Monday Chat, Snowy Weather

I love our little valley in the snow. It’s so pretty. This morning we had a big snow storm and like a kid I couldn’t wait to get out there in it. I used the dog as an excuse mind.  I actually wanted to be the first one to walk up the lane and put our footprints in the snow, that’s a bit odd isn’t it?

Cooper loves it, he has his nose permanently down and his tongue out so he can lick it up.

Thursday evening we had a massive storm as did large parts of the UK too.  The forest path was a bit like an obstacle course over the weekend but none the less still beautiful.

It gave us a bit of extra exercise.

Stay warm everyone. I’ll speak soon.

Jaine x

 

Friday In The Studio – Planning Planning Planning

I really should call this Catching Up In The Studio as it’s now Sunday and I’m only now finding the time to do my catch up. It’s been a busy week as usual and the weather hasn’t helped. We’ve had some snow and having a dog who constantly wants to come in and out the floors are always wet and dirty so I spend my time cleaning up after him.

Anyway, that aside, I’ve prepared my planners and journals for this new year and I thought I’d share that with you seeing as I’ll be using them from time to time in blog posts. The four above are the ones I’ll be using on a regular basis and from the top they are, a Websters Pages Travelers Notebook which holds a sketchbook and journal in at the moment but I have the ability to be able to add other books as I go along. Next is my desk diary which is my daily agenda, always on my desk with my to do lists, money matters and notes etc, then comes my Simple Stories Carpe Diem planner which I started last year and abandoned after January! I’m hoping this year to really use it properly and after making new inserts and dashboards for it I feel it’s really my own style. Finally I’ve a gardening diary which was a gift a couple of years ago and although I’ve started it I don’t feel as if I’ve really got into it yet. I’ve lots of ideas for how I’ll use this one so you may see it from time to time here.

As I said in my travelers notebook I’ve included a sketchbook. I do have a much bigger sketchbook which I’ll continue to use from time to time but for a quick sketch on the go I’ll be using this one.  It’s a Moleskine as I absolutely love the paper even though it’s thin and buckles and warps when I use watercolour paint on it, this is why I like it so much.

A couple of sketches created after walks with the dog.

My planner is a Simple Stories ring binder style and now I’ve made my own dashboards it feels more like me so I’m hoping that will encourage me to keep up with it.

I’d love to know if any of you are using planners or journals this year and what system you’re using?

Hopefully I can inspire you a little bit to get out a pencil and maybe start something new.

See you soon

Jaine x

Happy 2017

A very very happy New Year 2017 to everyone and I’m hopefull of it being a very good year indeed with lots of plans and ideas in the pipeline just waiting to be put into practice.

I’ve finished my December Daily which I’ll show you on Friday and I’ve got two new journal, sketchbook, planners to start too which I can’t wait to share.

On Friday the February issue of Craft Stamper is out and I’m so excited to have my own stamps featured inside. I can’t wait to see what it looks like.

For now though here’s a sneak peek.

I’ll be back in the studio on Friday so I hope you’ll come back and join me.

Happy New Year

Jaine xx

Friday In The Studio – December Daily

This is where I was a couple of weeks or so ago, all happy happy and totally prepared to fill my December Daily with lots of mixed media goodness and Christmas cheer but after filling only the first 3 pages I left it and pushed it to one side.

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The reason was hard for me to admit to but I simply didn’t like it. I really didn’t like anything about it. After all that work and all that expectation that my tea dyed pages would look aged and wonderful, in fact they left me feeling disappointed and let down. The pages were too stiff being water colour paper, the look I was going for wasn’t an antique one but bright white and clean like the robin paper on the left. I just pushed it to one side and left it not knowing whether to go on with it or not. Several times I opened my travelers notebook and wondered whether I should carry on in that instead.  The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea sooooooo…..

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last weekend I started to deconstruct my original DD and use the photos and some of the stickers I could rescue and start from scratch in my TN.

day-1

Now I feel so much better. I love how the pages which have been painted on go all crinkly once they’re dry and I love the size and format of the whole thing.

day-3

I’m now up to date with it and much more content.

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Have a good weekend everyone.

Jaine x