I'm Back - and November Catch-Up

I returned last night from Albuquerque and had fun babysitting the two boys, but a few weeks with a one- and four-year-old have worn me out! One day I took them to the Abq Balloon Museum for story time and craft hour. They had a blast (though you wouldn't know it from the look on Grant's face) and it was a nice change of pace from staying in the house!

November Documented Life unPlanner Update

I've been trying to stay current with the DLP planner but haven't been home long enough to do much posting!  Here's Week 2 - the background is "smooshed" paints and I added several cutouts and die cut leaves.

The art challenge for the PAC this week was to start with a photograph. I had a duplicate 2" x 2" photo of all four grand boys so I used that along with some stitching and doodling on a pre-painted background.

 For the Dare2B card this month, I decided to use "thankful." I added a black card stock spine to an art pop card from Roben Marie Smith and wrote my list with a Faber Castell Pitt artist pen.

I switched to kraft card stock for Week 3 and used a chevron roller stamp with white ink for the background. The yellow flowers were stamped with paint and stickers added to centers.

This week's art challenge was to use pen and ink only. I loosely sketched a scene I'd seen on Pinterest and watercolored it to evoke fall trees. It came together so quickly.

I used the back of the Dare2B card to add my List Ten. This month's prompt was to list your life advice in ten words.

Week 4 is also kraft card stock (the back of week 3). Again, I scraped a few paints on the background and added Art-to-the-5th circle stickers (halved) for the dates.  I also doodled white white pen to brighten it up. For Thanksgiving Day I glued on a stamped and colored fall wreath that I found in my stash.

For this week's PAC we were to explore pointillism. I struggled with this one. I finally used a gelli-plated and stamped paper for the background  and just kept adding dots in a few colors to enhance the abstract design. It's not my favorite! When I finished I felt it still needed a focal point, so I added the stamped and gold-embossed title.

I added all four PACs to a cut-down pocket sleeve, embellished with a stripe spine and scalloped border.

There were still three days to go for November, so I added a kraft half-page calendar for this partial week.

I didn't have much ephemera for my monthly pocket picks, as I spent most of my month babysitting one set of grand boys or the other.  Instead of my usual pocket page protector, I used a large black tag to add some photos. I love black tags embellished with white pen and colorful hole reinforcers.

Front

Back

So that was November!

Documented Life unPlanner - April Weeks 3 and 4

I am calling last week (April 11-17) Week 3 as the first few days of April I considered as Week 1.

This was my Week 3 planner page - filled with flying to Austin to babysit the boys for a few days and catching up on writing instructions and prepping for two layouts I created for the LBH. I punched the little banners for the days of the week from the linings of security envelopes and stamped the numbers on.

And this is the current week (18-24). I scraped Dylusions paints in pink and purple over the entire calendar. To tone it down, I added the days in white and black and punched half-circles from black dot paper for the dates. I also painted large white scallops in the center of the page to break up some of the color. This page isn't completed yet as we are leaving tomorrow for Austin to celebrate little Mitchell's first birthday. (His birthday isn't until May 1 but everyone could make it this weekend so we are celebrating early. All of my kids are flying in for this and all four grand boys will be together. It will be such fun!)

The "List Ten" for April is to list ten special guests you would like to have lunch with. There were so many to list, I could have gone on and on! On the back of the list I printed a "to do" list on kraft paper as I have quite a lot to keep track of right now. Hope this will help me get things done!

Documented Life unPlanner - April Week 2

I printed my second week of April on the back of the first week to save room in the binder. I scraped pink, blue and yellow paints across the page to add some color. The dates are stamped on banners I punched from security envelopes - love the tiny patterns inside these junk mail envelopes. Then I just started added stamping, doodles and stickers for the things going on this week. I finished this up early as I will be flying to Austin tonight to babysit for a few days.

I am not doing the "Dare2B" card this week. For the PAC, the challenge was to draw a face. Eek! Oh no! I thought about stamping a face but then figured that wouldn't be meeting the challenge and a challenge isn't a challenge if it's easy, right?! 

I loved what Rae did for her PAC t his week. (See below.) She started with a water-soluble oil pastel background and some white paint where the face would be. Then she glued on a used tea bag before starting to draw and paint the face.

Rae Missigman's face PAC for DLP2016 Apr. Wk.2

So I started in doing as she did. I didn't have a tea bag so I used a piece of sewing pattern tissue - same color and a good start for the flesh of the face. I loosely drew a face with pencil and then started adding acrylic paints and then watercolors.  I tried hard not to overwork it - it's not perfect but neither am I! And I do like it far better than my attempts last year! Still need a lot of practice...

I finished it off by stitching with variegated thread. The DLP gals have been doing that all year and I found some very old variegated rayon thread in my sewing stash that I am happy to use up! The colorful thread just adds a nice touch.

Documented Life unPlanner 2016 - April Week 1

Here we are in April already! How time flies!

April Challenge - Reaching for Rainbows: Creating Outside the Lines

I am running out of room in the binder so I printed the monthly calendar on the back of the April divider using kraft card stock.  I used sections of the April printed divider from the kit to edge my divider and painted with Distress crayon.

 The pocket is a journal card from the April paper from the Bo Bunny "Calendar Girl" collection. (I bought a paper for each month and will be using bits and pieces from them for the planner.)  Since April showers bring May flowers, I doodled raindrops in white pen.

I am continuing to add a tag to a pocket on each monthly divider with the monthly theme on it.  For this tag I used gesso through a stencil and then added spray inks for a rainbow effect. The zigzag border is a very old sticker and I added a hand-dyed ribbon and computer-generated text.

On the back of the divider is the month's calendar. I used collage paper for the spine and half-circles for the scallop edge. I'm sure this will fill in more as the month progresses. I managed to use up more of that zigzag border too!

The first week only had three days so I used the remainder of the last week's page from March.

On the back I sewed a colorful printed transparency to form a pocket for the first week's PAC.  The challenge for this card was to use just black and white. I stenciled white paint on black cardstock, rounded the corners and machine-stitched around in black thread. Then I added a bit of fibrous handmade paper with two stamped butterflies. The top one is on vellum and just glued along the body. It fits down into the pocket and you can see it through the transparency.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can fit the remainder of April in this binder. Many people have already started another one!

Documented Life unPlanner 2016 - Catching up on March

I've managed to stay caught up on working in the actual planner, but not on posting my progress on the blog. So here are the remaining weeks of March.

The top PAC below is from Week 3; the bottom one is from Week 4 - celebrating white space. I used Rae Missigman's marbling technique this week using shaving cream and alcohol inks. So fun and I marbled lots of cardstock pieces using up the mixture.  I cut down a 4-pocket page protector and used washi tape and paper for the edges.

The last week only consisted of four days, so I cut apart a full calendar sheet.  Below is the front where I added some stamping with white ink as well as a photo of Mitchell since I was babysitting him those days.

On the back I journaled about the month - so much going on!

I am loving the "Monthly Pocket Picks" where we recap the little moments of the month that were special to us. I've added some photos of my little ones since we spent time with all of them in March, a "lucky" shaker pocket for St. Patrick's Day and a portion of the church bulletin for Easter.

I've used the black tag before and love the look of it with photos and doodles with a white pen.  I also added some photos of fun purchases I made during the month.

I'm ready for April!

DLP unPlanner 2016 - March Week 3

March 19 - Week 3
Art Challenge: Use arrow(s) as focal point
List Ten: Ten Dream Destinations

This is my spread for the third week. I used a white printout and scraped with turquoise and yellow Dylusions paints. The banners for the dates are punched from an ad I received in the mail. I used collage paper for the spine with hand-painted reinforcers. In addition, there are rub ons, stickers, stamps and washi tape.

To save space (my binder is about full!) I added the List Ten on the back of the Dare 2B list from the week before. I printed it on white and used Distress Inks on a background stamp, misting it with water before stamping to achieve a watercolor effect. The bullet points are the centers of hand-painted reinforcer stickers.

For the PAC I used a journal card from Jamie Doughtery's Creating with Faith since it seemed appropriate for Easter week coming up.  I didn't do much to the card - outlined the cross, added Illustrated Faith black word stickers, stamped the arrow and splattered with diluted white paint.

Documented Life UnPlanner 2016 - Week 5

Week 5 - January 30

Reflect on Month

PAC Challenge - Ask someone to draw or make marks on your art

Finish Monthly Pocket Picks

This past week was the fifth week of the DLP 2016 but confused me. The prompts are always scheduled to be posted on Saturday for the coming week. The usual monthly rotation is four weeks but they added a fifth week for the occasional months with an extra week. Since Sat. fell on the next-to-last day of January, I was hoping they would consider last week as the first week of Feb. instead of the fifth week of Jan.! (I am trying to use this as a regular planner and it was confusing to be "finishing" up Jan. when the first week of Feb. was going on. Oh well...it will be a "memory planner.")

Here is my PAC for the week. I created the background with various paints and then asked my fellow LBH teacher, Lynette Chiles, to make her mark. She is a very talented artist and draws beautifully. I love what she drew on my card, using inspiration from a few of the white paint lines to create crosses! Needless to say, I did not add anything more to the card except inking the edges to frame it.

This is the Monthly Pocket Pick I started during week 4. I didn't know ahead of time that these "pocket picks" would include bits and pieces and ephemera of our month so had to scramble to find some things to add. (In the future I will be saving bits all month!) Sorry, the photo is slightly skewed as it was really hard to photograph this without glare from the protector.

Monthly pocket pick - front side

I was so good about resisting buying the Fuse tool but I finally succumbed when I realized how handy it would be for these monthly pockets. I used it to reconfigure a 6"x9" page protector to hold the PAC; a black tag with small photos of the grand boys when we were all in Albuquerque the weekend of 1/22;  and a heart sticky note, washi tape and a label from a purchase I made for planner goodies. I also made a few shaker pockets for sequins, beads and punches to commemorate Grant's first birthday. 

Here is the back of the page. I journaled about our weekend in Abq on the back of the tag and added photos of Grant and my planner kit purchase. 

Back of pocket page

So, now on to Week 6, which is REALLY the second week of February but I'm working on the first week of Feb.! (Make sense?)

Documented Life Project 2016 - the unPlanner!

It's 2016 and time for a new yearly challenge! I will be participating once again in the Documented Life Project.  Instead of working in the Dylusions art journal like last year, the Art to the 5th ladies are taking an entirely new approach for 2016.  Here is the blurb describing the "unPlanner" from one of the coordinators, Sandi Keene.

"Art to the 5th started a firestorm two years ago with the ORIGINAL Documented Life Project - a way to plan and document your life with art through community. We gathered 50 jaw-dropping top industry artists to inspire and stretch your art skills.

But being the art geeks that we are...we are not happy with just an ordinary planner...we are going to turn the planner world on its head once again with our new project for 2016. Introducing - The Documented Life Project 2016: The unPlanner!

We have designed a brand new system of year long documenting, planning, art challenging, life changing, community building, list making FUN that has us dancing in our studios! So sharpen your pencils, clear your desk and grab your friends  - join us for DLP 2016. It is going to be a year long amazing adventure!"

If you are at all interested in participating, check out this link for a short video explaining the project and to sign up. http://www.arttothe5th.com/journal/2015/11/25/documented-life-project-2016-are-you-ready  It's a nominal $12 for a year-long adventure!

  

So this year we are working in a kraft ring-bound planner. There are some downloads included in the class for various monthly and weekly pages as well as different lists. There is a monthly theme and each week you create different projects. 

For Week 1 we create the monthly divider, monthly view calendar, week view pages and a "pocket art card" (like an ATC).

Here is what I have done for this week.

This is the January divider. I actually copied Sandi's ideas on this one since we're just getting started and I wasn't quite sure how to proceed!  The strip with the tab on the right and the "ToDo" list are cut from the Bo Bunny calendar dividers that we are using (but unconventionally!). I sewed them,  along with a strip of painted paper,  to the divider. The list is a pocket which holds a painted tag on which I glued the monthly theme - Going out on a limb: Trying something new. The second photo shows the tag.

I didn't want to leave the inside cover blank so I added the "Don't Forget" pocket from the original divider. I watercolored it and used washi tape to stick it on. The kraft calendar label at the top was from the packaging of the kit. I typed up the monthly schedule and added it to the front of the pocket so I wouldn't forget what to do each week! The ribbon is hand-dyed seam binding using Dylusions spray inks.

This is the back of the divider. I used lots of scrap painty papers and doodled and painted petals.

I don't like the idea of having empty pages, and I might not have time every week to art on all these sides, so in the future I think I will print the pages back-to-back. 

This is the monthly view page. I like the look of both black and white pens on the kraft paper.  I used some washi tapes and some painted paper pieces to add color.

Here is the back of the monthly page which, again, I didn't want to leave blank. I scraped on some paint, stamped with paint and doodled.

This is the weekly view page. Because January started on a Friday, I didn't want to have a half-filled page, so I just started with Monday the 4th, especially since the first few days are represented on the January calendar. I printed this download on white cardstock. I will be mixing up the kraft and white throughout the planner. I used some watercolor on the headers, painted paper circles for the scallops and some stamping. For the left border I used small squares cut from a painted collage sheet and then doodled between. (I "stole" this idea from Sandi as well.)

And, lastly, here is my pocket art card. Our challenge was to somehow use #16 on the card. I painted and stamped the background and then added the chipboard number circles that I serendipitously  found on my worktable last week while cleaning up! For some reason the G in "begin" doesn't show in the photo but it really is there.

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Whew! Congrats if you've made it to the end of this post! This was alot of work this week but some was just figuring out the sizes and engineering the printing of pages. Tomorrow the second week's challenges will be posted so so far I'm up-to-date!