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.

Project Life Update.

With all the fuss over being sick! things have been slow with project life, so today I opened up iphoto and started trying to get Organized!   I did this by making albums for 3 x 4 images and 4 x6 images so I could print them in batches. I print at home so I have more control over what my images look like, it costs me more to do this, but I wouldn't change it. I ended up printing 4 a4 pages filled with 3 x 4 images 

I'm not that great with a cutter...so I hand cut all my images. Yep I'm crazy but I like the control of it all, so I sit on the couch with something playing on youtube and have a cutting marathon!

I looked through my kit cards, and to be honest, I am not totally in love with the cards that came in our kit, they didn't speak to me! so after being inspired by Elise's cards that she makes herself, I opened up photoshop and got busy.

I used some of my fave quotes that I've found in pintrest, and added them as an overlay over funky backgrounds.

I also decided I wanted to make some custom cards for our engagement part of project life, at first I wasn't going to make a big fuss, just the picture I used the announcement and be done with it...but then I sat for a moment and thought, this IS a BIG DEAL! why wouldn't I want to document our engagement/proposal!  so I started making a few cards for that....

I got a little carried away, which is why my spreads aren't finished for me to show you, because I got caught up in photoshop  hehe.

I also made the decision that all my 'handwritten' cards would be done in photoshop using typewriter font for a cleaner look. John liked that idea so Ill run with it.

If I make enough 3 x 4 I might make them into a set to download...baby steps at the moment though.

so that's where I am at with my project life! I am almost all caught up, and tomorrow in my Around the nook post, I'll show the two finished spreads.

have a beautiful weekend.

Courtney

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

JOINING IN! 29 Faces in May

I need a pick me up, something to get excited about, and I saw this on Gulfspire's Blog and thought I'd join her! 29 faces in may, shouldn't be too bad I got two completed just yesterday!

 I think I can give this a good go! anyone else want it pop on over and join in, leave your blog in my comments so I can have a bit of a looksie at your lovely drawings!

xx Courtney

Face for the first of may (since its the second here)

and I did tell you I got two finished didn't I...

well here she is

enjoy your afternoon and do join me, I love looking at your art! 

guess you'll see daily posts from me for the month of may!

xxx Courtney

My Creative Space

Its creative space thursday again, and Ive been rushed off my feet with just life in general! but I did take a moment out of my day, to snap a few shots of the things my fingers have been working on!

A Winter project for the family, a big crochet blanket, hexagons to be exact, and Im totally in love, this is just the start of one, they are rather big when they are finished.


Im also working on my scrapbooking, but I've found that ultra hard when I have photos in every other drawer, on the table, hidden in books in boxes, so I bought myself a photoalbum, to put all my photos, so that when it comes time to creating a page, I can just flick through all my images, and slide them out.


Im embracing my old red polaroid camera by taking some candid shots of my family..polaroids are all around my place and I love them.
Thats all for me, not that exciting but Im still creating!!
for more creative spaces check out Kootoyoo's Blog to play along.
xx Courtney