go the deer, the snowmen and they photo ornaments I had made a few years ago of our family.

 

More changes are happening, and when Monday hits next week the daily scheduled will kick in, I'm just finalizing side bar buttons and marking the posts down on my Huge new whiteboard calender!
told you...word of the year...organized.

enjoy your evening
 x 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

The Nook Dwellers.

Good afternoon my little ones,
It's been a few days since my last update so I thought I'd crawl out from my Desk and get a post done! There are big things shifting around in the nook... one being I'm embarking on opening a store in the near future, filled with crazy beautiful bright wondrous things. and in prep for that...I've been drawing like a woman possessed. 

there have been rainbows, and houses, vines and mice!

sweet little Deer

and little circus kittens.

and when I'm not creating the 'Nook Dwellers' as the range will be called, I have been playing on unstretched canvases for people to use in their mixed media, or for a centerpiece for a handmade journal...ideas are endless.

So do keep stopping by, and the nook dwellers start building homes in my notebooks and journals...as they creep so silently into your hearts...I've fallen head over heels for them.

It feels right...to finally know who I am, I'm the girl that creates rainbow worlds for things to live in...

and it makes my heart beat fast just thinking about it.

and it all started, with little lily...who kept telling me stories about a circus cat who wore pearls and read books.

She inspired me...

I hope the nook dwellers inspire you.

keep watch..they are ever so silent.

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