Ellie's collage project and Soul journal pages.

I have had a fun couple of days with my journal and with Ellie may, We decided to make a collages girl for her bedroom wall. We started with Ellie laying on a roll of wallpaper lining paper. I drew around her and then gave her 2 magazines. She spent about 2 hours, maybe more cutting and sticking all sorts of things, including eyes, nose, mouth, a plat, jewellery and flowers for her dress.
Here is the close up of her face, miss matched eyes are a bit weird but love the bling!
Look how much bling on the wrist and fingers.
That was yesterday, today we used the roller and acrylic paint to put colour down. Ellie did all this herself. She then used a damp kitchen roll sheet to show the flowers and things, wiped them back, and a wash of pink for the skin. It needs to be cut out now and pinned in her room. Love the corsage!
Now onto my journal. Sarah has gone off for a little break and so we are now working on our own. This was the last 2 spreads we did before she went. I have been a little slow as I was waiting for paint to dry and to sew a few things. I started by squirting some acrylic and shutting the book, squidge! Lovely! Then I filled one page with numbers.
I then added a was, and painted with a fork. Here is the full spread.

After the wash and the fork painting, I drew round my hand 5 times, moving them slightly every time. I drew with a tippex pen, and I picked out important numbers like 21 (Ellie's birthday) 29 ( my birthday - August by the way!) and 24 (Craig's birthday).

Sarah then asked us to add some meaningful words. I chose a quote by William Ralph Inge, it reads " The soul is dyed by the colour of it's leisure hours". I thought this summed this journal up really. I stitched this to a fabric tag which came on a new top I bought the other day, it is a diamond ( my favourite) pattern in copper (my favourite) on black cotton and has a copper eyelet. I punched 2 holes in the page to attatch it to the page with a bow. I have to say I bloddy love this spread.

On the opposing page I used black and white crayon to draw 3 hearts. I filled the centre with white crayon to resist and keep the text from the letter underneath the gesso showing. I used the tippex pen to draw the dandelions and the zig zag.

The next sprad started with a wash, but the rose pink colour was too wet so i blotted it with kitchen paper and I got this amazing pattern.

Check that out, lucky or what!
I set about printing first of all and printed with one o Ellie's building blocks (Duplo I think), both ends to get the black squares and circles. I then used a little pot lid from when Ellie had puree food to print, what is now a pear, at this point I didn't think anything of it. Then with a white pen I wrote the list of things I had done today, this ranges from painting with Ellie to pickin up Craig Shopping and at the bottom, Ate a pear, BINGO! a light went on, I decided to use the same mint green to mono print a pear onto the left hand page. I wrote the alphabet as instructed, quick and angry, and then also as instructed gesso'd out an area, I chose the pear shaped lid print and turned this into a pear properly, I kept my marks really textural. I also gesso'd around the 6. I dry brushed aroud the gesso with black and lastly attatched a piece of copper hole punched with big cross stitches.
Close up!
Finally while routing around for my something metal I found some pink shell charms from and old bracelt and thought these might be nice and continue the hole punching. Now I would love to say I meant to get all those holes, and that I was going for the peppered with bullet holes, but really i can't hole unch to save my life!
Here is the close up of the charms.
Well I hope you haven't been bored wittless, I know I have rambled! I am excited as I love this work so far, I hope you are enjoying seeing it!

Soul journal - 1 st in a set of spreads

Sarah started us off by showing us a good way of working with figures, we cur out a stencil from a magazine of a person in a good silouette. I only had bridal magazines in the house and found a great couture one with a fishtail and another leaning back. So I dry brushed the one on the left and sponged the one on he right. Then Sarah gave us a series of tasks, they were to:
Write a page of of descriptive adjuctives
Write a listusing your left ( in my case) hand.
Use a magazine stencil
Use tape
A wash of a colour you haven't used.
use a pencil
quick, fast marks without thinking.
Drip splatter paint in another colour not used before
Dry brush.

I just realised that I haven't done the drippng, so that I will have to add in the morning.
This had to be done not in the order, so this is stencils, writing, pencil, tape and marks.

Then this is with the wash.
and a bit more pen.
Pencil to enhance the page numbers.

I will add the drips of paint tomorrow! (PS did you see my let handed list! How bad is my writing+ backwards s!!!)

Paper people - soul jounal - Done

I completed my paper family todayand I had a lovely time doing them, especially as I don't DO figures ( In schoo I don't DO lots of things, sick, blood, prom dress talk before coursework is finished!!!)
I am quite pleased with them, They are a bit Sali Mali, I think, (Mags and Segsa will get this straight away!) Here is a better look at them.
I made us like those paper dollies you cut out but keeping them together somewhere at the folds. So we old up into our house really easily!
Sarah has asked us to prep and gesso 6 pages, so dutifully in between cleaning I glued in print offs of hand writing and s magazine image of a wrought iron light/ chandelier.
Wonder what we will be doing......

Paper people - soul jounal

Here are the start of my paper people to go inside my house in the Soul journal. Sarah has done hers as litte movable things with brads, but I decided that I would do mine like those paper dolls you cut out on mass. I had to change this a tad as Ellie would ave been the same size as Craig and me. I decided too to write some words that describe us well, thigs like create for me and thoughtful for Craig, I also chose bubbly and energetic, along with stroppy or Ellie. I haven't finished these yet, they need more detail and then cutting out, I will probably finish them tomorrow.
I wondered where people get their text to go in their journals, is it scavenger hunting in the charity shops, and car boot sales, or can you buy/ print them off????? This goes for any text based backgrounds? I would like to find more hand written backgrounds?

I have worked on other things today too, including working on an exquisit corpse which I am dying to show ou as I think it turned out real well..... but I can't so you'l have to wait!

Just a quick note

Just a quick note to tell you about my sisters new etsy store, she makes amazing crocheted jewellery and hats. Check them out here : Sianabanana

More from me later, Ellie had a tea party this aft so have been cooking and tidying after it, I may have something later!

Saw this on Anna's blog and had to try it,uncanny!

What Carol Taylor Means

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

I am so excited, Sarah Whitmire has nominated me for this award. I am bowled over as she is so talented and I am learning so much from her on the Soul journal journey. Tricia also nominated me a while back and I never got to it so:

The Rules:
Post your award on your blog.
Nominate 7 other blogs.Post the links of those blogs on your blog.Leave a message on those blogs so they know they have been nominated.

So my picks are

Kelly Rae

Mistie

Virginia

Kathryn

Glitter Tart (sorry don't know your name!)

Linda

Lynda

Girls you don't have to respond but I wanted to say how much you all inspire me.

House, added to a little

So I added to my houses page. I added 2 quotes, one reads, "Home is not where you live, it's where they understand you" the other is from a web site I ound about welsh chapels, and it reads " Sometimes homely, sometimes extravegant oddities, but often magnificent."
Next thing we have to do is make paper dolls of our families I am a bit peeved about this as I don't do figures, but that is what this is about, ushing your limits.

Houses!

More on my houses, I painted the houses today, under instruction. I wanted to keep the colours fairly realistic, and luckily the sun came out today so we really had a blue sky. I was so tempted to paint a rainy sky, rain is a comfort to me, we have so much of it here in Wales, it has to be! I used the same red/coppery brick colour on MY house, and did go for it a bit with the pink on the windows and door of the terrace house. I love the peep of collage papers as it looks like the wallpaper is peeping through. I was thinking about what i wanted to write and really Home is where the heart is is so true for me I don't even realy like going on holiday! I also wanted to have some welsh words on there, as i am a first language welsh speaker. I wrote "Cartref, calon Cymru", which means "Home, Heart of Wales", Home and the hearth is very important here! I am so pleased with how the flowers turned out, they look fab. I haven't inished with this page I want to add lots more quotes, I would really like to find one on the demise of the chapel, and religion (?) in South Wales. Going to chapel twice on a sunday was the norm, my Nan would be there! Not so much these days, sad really. Lots of them are being converted into restaurants and community centres and the like. My Nanna's chapel at the bottom of our hill is empty, a shame.

Adding to the houses - Soul journal

I added to my houses today as per Sarah's instructions. She had us add papers, newsprint, collage papers etc. I chose some magazine papers, some collage papers and some magazine flowers, i wanted my houses to have the idea of a garden, particularly my own. The next step is colour and I am holding off to find out what Sarah has lined up for us next!

A quick note before bed

I wanted to share today's journal task with you before I go off to bed. I am knackered as we have had sports day today and I have spent all day measuring the discus. Best throw of the day went to david Manca at 29m 35. I have a go and barely made 17 so not bad for a 14 year old!
Anyway i a aching tonight and a bit brain dead so it was lovely to work on my journal and be calm. I had to start by gessoing the page as I am working in a cheap address book that I have glued the pages together so there is about 12 or so pages in it now. Then we had to draw our home, now his didn't have to be literal but more te place we feel safe. I however love my little house and feel the security of it as it is the pace I have built my family, so I have have drawn my house fairly literally. We added a brown paper bag for the main part of the house, this is going to be a pocket. I than had to draw out the rest of the page as buildings that make you feel safe and secure. I chose to add a terrace house and a chapel, they remind me of home in the valleys. There was a time that there was a chapel on every street corner, most are closed of repurposed now but they really make me think of home. The stones around the doors and windows of the terrace houses are a strong feature of home for me too, in the Rhondda these are regularly painted a variety of colours making for a mega patchwork! Can't wait to see what we do with them now!

Inches page revisited

Sarah's next journal lesson was to revisit a page we had already completed and not to be afraid of this. I decided that my page didn't need more paint as Sarah had done to hers, this was because I didn't want to over shadow the word i had written any more thanI had already done.
So Sarah then gave us a ist of things to do, again I cheated! Why can I not stick to rules????? The list given was :

• Describe 8 pictures
• Circle 1
• draw messy squares around 4
• draw a dotted line around 2
• draw a stitch line round one.

I added 1 more stitch line on the left hand page as I felt this one was a little too unbalanced.

I can't wait or the next installment!

Next Soul journal spread and a pressie for a friend

Today I started the hardest page of my journal so far today. I had to journal the whole page with a biro in small writing. I didn't think I could fill 2 pages, but I did with ease! I am finding this very cathartic. The fact not even I am going to be able to read it at the end means I am being very open, it is mainly just day to day stuff but I feel free'd of it, which can only be good.

We then had to tape over the words with all sorts of different tapes. As I said yesterday someone or something was watching out for me as I found a ton of tape in the B+Q bargain bin, th holographic and the red were from there and the aluminium was from Lidl of all places. Here is my design. Some words can still be seen peeping out.

Then gesso was applied over, now I bought real gesso this time, but I am finding that it wirks so much like household emulsion I won't probably buy it again.

Next comes the acrylic wash. I decided to stick to red and black, not colours I often use but the idea of journalling is to try new things. I love how it looks.

This is the page after it is dry and i have rubbed back the surface with a brillo pad and wiped away with kitchen paper.
This one is with the flash on.

Today Sarah wants us to go back to the page previous with all the little squares, that may have to wait until tomorrow as it is getting late here.
Finally a friend in work came to me today having not been able to find a bag to match her turquoise shoes. So I helped her make a quick clutch. It was easy, with heat set crease polyester in a shot turquoise with black, and pelmet vilene I wiped up a clutch but it needed a focal and I didn't have the right beads and things in school. I used a strip and gathered it up inot a circle. I then added a shell bead and a load of beads and crystals. I made it like a pin so it can be moved around or used on another item, like a coat. I hope she likes it!
Thanks to all those lovely people who have left some really nice comments over the past week, I haven't been able to answer them all as there have been a lot of you with a no-reply address, you have to tick show my email address in your blogger profile for me to be able to answer you! Anyway thank, you are all very kind! Night night!

Soul journal

Here is the start of my soul journal - I am picking up on the challenge over with Sarah. I showed you the preped and journalled pages yesterday and today I have moved on at a pace. I claimed my first page. This meant writing this book belongs to... and then using my name to create the design.
This was very self indulgent, but in a good way and made me nostalgic for atime when we had to write our names al over everything, my school books looked like a less artistic version of this, and then I got a little bit sad not to have been using my real name, my maiden name of Mace instead of Taylor!
On the next age we were to gather our Souls armour, the things that ward off all the difficulties we encounter. Man this is powerful stuff, I haven't really thought like this before, us Brit's and the stiff upper lip and that! Here is a close up of a bit I really like.
I used metallic colouring pencils, a black matte marker and metallic gel pens to do the armour page. Included in my armour are - Kindness, trust, honesty, friendship, love, patience, self belief, creativity, poise, counting to 10, diplomacy, family and truth. I also decided as this was a cheap address book I am working in I would cut off the edges of the pages and so I am going to have different shaped page edges.
On the next page we were given a kind of scavanger hunt I challenged myslef to only use one magazine. I am also well guilty o not being able to choose, so i have more than one pic for some.
Top Row : A butterfly, a pattern, something red, a number, a pattern, something I own (flip flops) and the letter R.
2nd row: Something that smells nice, a smile, an A, something that tastes nice ( a pear) a leaf, an eye, something I want (a mega diamond)
3rd row : a bird, a pattern, a chair, something beautiful ( a piece of amazing jewellery with mega beads), something comfortable, something exotic (shells and starfish), and a colour I love turquoise +orange.
Bottom row : The letter T, a flower, a hand, a circle, something blue, Something exotic, A colour I love (turquoise)


The background of the page is washed with acrylic, this acrylic is then scrubbed immediately with paper towels to give a great sheen. I used a metallic acrylic.Love this spread. Next is a big journalling piece, to cover the whole 2 pages in small text and then use metallic tape. Well they say the sun always shines on the ritious and from having no tape this morning a qick trip to b+Q yielded electrical tape, and foil tape in the bargain bin, and then in LIDL on sale aluminium tape, so yey! I will be onto it tomorrow!

Arch for Arleeand a journal start

End of term is but 4 days away and so I am getting in the art mood! I have completed Arlee's arch ...... I think? I found some diods earlier left over from a school project and knowing Aree's love of found items they may just have to be added. But essentially it is done. I gathered up some silk and used my embellished felt again. I added a piece of painted embossed wall paper and added a felt barouque cross/flower.
I addedbuttons and a hand made tassell too. The top of the arch, is a little hard to see but is a piece of my embossed aluminium, using the impress machine. I know Arlee was having gadget envy but she will drool when she sees it in the flesh!
I read on Jo's blog that Sarah Whitmire of Caspiana blog was completing a soul journal. Now I have been interested in journalling for a while, but couldn't seem to go ahead on my own. Sarah's prompts are fab, so inspirational so I made a start. I bought an address book today in the pound shop for .... yep a £1 and proceeded to stick lots of the pages together so I have thicker pages and about 14 pages in total. I followed Sarah's instructions on using a text background, I didn't have an old dictionary or yelow pages so I got some text from a bridal magazine, I find they have amazing colour and lovely layouts. I found a piece that had both WALES and SWANSEA in it so those are the highlighted squares/ cirlces. I just wrote for 3 minutes, which was suprisingly easy, I was shocked.

Next comes Gesso and the design part. I am loving it! Thanks Sarah, I am going to learn lots about journalling but maybe about me too!