Category: Friday in the Studio

Lots Of Crafty Stuff From The Studio

Well January has been a bit of a mixed bag so far. My lack of blogging has been due to a broken laptop which has gone away to be fixed so I’m left using my tablet for writing which is a slow process and my phone for photos. I’m getting a bit fed up of one fingered typing. My fat fingers keep making mistakes and the auto correct changes my text into something altogether rubbish, sometimes totally inappropriate too.

That’s not good…… Hopefully it’ll come back soon before I go bonkers.

Meanwhile…….having a bit more time on my hands meant I could have a bit of a tidy up in the studio and as a result came across a pile of leather pieces. I’d almost forgotten about them in the back of a cupboard. Given to me by my friend Lena, they originally came from a sofa swatch book so are mostly A4 size but with odd holes and stitching where they were held into the book.

They’re just the right size  and stiffness for making into notebook covers like this. I broke four needles sewing the strap on but it was worth the effort.

I’ve made this green one big enough to take four to six notebooks comfortably with a wrap around and button closure. I love it. I might make some more this weekend.

One of my goals for this year is to journal more so last Friday in the studio I did just that and had a blast. I missed the paints and inks alot last year so I intend to bring my journal out as much as possible in 2018.

It was a perfect opportunity too to use my house stamps. After stamping and cutting them out I was happier to leave them uncoloured againsed the crazy background and I think it worked.

For this Friday in the studio I’ve turned to the journal in my travelers notebook where I’m going to start documenting the months. I’ll add some photos, notes, ephemera and stickers and keep it sketchy and informal. It’ll be a place where I can highlight everything which happens during the month plus I can add some arty backgrounds in too.

That’s it for this week. Have a good one and I’ll speak soon.

Jaine xx



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Phrase Of The Year 2018

You might at one time or another find yourself overwhealmed by having  so much going on or a big project/idea you really want to put into motion but just getting started is difficult and it’s easy to become disheartened, and loose focus. Everyone suffers from it at some time or another and the easiest way to deal with it is to give up and not bother. After all, why carry on if everyone else seems to be making a better job of it?

Well, take heart in the fact that this is me most days. What am I going to do about it?  Telling you lot for starters. That’s a load off, then I’ll add this quote to my bullet journal where I’ll see it almost every day. It’ll be a little reminder in those times of self doubt that this is my mantra for the year.

The original sketch was part of a doodle challenge or in my case a sketch challenge hosted by Paper Pen and Plan on Facebook.

Once it was in my brand spanking new bujo I set about colouring it in with the watercolours which came in the January Sweet Treat box from Paperpenandplan on Etsy. I love these cards for carrying around in between the pages of my journal. They’re handy for traveling too.

I’m having a great time sketching random objects.

I’m looking forward to filling my sketchbook with more random stuff.

Jaine xx

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Hello February

I was totally ready for February but unfortunately my computer was involved in a little accident (something heavy landed on it) and doing anything on my phone or tablet was a pain. That includes photos which when I see them now on my computer they’re out of focus which is really annoying.  It’s back now which is great but I’m off on a little trip to UK visiting family and friends so it’s back to the tablet for a few days.

In the meantime I can show you what’s been happening since I last spoke and what I’ve been working on.

This year I really want to create my own planner inserts by hand which means drawing and painting the monthly calendar pages in my Carpe Diem and Bullet journal. It’s truly very satisfying to see a layout which I can say is totally me and not off the shelf. Of course I’ve still used stickers and papers as embellishments but on the whole it’s all me.

These stickers are from Paper Pen and Plan on Etsy and I just love the quote at the bottom of the page.

The Paper Pen and Plan group on Facebook have started a monthly sketch challenge and I’ve drawn up the first sketch. I created a dashboard layout also in my Carpe Diem to go with it using papers and embellishments from the February Sweet Treat box with Paper Pen and Plan.

I’ve also started a little journal in my Travelers Notebook. The pages are very thin but with a bit of gesso on the page I can add what ever I like on top. This page uses Tattered Angels sprays from Canvas Corp like paints with some scraps of paper collaged on top.

What do you do when you run out of letter stickers? Use the negatives of course.

I was absolutely thrilled this month to have my stamp design on the front of the new Craft Stamper. I’m hoping to spot it in the news agents when I’m back home so I can scoff.

This is a little close up of the projects I made using the stamp.

Well that’s all for now. Have a very good weekend and I hope the weather isn’t too horrid where you are.

Jaine xx

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New Projects – Friday In The Studio

Hello there and welcome to the first Friday in the studio of 2018.

Outside its stormy, wet and fairly miserable so I’m happy to be here in the basement with paints and glue.

This has to be my motto for the year  “you can do it”.  I just need reminding from time to time so here it is on the first monthly spread in my planner.

I think this year I really want to take up more mixed media and journaling again. I didn’t do so much last year instead focussing most of my attentions to making books and planners. I need to add more mixed media into my planners to bring the two worlds together and my sketchbook has been neglected a bit since the beginning of the year when I was adding to it almost daily. I’m really happy that Paper Pen and Plan are running a challenge this month to doodle every day so I’m taking this as an excuse to go a bit further and challenge myself to a small sketch each day. If you want to join in they’re running the challenge via their facebook group. You can find them here https://www.facebook.com/groups/paperpenandplan/ to join the group and join in the challenge.

It’s funny though but since participating in the open atelier just before Christmas and hearing what other people had to say about my work made me think about what it was I was doing and where I was going. I think I’d stopped believing in myself and had given up trying to produce anything in my art journal. For the atelier I’d made lots of mini books for scrapbookers and right at the very end – literally a couple of days before, I decided to make a few blank sketchbook/journal type albums with mixed media covers just to see how they went. Blow me if they weren’t the first books to sell and the response I got was amazing. So just from those few little books I’m now all fired up again to get out the paints and mediums.

Tomorrow is my first blog post for WOW and here’s a little sneaky peek at what’s coming up. I loved playing with texture and adding layers to this project. I’ll show you the full project tomorrow.

Happy Friday everyone, have a good one.

Jaine xx

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