unPlanner Play Video Tutorial

Hi all! 

My blog has been on the back burner for a long while, and my excuse? I opened up an Etsy Shoppe. I do love blogging so I'm not stopping altogether, it'll just be less. You know, unfortunately our days only have 24 hours...

 That said, here I am to give you a quick update on the artsy things I've been working on.

I have a video demonstrating how I work in my unPlanner. As I am on Roben-Marie Smith's design team, the video is on herYoutube channel. I used her gorgeous mixed-media art cards and stamps.

See HERE!

I hope to complete the second part to my process, but I am having issues with some of the programs on my laptop since I updated Windows. GRRR. Sorry to anyone that is waiting for the second part. :(

Now, back to Etsy. I have some more listings, including a new washi design! Do check it out here: Artful Stories Etsy Shop.

And three different-sized pouches!

My favourite? These one-of-a-kind original pieces of art. I keep using that scripty stamp from PaperBag Studios over and over again!

And of course, the cabbage roses. They are my safe place. :)

I also made another Artsydori, which I had a hard time parting with!

Traci Bautista stencils are always a good thing, right? Added some handmade doodles as well, annnnnnndddd...other yummy stenciling. Can't get enough of the floral one by Stencil Girl. See the pink flowers at the top of the dori cover?

Decided to add pockets to the inside. I just adore the polka dots!

Grungy looking edges and funky pen loop.

Here it is lain flat.

I have done a few other things too, but I also share lots of Instagram, so come visit me there if you like.

Back to summer vibes, design team work, and working in my unPlanner! See you another time! :)

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥

P.S. If you're interested in making YOUR own Artsydori, take a class from Cindy of Junque Art Studios to learn how! ♥♥♥

GIVEAWAY Winner

Hi, everyone! A big congratulations to Melissa Bell! She's the winner of the Artsydori of her choice, pictured below!

:) :)

Thanks to all you entered!

April in my unPlanner Part 02

Hello, peeps! Thanks for stopping by. Sharing my unPlanner pages tonight. 

For this week, I started with printing off the unPlanner blank weekly view download on white cardstock. 

Edit: I have added in a few more pages that I forgot to include in this post.

For this weekly view, I covered the pages with yellow paint, added swirls of other colors, stencilled with a StencilGirl number set, then dots using this awesome grafitti look stencil by Seth Apter. Stitching in black circles when completed.

I outlined each stencilled number with a white gel pen to bring out the numbers more. Now I have to journal on top of this. It'll be hard to cover up those numbers, I think!

 To see a tutorial of the page below on the left, go visit the StencilGirl Talk blog. It was one of the projects for my guest designer post there.

For the Week 2 PAC challenge, I added a high contrast black and white photocopy of my own face, stencilled on top of it in areas, did some doodling and of course, funky sewing.

April 17-23 Weekly view: I randomly brushed red paint on the card stock.

Next, I drew 7 circles randomly with a black Stabilo Marks All pencil. 

I handpainted the circles with white, orange and pink very loosely.

Then I stencilled pink paint through this awesome stencil by Mary Beth Shaw from StencilGirl. Basically covered the whole page with it in a very imperfect way, not worrying about lining things up, going around the circles. During this process, the stencil accidentally dipped into my pink paint palette and I didn't notice until I saw stray paint on areas of the page. Instead of having a hissy fit (teehee!) I chose to go with it. Peace, sisters, peace! ;)  

When everything was dry, I sewed messy circles with metallic orange thread loosely, doing the edges of the pages as well.

And again, I made watercolor bubbles for the reinforcement spine on a separate piece of watercolor paper, cut into strips, and glued to each edge of the weekly view.

Next, I took another stencil, this one by Suzi Dennis, from StencilGirl, and stamped white paint onto the circles, keeping to the edges in a curved shape.

For the dates, I punched out circles from a Gelliprint, doodling the numbers and an outline with a black pen. Filled in the numbers with a white gel pen. 

See HERE for more of my Gelliprinting projects if you are curious what they are. Careful, the link will lead you to a brand new hobby and it's addicting. Can't say I didn't warn you! ;)

For the final week of April, I used the same strategy for the weekly views, except with different stencils for the background, and a slightly different color emphasis.

I also added a "junqueartflower", which I learned to make in that Artsydori class I keep talking about by Cindy Gilstrap. Check our her blog HERE.

This wasn't one of the challenges for DLP, but I printed off a Yes Please list to document sweet family time we had on the weekend. I added some funky black flowers made out of cardstock and painted for the edge. For the edge this time, I stenciled in some fun designs using StencilGirl stencils.

For the Dare2B challenge, I just repeated my first one: Reliant on God. This is what I want to focus on the most in my spiritual walk with the Lord. Added some doodling, stenciling, and sewing for fun.

Some fun doodling on the edge on left page. :) 

.For the list Ten, I listed the ten people I would choose to have a round-table visit with. I chose people past or present.

For the background, I took a picture of the fabric I had designed to make an Artsydori, (see the end of THIS post to see) copied it to the computer, and printed it on cardstock. Voila. Pretty background. 

I added a yellow mini pom pom lace edge, and backed the whole page with a scalloped BoBunny kraft page, adding doodling, and some paint for more detail.

I made another copy of the flowers, and cut them out, and glued it to the back of the last weekly view, on top of a circle I painted and cut into a circle, with sewn edging.

Week 16 PAC, was to make a little pocket, which I did using scraps from a page I wasn't using (scroll down a little further where I explain it), and added sweet little photos from our nature walk on the weekend.

PAC Week 17 was to add numbers, so I simply wrote in a curve a song with a number in the title. I picked a song that is one of my favorites, and quite by accident, I was listening to this song a lot at the exact time I needed to come up with a numbers idea. :) 

While working on a weekly view, something didn't look right (can't remember what), so I redid the weekly but saved the old one and used it for this!    Wahoo! 

 PAC Week 18 was to use a color I normally avoid, and for me hands down, that is Vermillion, a warm red. I used Rae Missigmans's Puddles stencil on an almost-discarded Gelliprint I was using as underpaper. Added some more stenciling with Carolyn Dube's Circles Layer Me stencil.

Added some little dots in a row with a paint pen.

I used a narrow white ribbon, stitched pink thread along the middle, and pulled up the thread too ruffle the ribbon. 

And just for fun, a little flower, stenciled and doodled to decorate the back of the page protector where the PACS are homed.

And that is the end of my April pages. The day got too late to video a flip-through, but I hope to find some time tomorrow or later in the week to do that. I'll add it to this post, I think. 

To see the first part of my April pages in my unPlanner, go HERE.

If you would like more information about this whole unPlanner, please check out this amazing project by the Art to the 5th artists HERE! :)

Thanks so much for visiting, friends!

Have you entered my giveway yet? You still have some time! Deadline is Friday, May 6th, around noon. See HERE!

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥

Artsydori Love and a GIVEAWAY!

A big welcome to all of you who have come from the StencilGirl Talk blog! 

If you haven't been at StencilGirl Talk, you need to! I wrote a guest post there, and it was all about how I made an Artsydori and another project in my unPlanner using StencilGirl stencils.

You have come to the right place! I am hosting a GIVEAWAY!!

Yes, I will give away one of these Artsydori sets to one lucky person in celebration of my new adventure with the StencilGirl Creative Team!
See the details at the end of this post.

Artsydori #1 is on StencilGirl Talk blog, so you need to go visit me there to see it. :)

Artsydori Set  #2

 the Artsydori

It measures like the original Traveler's Notebook by Midori: approximately 9 inches (23cm) tall and about 5 1/4 inches (23cm) wide

funky stitching, generous and well-placed pen loop

The inside with aqua coloured quality elastic.

The Artsydori fits four of my generously sized notebooks inside.

Four coordinating hand bound notebooks to go inside. These are funky machine stitched with matching thread. The inside pages are plain white cardstock.

All the designs are made using StencilGirl stencils!

Links to the stencils used to make this Artsydori and coordinating notebooks:

Ornamental Petals Screen

Kilim Patterns

Geometric Sky

To make your own Artsydori, do check out this great class where I learned to make them!!

JunqueArt

Here I have another one that I just made last week.

Artsydori #3

And here is the dori with the coordinating notebooks which I had fun making with gelliprints and StencilGirl stencils!

Some funky notebooks. I love these new stencils I used for this, designed by Mary Beth Shaw!

April 2016 Club stencils

The coloring was hard to capture on this one. The pink and black should look more purple, and the yellow is actually more of a green color.

Artsydori #4

I used the amazing new stencils by Mary Beth Shaw. They come in the

April StencilGirl Club set.

I highly recommend this club! You get exclusive stencils every month. Check it out HERE.

I also used stencils from two previous club month sets:

September 2015

February 2016

I don't have the matching notebooks for the above dori, so if you win, and this one is your favorite, it'll just be the dori, not a set.

I have started to make some to sell from time to time, so if you see one that you'd like to purchase, please email me.

customscrapbooksbyanna (at) gmail (dot) com

This one is sold, so you can't pick this one as your favorite (#1,2,3 or 4), but I wanted to show this one to you too.

Here are the instructions to enter the giveway:

How: In the comment section, tell me which Artsydori is your favorite. You can choose the one on the StencilGirl Talk blog as well. In order to contact you if you are the winner, leave your email address like this: customscrapbooksbyanna (at) gmail (dot) com. If you are uncomfortable leaving your address, you can email me as well. My email address is the one I just mentioned. :)

When: I will draw randomly from all the comments and emails on Friday, May 5th, 2016 at noon.

This giveaway is open to anyone in Canada or USA. So sorry about those overseas. Shipping would kill me. :(

Why: to celebrate my new adventure with the Stencil Girl Creative Team! :) Whoot!!
To see more Artsydori posts see here:

Artsydori Land

Inspiration Wednesday 2016 Week One

Inspiration Wednesday Handmade Journal

So happy that you chose to visit me here!

Bless you!

♥♥♥  Anna  ♥♥♥