My 2014 Planner

I know, I haven’t blogged since Feb. 20th!!  Sorry.  Going to try to be better about it.    Today I would like to share with you my 2014 Planner.  I use paint, collage, tip outs, washi tape, stickers, stamping, doodling, and sketching.  Each month there are four pages.

FIRST PAGE

It starts with a monthly calendar.

First page for each month is a monthly calendar.

 

SECOND PAGE

Then I have a two page spread with a tip out on the right.  Under the tip out is a lined sheet with records of my bills and spending for the month.  On this particular month I also have a tip out on the left showing the Nutribullet Pro 900 that I bought.  Love it!!

Second page each month includes a tip out to hide my bank balance info.

 

THIRD PAGE

This is the third page.  No tip outs or ins.  Just painting and collage, journaling and some doodles.

 

FOURTH PAGE

Fourth and final page for the month includes paint, collage, doodling, stickers, three small tip outs and of course journaling.

Fourth page.

This is a pretty typical month in my planner.  I started with a planner I made last year from a and kind of got in to the swing of it.  This year I am being more dedicated to the whole process.  I am really enjoying it and hope I stick with it because I think it is good for me to make notes on what my day to day life is like.  Maybe when I am gone, my children or grandchildren will find it interesting.

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing this.  I know I love seeing other peoples planners.  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Look what I got for my birthday!

Hi everyone!  I know, I haven’t been posting on my blog for almost a month!  Guess I have some catching up to do.  Today is my birthday.  For those of you who are interested, I am 69 today.  Thought I would share with you my wonderful present from my daughter, Cherrie.

Dressing table.

Isn’t it gorgeous!  Love it 🙂  OK now to sharing my art with you.

Book of Days 2014

Week 3

What lies beneath

I watched a video on u-tube by my friend Dawn Howell.  It is a two part video on painting a scene with a tree.  The first part is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuLCdMUe9x4  and you can find the second part from there.

Week 3

This was dedicated to my Mother.  I didn’t use Effy’s prompt, but made my own very personal page.

Thoughts of my Mom

My Mother is in a nursing home and not doing well.  Struggling with Dementia and not eating the way she should be.

Week 4

Be aware of OPS (Other peoples stuff), but don’t let them take you over.  Be in the world, but not bombarded by it.

I am here

See the dot in the middle of my forehead.  When I was working on Week 5 on the other side of this page, I got paint on my face.

Week  5

What feeds your soul.  I completed this page using the same items that Effy used, because I related to those items so much.

What feeds your soul.

I am thinking of doing another page about “What feeds your soul” before going on to week 6.  We will see.  This is how far I have gotten in my BOD.  On Monday, Effy will post week 8, so I really should start week 6.  🙂 ….However, it is my birthday, so I get to do whatever I want.  Right?

Journal52

Week 3

You always make me smile

Our new house always makes me smile.  I am enjoying watching Cherrie fix it up and helping her decorate it.

Week 4

Create your own character

I know, I know, it just looks like another of my faces.  I am still working on painting a face with character.  It will come some day.

Patchouli, sage, pine needles and cheese cloth to make a hat.

Week 5

Create an abstract art piece.

I enjoyed this and will do it again.

From one of my Journals

This is just a little something extra from one of my journals.

February 12th face

Hope you all have a fabulous day!  Sending out a lot of hugs and smiles.

Working with my Muse in my new space

I have been trying to work in my new space.  It is strange…having to get my Muse to work with me in a place she isn’t used to and that isn’t totally organized yet.  But I think we are starting to get our rhythm back.

Journal52

I am a little behind in my Journal52 prompts.  Not bad…but a little.  This is my week 2 page.  The prompt was:  My Happy Place.

My Happy Place

Not a place I actually know, but a place I would like to be.

A cabin in the woods

With a comfy chair where I could read a book or write in my journal.

Somewhere near a lake.

That would be my happy place  🙂

Book of Days Week 2 2014

This week for BOD we where supposed to complete a face on another surface and glue it onto our BOD page.  I completed this face…I believe it was December 7, 2013….and thought I would use it here.  I know, I wrote 2014 on the page, but that is obviously wrong and I have fixed it now.

She is done in colored pencils, pens and a little Carand’ache Neocolor II.

We were to us similes in our composition.  The one Effy used was:  Color is to winter what music is to silence.  I love this it is great!  However,  I’m not very poetic and had a hard time coming up with something.  So what I ended up with was:  A smile is like the song from a bird.  May be it should have been:  A smile is to a face as a song is to a bird.  Or something like that.  But oh well…it is what it is  🙂

This is my completed page.

Then I thought:  what makes me smile?

Freedom to go where you want.

This need for freedom may have come on me because my car was being repaired, and I had no way to get around.  LOL

Travel – even in your mind – can set you free.

I remember traveling around California with my friend and enjoy the wonderful memories.

My life

We are in the middle of week 3 for both of the groups and I need to get busy and finish the pages before Monday so I won’t be behind again.

For those of you who are curious, my car is back and working great.  It was not my transmission (thank goodness since that would have cost well over $2,000).  I needed a new Input Speed Sensor, had the tranny fluid replaced and replaced my battery.  The old battery had a crack in it and was leaking battery acid everywhere.  It all came to $425.  Much better than a new tranny.

Thanks to all of you for stopping by.  I truly appreciate it.  Put a smile on your face and have a beautiful day!  🙂

Something I want to share

Something To Share

I found this very informative.  Something I needed to read.  I thought some of you might also enjoy this information.  I don’t like the way this is stated (what I just wrote).  Very dry.  All I can say is take a minute to read Lori-Lyn’s post.  It is well worth the read.

Lori-Lyn Hurley

http://lorilynhurley.com/seven-things-stop-right-now-want-let-light/#comment-12623

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BOD 2014

This is the first week for Book of Days 2014 with Effy Wilde.  This week we are doing a page representing our word for the year (mine is a phrase…not a word).  This is my page.  I finished it yesterday while Cherrie and Edison worked on a wall in the living room.  I had to just stay out of the way and what better way to do that than create!

BOD 2014 Week 1

My phrase for the year is Relax and Enjoy.  This is made with acrylic paints for the background, and colored pencils to color the face I drew.  The butterflies are Main Street Wall Creations  jumbo stickers.  I get them at the Dollar Tree.  28 butterflies in beautiful colors for a dollar!!  🙂

I am still unable to find my favorite pens and pencils, but found some of my daughters pencils…just not the colors I usually use, but having fun with them anyway.  I am very limited on my pens, but have a regular black Sharpy and used a white pencil for the white marks I wanted to make.

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Art Journal

This is a page in one of my Art Journals I completed yesterday while staying out of the way.

Creating art

I really enjoy making these faces, so I will probably continue to include them in a lot of my pages.

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My Life

So while Cherrie and Edison were working on the living room wall, they sent me to pick up the pizza.  On my way home my transmission decided to stop shifting into 2nd gear.  So it starts out from a stop just fine, then picks up speed till it gets fast enough to go into 3rd … and suddenly BANGS into 3rd!  Not good!

That leaves me without transportation until it can be fixed.  I of course have no money to fix it since it will be very expensive.  However, I do have a wonderful daughter who will put it on her charge card and let me make payments.  Sooo very grateful to my daughter….but still not happy about it, or the fact that I have to owe her soo much money :-(.

Trying to look at all of the good sides to this, but just not happy.  I know,  I must keep smiling!  🙂

Pencils and Pens

BOD2014

When we were moving I packed away all of my favorite pencils and pens together with some other of my favorite craft tools in one box.  Do you think I can now find that box?  Of course not.  I have unpacked many a craft room box and have yet to find that box.  So now my class BOD 2014 with Effy Wilde has started and I don’t have what I am used to working with.  It is totally driving me crazy.  However, I figure it is a good challenge for me to learn to use some of my other craft tools.  At least that is what I am telling myself.

I haven’t made a journal for BOD 2014.  I am going to work on my pages loose and then bind them later.  I am using Strathmore 140 lb. watercolor paper.  It is 11  x 15.  I started working on my first page today.  Very nervous about trying to do my face without my pencils and pens.  Maybe I can find them tomorrow.  We are going to look at some of the unpacked boxes that are in the garage and see if it is there.  Think good finding thoughts.

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JOURNAL52

I have also joined a group called Journal52 with Chelle Stein.  We will be making one page per week using a prompt Chelle will be giving us.  I made a journal out of a flexible 3 ring binder for this class and added papers that I had already.  Some watercolor, some sketch, and some mixed media.  This is the front of the flex binder I decorated.

Front of Journal52 binder.

The prompt for the first week was “Up, up and away“.  Here is my page.

Week 1 page for Journal52

I know most people are putting the UP on top, but for some reason I had to start with the UP on the bottom…going up.  It may not make any sense to anyone except me…but that is the way my muse said it had to be.

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MY WORD FOR 2014

OK, here’s the thing.  I tried to come up with a word for 2014 like everyone else does, but I couldn’t.  I came up with a phrase.  Relax and enjoy.  This seems to make me happy, so I am going with it.  🙂

Everyone take care of themselves and remember to smile!

Art while packing

Packing to move is interfering with my time with my Art Journal.  I have picked one of my new journals to use strictly for collage.  I have been very inspired by PackerDi.  Here is one of her videos on utube.

I have started several spreads, but this is the only one that I feel is finished.  This page I used two of my most favorite ladies clipped from a magazine several years ago.  It took me a lot of guts to do this spread, because I liked these so much and didn’t want to ruin them.

Collage using some magazine pages

Such a lovely suit and look at that hair! Just love this.

I want this coat!

Hmm Maybe the hat too.

I started yesterday packing my craft room.  VERY hard to do because if you pack it you can’t unpack it till you unpack it!  Such stress!  What to pack??  I have decided to keep myself from panicking I am going to keep out certain things so I can still do at least a little art while waiting to move.  We are supposed to move on the 14th.  So that would be too many no art days for me.  Which is funny since I didn’t start any art or crafting before March of this year.  LOL  Now I’m an addict.

I have also sketched a face in colored pencils.  This may be what I keep out to work on during this time.  A sketch pad and colored pencils.  That is what I decided last night while doing this face.

Yes, I think I will practice faces while I am moving.

Well I really should get busy and pack some boxes.  You have a happy smiley day!  🙂

Some art and A Quiet Way To Help

Had something I really wanted to share with you.  This is a blog post by Katherine at PILLOWS A-LA-MODE telling us a way she tries to help others in need.  This is a wonderful idea, so I wanted to share it with you.

A quiet way to help by PILLOWS A-LA-MODE

A Quiet Way to Help . . .

I think I will make some tote bags for my daughters and my car. There are so many things that could be put in them.  Now I have to start looking for cloth to make them out of.  I admit I probably won’t tackle this till after we move, but will start planning it at least.

Also wanted to share my latest Art Journal spread.

Make the best of it. Referring to whatever happens with our house purchase

Collage and doodles

Spread needed a face.

Hope you enjoyed the spread and please go visit Katherine’s blog.  Sending smiles and hugs.

Art Book? Maybe

How many of you feel that an art journal isn’t an art “journal” unless you put words on the page?  Do you feel that way because you really “feel”  that this is fact, or that you have heard someone else say it?

Sometimes I have to force myself to put words on a page.  Because I have heard that my page isn’t finished until I have journaled (put words) on it.  What if I don’t want words on a particular page?  “But you SHOULD put words on the page!  You Must or it isn’t a journal page!”  No it isn’t a journal page…but is it an art journal.  

When I started art journaling, I didn’t know I would find prejudice against my pages if I didn’t write in them.  I thought an art journal was a book you created art in.  But some people, quite adamantly, say:  “NO!  You must write on each and every page or it isn’t an art journal!” I guess the journal I made for 29 Faces in 30 Days isn’t a journal at all, because I didn’t write in any of my pages.

Hmmm So if I want to have an art journal, but don’t want to write in it; what do I call it?  What will make you happy?  Maybe I should call it an Art Book?  But I don’t like the sound of that:  art book…art book.   No I don’t like the sound of that.  And I hate the word “should”.

Sorry.  I think I need to free myself from the need to put words on a page and only do that when it is what I want to do.  After all it is my art journal.

This spread is me trying to be patient.

This spread is me trying to be patient.  Waiting to hear if we get the house we are trying to buy.

Waiting

The page is full of sewing notions, but the thing on my mind was “waiting”.

Buttons and ribbons. Something to do while I wait.

This journal page has no writing because that would ruin the feel of it.  I love circles and wanted to do a page of nothing but circles.

I think circles remind me of bubbles floating to freedom.

Just circles.

And more circles…made me happy 🙂

Well let me know what you think about the art journal shoulds.  I would truly be interested in your point of view.  May not abide by it, but would love to hear about it.

You have a smiley day!

So I thought I would share two of my latest art journal pages…one with words….and one without.

Playing in my Art Journals

Collage earlier this week

I haven’t posted here since the first of the month.  So thought I would share a few pages I created in my art journals since then.  As you know collage helps me relax.  We are busy trying to buy a house, which seems to be a take a step forward and wait situation.  I don’t seem to handle the “wait” part very well.  I turned to collage to relax me.

Time just seems to be an issue with this purchase.

Trying to relax

We have put an offer in on a house…then waited for them to accept the offer.  They did.  Then we had the house appraised…it appraised for enough to cover the loan.  We had the house inspected and it needs some rather expensive work to be done.  We have sent them a “Request for repairs”, and we now wait to hear if they will make the repairs.  If not, we are backing out of the purchase.  We only have till midnight Friday (tomorrow) for them to say they will make the repairs.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.

So I took out another one of my new home made journals and completed another page.

The potted plants are clipped from a magazine and the fairy is an Amy Brown sticker. I love Amy Brown.

Trying to keep my mind off things I sketched some faces.  This is one of them…the one I like the best.

Face sketched November 10, 2013

Today has been a very unproductive day.  No house work done.  No art done.  That is why I made myself come on here so I could say I did something.  LOL

Hope you guys have a wonderful day full of smiles and laughter.  🙂

Yesterdays Art Journal Pages

Morning spread

This is a page in one of my art journals.  I feel like I need to name the journals so I can say which one and you will go “Ahh, that one.”  LOL

Practicing faces on a small yellow note pad

I was practicing a face while I was watching someones video on u tube.  I used a little yellow note pad that was sitting on the computer desk and some colored pencils.  I was just practicing my pencil skills and wasn’t really going to use it in a journal because the paper isn’t very suitable for gluing, but I liked her too much to throw her away.  You can’t tell in this photo how much she is wrinkled.

Coptic Stitch Journal

Collage page

This collage page was done in my hand made coptic stitch  journal.  It has craft paper, acrylic paint, die cuts and a beautiful art work done by Victoria David Danann.

Collage, acrylic paint and metallic markers

I put down some acrylic paint.  Then collaged craft paper .  I accented some of the flowers already on the paper using a purple metallic pen.  I love circles, so had to add circles and other accents with the silver metallic pen.

Used art work called Ruffling Feathers from 2008 planner

Victoria David Danann’s art work clipped from the 2008 Weekly Planner.  Just love it!  Added some die cuts from a K&C Company collection.

My Life Update

My daughter put an offer on a house and the waiting for it to be accepted was awful!  Now it has been accepted!!  Yahhh!  And we wait some more.  We have to wait for the inspection and the appraisal to be done.  The house was built in 1955 so we are having a complete inspection done to be sure there isn’t anything major wrong with it that we can’t see.  That could be as soon as tomorrow, but we aren’t sure yet.   I will go out to the house when the inspection is being done and measure the rooms and take photos.

Then the lender is scheduling an appraisal before they will make the loan.  This is the big one, because if it doesn’t appraise for enough, we won’t be able to get the loan.  The realtor seems to think it will be fine, but I’m a worrier,  so I won’t feel better till it is done.  When I know everything is going OK, I will post pictures of the house.

Send us lots of good thoughts, and light, and luck.