Layered Sunshine with Stencils in my unPlanner

Hi, all! 

I'm on Thursday Throwback on the StencilGirl blog today, along with three others of the creative team. Come see what we're all up to! :)

Throwback Thursday is about taking older stencils, and creating new things with it. :) 

My project of course, is my unPlanner, specifically the monthly calendar I make. 

Don't know what the unPlanner project is about? Check it out here:

Art to the 5th Academy

Scroll down to see my step-out.

I shared my calendar in my previous post, and I mentioned that I didn't like the way it looked, so I've made changes now.

So here is the before:

And after:

I had used the Shattered stencil to create those orange rays over splattered ink, but I felt like it needed more.

I start by taking the Mandala #3 stencil and white paint, stenciling in "rays".

Then I go in with the calligraphy pen and "doodle" with black India ink.

Next, I take a little stencil with little semicircle shapes and stencil in the white areas with purple paint.

The Mini Diagonalz stencil comes next where I again, use white and tuck each diamond between the purple parts. (I masked off the whole area of the stencil so only the diamond is shown.)

I didn't like my lettering on the circle middle, so I took out my daughter's calligraphy pen and India ink. It takes practice to get a steady hand, but I am okay with it in the end. I wrote the lettering on a punched out circle of white cardstock and glued it into the center.

Lastly, with black India ink and calligraphy pen, I create lines of black dots to create more the look of sun rays.

I've been using reinforcements a lot on every page with my unPlanner, and this time I felt the rest of the calendar needed some lift, so these circles "spray" out. I like the sense of movement they create.

Finished! To see more of my unPlanner, go to my older posts, or click 

HERE.

To see what this unPlanner project is about, visit the Art to the 5th Academy.

Thanks so much for the visit!

Until next time!

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥

More October Pages in my Unplanner

Still having a great time in my unPlanner. I haven't completed all the prompts, but I always enjoy creating my daily pages, so that's what I'm sharing today. To see what this project is all about, check it out below! 

The Documented Life Project 2016- The unPlanner

My calendar took on a slightly different look this month. Instead of doodling every day, I am documenting a momentous occasion: our very first trip out of North America! Cancun, we'll see you in 2017! Whoot! :)

I used a few stencils here, with layering, and I still am not happy with how it looks, so I will add more elements around the circle yet. Not happy with my lettering! I keep on killing all my black markers, as I'm so impatient to write, that I don't wait for the paint to cure. grrrr I need to get out my fountain pen and India ink and try writing with that!

After I had finished this first layout in this style, I thought of Mary Brack's art journals! And here are her posts in the Facebook group. She regularly posted her DLP pages back in 2014, and I enjoyed each one. 

I decided to do a free write for each day of October. You might be wondering what is a free write. It simply is jotting down what you're thinking about, so off-the-cuff, not worrying too much about perfect sentence structure, grammar or spelling. I refer back to my notes in my Foxydori daily planner that I keep if I have to. It is in this style of writing I am capturing some thoughts from each day.

I included the introduction to a devotional bible study I am taking at the moment, as the words rang so true for me. Make it meaningful by including things that are close to your heart. I see so much of the treasures included from many of the members of the DLP Facebook group. I am always inspired by what you all include in your journals! Thank you! 

For the first few circle dates, I used leftover paper from the PAC I made, pictured further down. (See my previous post to see the paper if you're interested.)

  

For these rest of the circles, I created two more backgrounds in coordinating colours with lots of stenciling. My fave stencils for this project are the reverse grids and the August 2013 Club stencils! Dots are always good to add to, of course. ;) I have this thing about dots lately...

With the spines on this one, I used Carolyn Dube's fun Circles Layer Me stencils, then added more doodling with paint pens. I am reminded of Grandma's old vinyl flooring when I look at this.

Washi tape edges is always fun to do! The book text edges are actually just strips of book paper that I cut to the right size and glued on.

I've got each day ready to be journaled, but a little behind with the journaling part. I'm running out of the white gel pens! (I like to buy them in a pack. They aren't available here, so I always order them online.)

Thanks for stopping by to visit! I appreciate it! :0

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥

October Musings and some unPlanner Pics

unPlanner pages for October

October weather is here in full swing, and that means I need to use those colours in my art journal! They are NOT my go-to colours, but since The Documented Life Project's October theme is a new palette, I thought I better. ;)

So here goes. 

Using the same brayering technique I discovered on the PaperArtsy Youtube Channel, I covered four pieces of cardstock with paint in oranges, yellows, reds and greens.

Note: see my own videos of this technique HERE.

I put aside those backgrounds and just started playing with my new club stencils from StencilGirl and the reverse grid stencils as well. And paint pens. To make dots. I make lots of dots at the moment.

To finish, I added the circles towards the bottom, as it needed grounding visually.

Grid Outline 4 by 4

Grid Outline 6 by 6

March 2013 Club Stencils 

May 2015 Club Stencils

Clustered Leaves

September 2016 Club Stencils (for the flowers in middle of the circles)

For Calligraphy letters with the Zig Clean Color brush markers, in the style of Random Olive. Want to learn how to write in this style? Do check out her Instagram, as she uploads mini tutorial videos that shows you how, and you can buy her printables so you can practice too. I found it very helpful!

I kept on adding more and more layers, just for fun. Until it looked more pleasing.

See the reinforcement edge with the flowers? This is where I started using the brayered backgrounds. It's nice and handy to have four backgrounds to work with as I create my unPlanner pages for October.

Still need to decorate my calendar.

I have made one PAC recently, and it's a September prompt, but I'm adding it to my October, as the challenge was to add an organic element. I had these leaves I gathered from our yard, and this leaf got all painty in October's colour scheme. :) I sewed the edges and the stem down on the card. 

The background is from an old art journal page in my junque journal. I cut out a portion for the background of my PAC. The dots reminded me of seed heads, so it goes with the leaf, right? :)

October Musings

We took a road trip to neighboring Saskatchewan for my nephew's wedding. Here are my two oldest, all purty. Love them!!

On the way home, I stepped into a gopher hole, spraining my ankle badly. I couldn't walk without crutches a few days. As part of the road trip, we explored the area where my hubby's mother was born, and since I couldn't explore with them, I had to stay in vehicle. Junia, my daughter picked this beautiful flower for me.

Hours and hours of driving on the Saskatchewan prairies.

Days later, we drove through Canada's Rocky Mountain range, and we missed a turn, landing in British Columbia. LOL. We stopped beside the Bow River, and I was able to take the time to play with the aperture on my phone camera. I'm pleased with how it turned out!

Another perspective.

Who says dead grasses and flowers have no beauty??

Eight days of road trip left us a little tired of each other, but what a time we had.

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥