unPlanner : Week One of February

Hello, all!  Welcome here. :) 

Today I want to share some in-progress pages for my February unPlanner pages in DLP 2016. Last time I didn't share here until I had the whole month complete, but I didn't want to make such a lengthy blog post again. LOL So here goes:

My February will consist of some hues from my January color scheme, and add aqua blues, turquoise and teal colors. My calendar is in progress. Here is a glimpse before I started doodling in it. My reinforcement strip is in place with graph underpaper. :)

And here is what it looks like filled up to today's doodle. :) I watercolored around the calendar with Zig Clean Color markers. To blend it well, I also used a waterbrush filled with water.

The calendar opens like a tip-in. Full spread shown with Week One Feb 1-6 still empty. I have all my notes made in my regular planner, my Foxydori, so I will jot down the memories when I get to it.

I printed the weekly view download on kraft paper. 

I used a new favorite stencil: Circles Circle by Traci Bautista, made by StencilGirl. 

I sponged in the paint using various blues, double-loading the sponge. 

Next, I finger painted additional colors with my fingers. Very easy and simple and FUNNNNNNN!!!!

For the dates, I punched circles from book text, stamped some of the numbers with Rae's kit stamps, and some just doodled. 

The month is written with a Zig Clean Color waterbrush on watercolor paper, then cut out and glued to a watercolored and doodled circle, then glued to page.

So there is where I'm at with February. To know more about DLP, check the Art to the 5th website, HERE. 

Another thing I've been working on is trying to achieve some abstract floral painting. I have oogled and awwwwwwwwed over the amazing artist Erin Fitz Gregory's work a long time. I hope to keep adding to this for a week or so, and see what the end result will be. Not entirely unhappy with this, but it needs more work.

Today I'm teaching an art class, and this is the project. Hopefully I can relate how to paint these abstract florals to others so that they're pleased. 

Thanks soooooo much for stopping by! I would love to hear from you in comments below, or if you have any questions. 

Blessings to you today!

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥

January pages in my unPlanner

The Documented Life Project 2016 : The unPlanner

My first post about this year's DLP here on my blog, but I've spent many a happy hour working on this binder. This is a completely new thing for me - working in a binder. I think this the perfect combination of calendar/art journal for me. It requires quite a bit of fiddling and back and forth with paper, but I love it. :) 

At the end of this post, I have a flip-through video. Yes, I recorded a video, and it's uploaded to Youtube! Whoot!

See DLP project details HERE.

January's theme was all about Out on a Limb, which means a tree, right? So I did my own wacky version. :) Layered burlap pieces on mixed media paper, added Dylusions ink sprays, paper punches, a stencil, modeling paste, and more. 

Page 2 and 3: 

With the DLP kit that was an optional addition to the project, you receive these great decorated cardstock planner pages, Some have lines, some are blank, and my favorite has graph lines. So I listed the projects I'm working on this year, and added my signature pinks and aubergines to it. The tags are colored in with a waterbrush and the pigments.

The lyrics to one of my favorite songs appeared on my Facebook a few days ago, so printed it off and added it to this page.

For page 3, which is the back of my watercolor calendar you'll see next, I glued on my first page of the 18/52 Project I'm part of. I added the calligraphy "fabulous" to it after,

Bottom right corner of above photo is an edge I crocheted with aubergine variagated wool. 

Page 4 and 5:

Page 4 is Week 2 of the 18/52 project and on the right is a bookmark that came with the kit, which I decorating using stencils, modeling paste, Posca marker, Fluid acrylic flourescent pink by Golden, adding some stamping for extra detail.  

Page 7 is home to the monthly tab, where I painted in calligraphy with a waterbrush, on watercolor paper, cutting out the month and gluing to the weekly view page. 

STRENGTH: my Word of the Year. On the back I wrote in the bible verse I want to meditate on all year long. (Along with other verses that I plan to study in depth this year.)

The flower on the bookmark is a stamp handcarved by me, decorated with paints and doodles until it looked right. :)

With the very small membership fee, you get great downloads to use with your planner. For the monthly view, I chose to use the same style I used the first year of DLP, in 2014. I created the calendar on watercolor paper, sized in such a way that it folds in. I felt the need to have a larger calendar than was offered. Since I technically don't use it as a planner, rather a diary of sorts, I went with daily doodle practice. There are several of us of the 2,800 members that are doing the same. :)

If you are familiar with my blog, you probably know of my aubergine color obsession! What is aubergine? Well, it's a really deep, almost black violet eggplant color. See my Pinterest board where I gather lots of inspiration for this color! It's right HERE. :) I'm using the same color scheme for a different project I'm doing as well.

For my weekly view, I am using one of the downloads, and decorating with stencils and painting. Doodling as well, of course. :)

I watercolored in the empty areas with Neocolors2 and Lindy's Gang pigments. Such a rich purple-y pink color!

Used a fun stencil set by Seth Apter for Stencil Girl is the main feature of my weekly view page. Additional stencils by Stencil Girl are also used.

Work in progress shots: Sharpie marker, fine line for the doodling.

Pages 8 and 9:

Week 3 of 18/52

close-up

Dare2B pocket on page 9. I used a piece of dyed burlap for the pocket. I was practicing the calligraphy shown on a scrap piece of paper, and decided it would add a nice detail to the pocket.

The polka dotted paper that backs this pocket is a big neon/kraft set I purchased from Micheals. Sewing? Yes, of course I have sewing. Actually there are stitches on every page of this project. :)

Page 10 and 11:

List 10 on page 11, backed with a black tag that came in kit, decorating with paint and stencils by Stencil Girl.

I kept on moving elements around all month, until it all worked the way I wanted it. This was part of the fun! :)

I love how this looks, with a different element (my week 2 PAC) peeking out past the pages. :)

Page 12 and 13:

On the back of the black tag, I glued an envelope, decorated with stamps and washi tape, and created a pocket for one of my PACS. White ribbon from kit ties it together. The weekly view is stamped first, then some Dylusions paint added. The fun number flower stamps by Rae that came in the kit feature the days of the week. I painted the petals in with pink paint. FUN! I gessoed the outline and sewed as well.

This is the PAC for week 2, but I didn't follow the prompt. This was actually done in my junque journal, but I accidentally cut apart the paper, so I made it the PAC. The other parts are added as embellishments and the spine by the hole reinforcements. The reinforcement on the PAC was from the kit. I stamped a portion of the sheet of reinforcements with a word find stamp by Stampin'Up. Old, old stamp, now put to use. So happy to use old stuff! Metallic pink thread for the stitching of the black tag.

I dyed some of the ribbon with Bubblegum Pink Dylusions spray.

See the adorable silver number 3 paper clip? I'm in love. :)

I had fun decorating the reinforcements for each hole.

Pages 14 and 15:

After much deliberation, I glued a page protector to the back of page 13. I first cut it down so it fits the binder, and sewed the edges shut. These pockets are full of extra happy mail I have made and sent in the past. A ticket from a theatre production we went to also is included. Tucked in behind the "Be free" quote are two of the PACS.

The weekly view on the right (page 15): I punched out circles from gelli prints for the numbers, and doodled in the numbers and petals.

The white paper snippets are the Facebook memories that pop up in my feed. I screenshot my favorites when I see them and print them off. Coupled with memories like that and present-day happenings, and my weekly views get filled up!

PACS from Week 4 and 5 are above. The barcodes are from Michaels coupons I accumulated over the month of January. LOL I glued one down, sewed, then layered another, sewing again. Repeat.

The one on the right: you can't see, but I collaged some of my daughter's art onto the PAC. I didn't like how I had put it together, so I started adding paint and stenciling. Now it ends up like this. LOL

My favorite spread are pages 16 and 17: week 4 and 5 weekly views.

I drew in the numbers, doodled circles around each one, filled in the areas with black, filled in the numbers with white paint, and added squiggles around each number.

I sprayed Dylusions Bubblegum pink ink spray through a Tim Holtz stencil, then smudged white Dylusions paint with my fingers around the numbers, over the stencilled pink areas, around the edges, and moving into the middle. In bottom right corner, I added another layer of pink paint with the same stencil.

While spraying the weekly view, my underpaper got decorated as well, so I cut out a half-circle and glued to the kraft paper, which I doodled around.

Pages 16 and 17:

Week 3 PAC: watercolor dots, and words from a flyer, found poetry documenting my faith.

Week 1 PAC: I used modeling paste through a stencil, and added paint with fingers. Found the "sixteen" in an old book, sewn onto a piece of pink burlap. Of course, sewing around the edges in black finishes everything off. :)

Found this lovely kraft paper decorated with gorgeous images at my friend's scrapbook store. It's a BoBunny pack. Stitched around with metallic pink thread, glueing the last bit in a little cluster.

Pages 18 and 19:

This photo does not record the real depth of this piece. I call this Blooms at Midnight. This was part of the 18/52 Journal project by Miranda Banks at Clare Plantation. I'm incorperating those pieces into my unPlanner here. For the background detail, I used a stencil by MaryBeth Shaw, part of the December Stencil Girl Club collection. I attempted the violet-black for the background, but you can't really see the true color here. :(

Pages 20 and 21:

Last week view for January. I glued a pocket full of snail mail goodies to this page. I have a tutorial here on my blog on how I made those flowers and pockets. Interested? See HERE.

Page 21 is a simple page made with my digital scrapbooking software. The photos are some of my favorite pics I took this month: my daughter and niece being crazy. :)

I am finished with this VERY. LONG. POST. In conclusion, I offer you a video of a flip-through of the above pages. Enjoy! Thanks for sticking with me to the end!

Do you want to know more about this project? Check out the deets HERE. It's a project that Lorraine Bell, Rae Missigman and Sandi Keene, of the Art5 group have come up with. :)

This is my third year of The Documented Life Project, and I am so pleased the lovely artists have continued it for another year! :) 

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥

18/52 Journal Project Weeks 1-5

Hi, everyone! Just a quick blog post of my layouts for the fun 18/52 Journal project, Haven't heard of it? Check it out HERE!

These are the eighteen items I have chosen, and the challenge is to use only these supplies for 3 months, creating one piece a week. Miranda at Clare Plantation has prompts you can follow along with, or you can make your own. For some of mine, I have not used a prompt at all. See a previous blog post of mine to see my list and why I chose what I did HERE.

So, here's Week One: 

I chose to go with two paint colors: Deep Violet by Liquitex Basics and a Martha Stewart craft paint called Party Streamers, plus black and white gesso for my kit, so these are the colors you will see for the next three months. I adore this color scheme, so I hope not to get tired of it! :)

Miranda's first prompt was "wood", so I stamped some background areas with a wood stamp, handcarved by the lovely Miranda, which I purchased from her Etsy store. She has adorable stamps you can buy! 

I was deep into making these flowers, taught by the lovely Cindy Gilstrap in her Artsy Dori class, so I started with that. 

I added other fun paint marks and doodles, finishing with a rotating stamp with various numbers and symbols on it. I thought that might lend some interest to this eclectic look. :)

Week Two:

Second prompt was "meadow", so I attempted a very simple one, using only gesso, my pink paint, and the white Signo gel pen. Simplistic, but I got it done!

Week Three:

For Week three, the prompt was "geometric", and I thought, awesome! One of the stencils I chose is very geometric, so that is the star of this page. It's a great stencil that came in Stencil Girl's December Stencil Club by Mary Beth Shaw. See it HERE! 

I added varying shades of pink and purple using a sponge, and completed it all by doodle-ing (sp??) with white gel pen. I could have definitely spent more time blending and shading - creating more dimension, but I was impatient to go on to my next gazillionth project. Teehee!

Week Four:

This one I had great fun with. I decided to ditch the prompt (it was "queen") but nothing was coming up, I was getting behind, so I decided to just do my own thing. This is completely intuitive, with no plans on how it should look. I just fiddled with paints on my fingers, a bit of stencilling (using the December Stencil Club stencil that looks like abstract roses), and that's it. I love it, actually! So free. :)

Week Five: Blooms at Midnight

My favorite so far. The prompt was "gem", and I LOVE FLOWERS, they are the gem of my heart, so I decided to paint them. 

I had no plans really on how it all should look, but I started by covering up the two pages with black paint, adding in the deep violet to attempt that aubergine color I love so much. You can see the deep eggplant color on the right hand side, in the middle. 

I then painted with my fingers, a light shade of pink, painted in five random areas, then built up layer after layer, adding pink and purple, sometimes dark, sometimes bright, sometimes even white, mixing all together, eventually adding more detail. 

Next, I added some stencilling with that abstract rose stencil again, then some white dots, shaded the edges with bursts of color, and called it done. 

I will try more of this style!

To see how I added these pages to my unPlanner, go to this post. :)

There! My first month of the18/52 Journal project. I'm pleased. I am not tired of my supplies yet. Looking forward to using the Gelli plate in my stash, more of the stencils I chose, and the stamps. Yippeee! Thanks, Miranda, for thinking up this great project!! Love ya!

Have a blessed day!

♥♥♥ Anna ♥♥♥