A is for Art Journals

I have hopped on the A to Z Challenge bandwagon again and I hope to make it through the challenge like I did two years ago!.  For me this will be a wonderful exercise in daily blogging (and challenging my imagination!!)

A is for Art Journaling.  Over the past year or two I have been enjoying playing around with art journaling.  I find it to a be fun, relaxing, and creative way to spend some time.  I will admit that I have not been too active in my art journaling, but I want to get back into it again soon! 

Here are some pictures of pages I have completed in the past:

My two main art journaling books.

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 13

Day 13!  I finally finished blocking my Mystery Shawl!!  Here is what it looks like all pinned out and tomorrow (or in a few days) I'll get some pictures once it is unblocked.  I am happy to have this 100% done (finally).

I worked on another mixed media art journal page yesterday and am happy with how it turned out.  I am quite enjoying this!  I really enjoy spending some time doing artsy things along with my crafty things!  This one is not entirely done - it needs some more detail...

I started the Main November BAMKAL square this morning and hope to finish it later today or tomorrow.

My phone died on the weekend so hubby and I went out last night (after he got home from work) and got me a new one.  My old (cheapo) phone had been slowly giving up on me and was getting more and more glitchy every day it seemed.  It died a slow death and I am happy with my new phone although there is a learning curve involved and that slows me down...

Not sure what tomorrow holds - hubby is home so we may go out and do something.  Potentially there will be less time spend on crafting during the day, but we shall see.

I am getting excited for the Thanksgiving break.  We are off school for the full week so I have no classes to teach.  Technically break for me will  begin when my office hours are over on Wednesday (4pm) and I don't have to be back in the office until the following Monday morning!  So I am planning some major crafting!  I plan to do a WIP-it Down Week (or ten or so days) where I will assign each project a specific day and will only focus on that project for the day.  I do this every year and manage to get a lot accomplished!  I'll be posting my WIP-it Down Week schedule on Wednesday so tune in to see what I have planned.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 20

Back for another weekly update!  I seem to feel I have less to share since I am posting daily for NaBloPoMo, but here is my update nonetheless.

I have finished to the end of Clue number 2 on my Mystery Socks and now have to wait until Wednesday for the new clue.  I am enjoying this knit and am curious to see what the next clue brings!

I am getting closer to having my Mystery Shawl blocked.  It is soaking right now and will be pinned out later today!

And I finished another mixed media spread in my new art journal!  I am really enjoying this mixed media art journaling!  This last design is a bit dark, but I still like it!

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 10

Here we are one third of the way through the month!

I made some great progress on my Mystery Socks yesterday.  The first leg is complete and I have half of the first (of three) repeats done on the second leg.  I hope to finish the second leg today!

I also am keeping up with my temperature scarf!  I'll post a progress picture of that tomorrow.

I had some artsy fun yesterday too!

It was a good day ♥

Today I have a meeting at work then plan to go to Hobby Lobby and Michaels to snoop around.  Then off to Walmart and the Dollar Tree.  And I have a package with some fluid gel medium (basically glue for mixed media art) that I need to pick up at UPS.  They said they tried to deliver yesterday but I was home all day so I call BS!  Once I am back home I plan to work on my Mystery socks, block my Mystery Shawl (didn't get that done yesterday...), and watch some podcasts!  Sounds like another good day!

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 9

Day 9!

I spent some time last night working on my Mystery Sock Along and made some good progress.  I got the bead placement issue resolved - I think I was insufficiently caffeinated when I first read the instructions for Clue #2...  All is good now and I am making progress :)  I plan to do three repeats per leg - then I get to wait until Wednesday for the third clue! Here is what it looks like with one full repeat on the leg complete.

Today I plan to spend some time doing some arts projects.  I got my new Moleskine book and will be using that as an art journal now.  I changed my mind about using my little home-made journal.  I will instead use that for regular journaling (writing out my thoughts when the mood moves me).  I do like to decorate the pages a bit for that so that I am not writing on pain white (boring) paper.  I find that I am more inclined to write more when I am eager to use up the paper so that I can decorate more pages.  Here are a couple pictures that show what I mean by decorating my pages:

Today I also plan to soak and block my Mystery Shawl.  I'll post pictures of that tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 6

And I continue to stay on track posting every day for National Blog Posting Month!!  Day number 6!

I finished my Mystery Shawl yesterday but it still needs blocking and I have a few tails to tuck in.  I hope to get that done tomorrow!

I got caught up on my Temperature scarf (again).  I was behind by six days...

Once I was done with the shawl I got back on track working on my Coffee Cantata socks.  I really want to get these all done!  I am tired of seeing them on the needles for so long (I cast them on May 29th 2016...)  It is beyond time to get them finished!  I plan to work on these over the next couple days!  I only got a couple rounds done last night...

I also worked on some art projects.  I made myself a small art journal that I plan to work my way through.  It is 28 pages plus the front and back covers.  I'll decorate the covers once the book is all filled up.  I made it using pages from a mixed media book.  I folded the pages in half and then stapled the whole little stack together - I actually got the staples quite close to being on the spine!!  I plan to not use too many embellishments that will thicken the pages too much so that it stays (sort of) closed.  I am excited to work on this little book - it is less daunting than a large surface!

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 24

Over the past few months I have been following a Zen Art Challenge on Facebook and have been loving it!!  I gives me a little time each day to relax and learn something new.  Many days it takes only a few minutes and some days it takes a bit longer if the design is complicated for me.  Either way it has been fun!  I joined up in September and have been following on a "mostly" daily basis since then.  I also backtracked and worked on the ones from previous months too.

I have several supplies that I use for doing my Zentanging:

1.  I love my Faber Castell Pitt Pen Set
2.  I also love my Sakura 6-Piece Pigma Micron Ink Pen Set
3.  And I love my Copic Markers Multiliners

I actually alternate between each of these pens.  I like to have the sets with multiple sized tips and use the different ones for different types of drawing and sketching.  I also need my ruler, pencil, and eraser to practice and work on the design before I commit to using pen!  I make a lot of mistakes, my artwork is far from perfect, and I love it!

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NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 23

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family in the US!  I am fat, full, and happy and am posting quite late today!

I have been looking over sales and planning out some shopping for myself!  What great deals!!  I love these pencil crayons and these watercolor pencil crayons and these watercolors!!  I am glad I have saved up because my Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping is going to be fun!!  I plan to use each of these in my bullet journal (which I plan to blog about soon!)  Now to get some sleep and dream of the fun I will have using these treats!

* This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing, but do help to support this site's maintenance and fees by paying me a tiny commission if you buy something.

Sixth Year of Projects - Week 8

Well this was a slow week with no real progress to show off.  I spent time letting my eyes heal and didn't really do much crafting at all!  I added three little mitered squares to my sock yarn scrap-ghan and I also added another inch or two to Bubbles.  Next week I hope to have some more progress to show off!!  But on the flip-side I had a follow up appointment for my eyes and the doctor was very happy with my healing.  He said I was healing faster than average! I suspect some of that is because I took it easy for the past week and really rested my eyes!

Now that the school year is back in full swing I also have less time to spend on crafting, but I do plan on making sure I spend some time on crafting each day - that is my relaxing time and gives me a lot of stress relief.

In other news I have picked up my paintbrushes again and have begun mixed media art journaling and Bible art journaling.