have you heard of Art Geeks.

 Photographs and Art, are like hot tea and a biscuit....

I live my life through photos and art, by merging the two I create journal pages that are uniquely mine.

So Art Geeks... if you haven't you should find out! I have been asked to be a teacher in the online art group Art Geeks, I was very nervous to begin with, but I think with time..I could do alright at teaching art journal pages. We have some very talented teachers in the group, one of them being the lovely Gulfspite who you hear me talk about heaps! There is a blog too, I know alot of my followers are artists, so if there is a moment u have spare, check us out...at the moment I have set up some homework (yes even before my glass has started) to get the artists ready for the little things I'm going to teach in the following months!!

want to make personal art journal pages...come find us at Art Geeks

 enjoy your days my dears I have a cold at the moment, so Im under my alice in wonderland quilt drawing with my art journal and sipping green tea.

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

day 11 and 12 - Portraits and Desk Shot

as you can see, I am rather tired looking from my above picture, so I let my portrait slip yesterday, sleep got ahold of me instead. I did play in my journal today though to try and catch up.

a soft girl, trying to master bodies still, and they still get the better of me, but I keep trying anyway as one day they will be drawn with ease and without thinking.

not sure if i like her background though I might try and fix that aspect up later, but overall I like her.

and a quilt long necked girl, I have a think for red heads it seems! I want to do alot of line work in her background but when Im not so tired!

a shot of my copic marker box, and my favorite pencil case, giving to me by my darling besty  It comes with me in all my handbags, filled with my current colour palette. She made it herself, after we picked out fabric together many years ago now, but I love it just the same.

and a page I'm working on, when I'm not drawing faces, sometimes I like the simple pages of my life with photographs, simple painted backgrounds and a little text.
have a lovely evening
xx C

Day 7 - Tag me Lovely!

Day 7 my darlings! and I must say I lost my mojo, I spent the day sewing up a storm to get a few sewing projects worked on, and before I knew it my day was almost over, I tried a portrait in sumi ink, and liked her..till I tried to add colour, then it all went shit-tastic! so I started again. 

I saw some of my blank tags in my odds and ends box, and grabbed one, and started sketching in an inky pen.

little watercolour marker and a touch of white pen, and I thought she was simple enough and cute enough, I will start incorporating her into the page, maybe some text/journalling above her eyes, and she will be a cute addition to my journal.

here is my desk shot, do you see the bunch of tags up the back in the odds box hehe

above shot

I painted this girl a few days ago and never got the share her...so here is my latte skinned beauty.

xx Courtney

Faces In May - Day 5

Afternoon my darlings! its day 5 in the faces of May challenge, and since I enjoyed playing with the monotone of yesterdays girl I thought I'd play with some pink acrylic ink and gesso and see what I came up with! below is my face for the day and what she developed into. Two pics from our day today.

I thought since I, working at my desk everyday this month, I'd do daily desk shots, so you can see how things morph and merge as I create.

on our outings today, I was looking for some new storage for my copics, my old square vase finally had no room left, so a quick trip to ikea, and now they all fit nicely into this one container..with dividers. once I fill that up.. I'll get a couple more!

how is your Saturday shaping up?

xx Courtney

Faces In May - Day 3

We are off and running in the 29 faces in May challenge, and I've got to say, I'm getting really excited about it! I started stockpiling portrait photos that I liked from pintrest as reference points for my drawing. The quirky old man, was one of those photographs. He is my day three, I've been working on him all through my day even during the time I went shopping, having a tea while I was out, I sat and coloured him with my markers.

the woman opposite him was just a girl that developed while I was sitting on the couch, not sure if she will be day 4 or if I will go looking for more photographs to sketch!

a close up of my old man, he is predominately in greys, I used two shades of brown copic marker, and a prismacolour pencil as  highlights around the eyes and the shirt.

and a close up of my blue haired beauty!

how are your faces going?

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

Get Your Art On - Day 8..backgrounds

Its almost midnight!!! but Im still in on time, with the boy here, my art time is replaced with with snuggles and laughter, but I told him 'I'm not failing art month! get comfy while I work on something' so he happily sat in bed with me as I worked on some of my background pages that will become digital downloads for my etsy store.

yes I know, not as awesome as yesterdays art! but its the process that counts right. I did draw another girl, but when I looked her over, she was part man I swear, so she didn't make it to the blog..and will be gessoed over tomorrow. unless I can save her..but man that's alot of saving!
ok I have a hot tea waiting for me, and a columbian boy in my bed..oh la la.
have a lovely evening whats left of it, and I'll see you tomorrow with something not so lame.

pop over to Traci's blog for her lovely art day post and please do stop by here tomorrow I wont be so boring with my art!
and a big hello to all my new followers! It was such a beautiful surprise to see all the lovely comments and new followers! I am humbled.
xx Courtney

Get Your Art On - Day 7...A VID!

It has been a month since I last did a video! how time slips. So below find yourself today's video for the week, lets cross our fingers that I get time next week aswell to do another one! I do enjoy making the videos, just time is never my friend.
Today for Get Your Art On, I finished off the pay below, the girl I painted a few days ago needed a home, so I glued her down and let loose.
I feel like I'm slowly getting somewhere with their faces, when I looked at her from a distance I realised that her head wasnt straight on her neck!!! I had to laugh, all you can do really lol. Focus so much on her face the rest is just legwork...wonky legwork apparently.

So yesterday I said I'd be sewing my remains of the day cover *insert mad laugher here* yes well, that didnt happen, with nights -5 the last thing this little artist is doing is sewing at her desk!! So I snuggled up and moaned to the boy how cold I was. Maybe tonight...but its already freezing so unless I layer up like a crazy woman I don't see it happening!


enjoy the video, something a little different for you for get your art on.
pop over to see Traci's beautiful journal page for today


the boy arrives tonight for the weekend which is muchly needed! I need a hug, because I'm so damn cold!!! and of course next week, we are off on a mini holiday, but I'll be bloggin! the mac and me will be bloggin from the boy's couch in Sydney! and I can't wait, mainly because I get to go to a few places like Ikea, and Amazing paper, which is a book binding place I so desperately want to visit!

take care, enjoy your friday night, rug up and make some tea!
xx Courtney

Get Your Art On - Day 5 little paper rage

ohhhh remains of the day....WHYYYYYYY do I heart you so, when my sewing machine detests you oh so much more! thats right today I had a little paper rage! I broke 5 needles! there was lots of artistic cussing going down today! as I plodded so so slowly and so so carefully through the piles for my journal... my machine is temperamental, shes not happy playing paper sew with me! I will not let it get the better of me! I shall keep going no matter the number of needles I break until the book is completed...VIVA LA PAPER SEWING.



a few close ups of what I did today, sewing old envelope art, little tag elements, magazine pages all together to create these weird and wonderful paper personalities.



a little heart.a little rainbow fan of paper that made it through the sewing lines of DOOM, I must say they do look pretty but the price they paid to get that way, was rather high hehe.

and to calm myself down from the paper machine rage circle, I sat down with an old letter and drew a girl quickly just sketchy graphite outline, then filled her in with my really budget but totally awesome watercolours and an aqua pen. She needs a little detail with some pencils and thins, or I might leave her nice and raw and collage her into my art journal...we shall see!

so that's my artistic day, kid free luckily or the rage meter might have been a bit higher with them added to the mix.
pop on over to Traci's blog for the rest of the players and enjoy your evening. I shall spend it talking to the boy and planning our little holiday with the tea cup humans next weekend. Never fear I shall art my entire holiday!
xx Courtney

Get Your Art On - Day 4! Remains of the Day

As I mentioned excitedly yesterday, I signed up to the remains of the day course with Mary Ann Moss, I dove into the deliciousness that was her world today with my Mum. Now as I sit here, with a broken needle on my sewing machine without a hope of finding the entire new pack I bought I thought perfect time to blog.

below is the slow beginnings of my remains of the day pages...I feel like a modern day bower bird! going through piles of papers, stacking, sorting, compiling...cutting colour coding!
a bunch of my boarder papers waiting to find their way to the sides of assorted pages. It is so much fun, its like creating worlds withing worlds, then adding personalities to them, when you fill them with your daily musings photographs, its all so *sigh* grand.

and on the inky art front, more workings on background papers, stencils strewn across my desk, stamps with ink on them, stamps with watercolour paint on them, pens sitting around randomly till they are called upon. I am the messiest artist around I swear...and my mum will wholeheartedly agree, since she is the exact opposite...and I mean that lol.

so thats my creating for the day, I have to go and buy more needles tomorrow so I can continue on my little paper journey sewing and making pretty paper worlds within itself! I shall see you tomorrow with more photos, more progress and much more art!
xx Courtney

ps for more of day 4 pop over to traci's blog!

Get Your Art On - Day One

Playing along with Traci Bunkers, with a month of get your art on!
the rules Traci set for herself are as follows and I think they are pretty good so I'll abide by them as well,

• I’ll make art every day for 30 days and post what I have done.
• I don’t have to finish what ever I’m working on that day, I just have to work on something.
• I have to work for 30 minutes, but can work longer if time permits.
• It doesn’t matter what I do for the art making, as long as I work on art.
• I won’t feel guilty for taking the time to work on art and I won’t have to justify why I’m doing it.
• I don’t have to go into detail in my post about how I did anything or what tools, materials I used (unless I want to).

Today was spent sifting through piles of papers, to create the pages for my junk journal I started a little while back, a labor of love, soon I will have enough odds and ends to make my signatures... I'm thinking I might do a fabric cover, something I've never tried before so the experience will be will be fun!

tomorrow I think I will work in my art journal for the 30 mins of time
Join the fun, its a good way to push yourself to make sure you're creating everyday even if its just for a little bit...every bit helps your soul
xx Courtney