NaNoWriMo - Did I do it???

This posts title I added yesterday, when I did this as a draft post to keep the Nanowrimo stat's I had accumulated safe, and decided to keep it to tease lol. Here are yesterday's stats that I didn't post earlier:

Your Average Per Day - 1,623

Words Written Today - 3,951

Target Word Count - 50,000

Total Words Written - 47,083

Words Remaining - 2,917

I've had a banging headache for two days and taken everything from ibuprofen and co-codamol to my migraine medication and the bugger is still there (grrr!) so I honestly didn't know if I'd hit the 2,917 to finish today. But I'm beginning to see my perpetual headaches and migraines as an irritating boyfriend, one who tries to prevent me from doing exactly what I want - so that there's no doubt that I'm going to overcome the wretched things with a 'no way, hosay!' attitude.

So I won! Yay! Although the novel isn't finished I made it over the line this month with 50,110 words. BTW those of you who read the excerpt I previously posted of my novel, that was a dream my main character was having. I put one in after I watched one of the Nanowrimo videos, where a girl puts them in whenever she gets stuck, and I thoroughly recommend them. They're a great way to say things that you may be cannot say in the main text, as a tool to change up the style of your novel (I made my horror-movie style to contrast the airy-fairyness of my main character) or to use as a metaphor for something that you may be writing in between the lines, like a clue for the reader.

In academy-award winner style I want to thank everyone who left me supportive messages through this month, it really means a lot. And to Lady Gaga, who has been on repeat, approximately 100 of these:
and one attention-deprived pup:

I'm off to watch a week's worth of telly and stroke the dog until I possibly fall asleep, so that I have to watch them all again tomorrow - but who cares, I now have some time to do it :) Love to all xxxx

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 30

Today for AEDM is a mica-full art journal page:

It's with the textured background I did a few days ago, I can capture the texture:

But not all the mica goodness unfortunately, not with our November gloominess. However I've only a couple more pages of this particular journal to go then I can video a journal flip, where I'll move it around to my hearts content to show all the shimmer & shine.

As for Nanowrimo, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek only one day left! I will do a post at the end of the day when I know if I've hit the 50k or not (so I'm keeping yesterday's word count a secret till then - when I was at 6,868 words to go),

but for now I've 

A) Completed art every day month, Whoop! Some days with lots of art, other days with only 5 mins of art but nevertheless with art every day, WAHOO!
B) I've done a blog post EVERY DAY - me!!!!! I've more than doubled the amount of all the other blogs posts I have ever done in ONE month! Proud? Not much :) :) :) :) :) :) eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh that makes me happy :) :) :) :) :)

Congratulations to all who've done any kinds of challenges this month- we RULE :) xxxxxx

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 29

Today's creation for AEDM is:

A very, very quick sketch in my horrid journal with alcohol pens with paintbrush-like tips. I'm feeling pretty bad about calling it the horrid journal after the contrary comments I received yesterday. Would it get me off if I told you it's a term of endearment? Against the odds of her creator not liking her she's prevailed and is still getting finished??? No?? Well it's stuck now so that's her name lol

I did this quick sketch with the same pens after I posted yesterday, but these ones had the tips broken. As I said the tips are paintbrush like so if you press too hard they split like a brush will, but not retain the shape after. 

This one took about 3 mins, but I have to say I love the lines the broken pen causes - going from fat to thin in the same stroke. I know they're not great but these are probably all I'll have to show you for today as most important to me right now is WRITING.


Day 28's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 4,411, which totals 43,132 (YAY! WHOOP! HORRAY! HURRAH!), meaning I have 6,868 words to complete over the next two days to win my first Nanowrimo (thats 3434 words a day - reckon I can do it? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!)


I'm sorry to my blog friends who I didn't get around to visiting yesterday, I've a feeling today and tomorrow will pretty much be the same. Completing my novel this month is very important to me so I hope you understand and I promise to visit & catch up on all your blogs after tomorrow - none of you've got rid of me just yet!!


Thanks for visiting, day 29 already can you believe it? Keep your fingers crossed for me :) x

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 28

Today for AEDM is:

Another page in my horrid journal, I'm determined to get this journal finished before the end of the year lol

Can you believe it's day 28? I'm getting a little sad that AEDM is coming to an end :( sniff sniff, but I've met so many great creative people who have become new blogging friends :)

Day 27's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 1,706 - I was all bleh yesterday so I guess it's quite a good result really. So I'm now totalling: 38,721, with 11,279 words remaining and 3 days to do it in, I'm off to work....

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 27

Today's creation for AEDM is, bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!

So I painted over it (you can just see the face poking through), no idea what I'm going to do with it now. 

It was for my 6x6 journal so I gave in and went to my Big Mama journal to do a page but so far the background is, yeah bleh!

So then I went to my horrid journal as I don't mind making bleh pages in them, because that's how I feel they all are:

To be honest I'm feeling pretty bleh in everything the last two days, including my writing. But as I've only got a couple of days left to hit the 50k I'm off to slog, grinch and groan at my screen :(


Day 26's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 1,597. Totalling: 37,015

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 26

Today for AEDM is the first project for the paper beads:

It's a mini scrapbook I altered/decorated years ago with the intention making it into an art journal, I thought the beads gave it a bit of colour. I thought it was about time I started using it as a journal so grabbed some cheap old 6x6 paper and got painting this:

My Grandmother loves angels so I'm going to collage her one for Christmas, this is really a just practice at how I want the wings. I did originally want to sew her a soft angel art doll but with everything I'm doing I doubt I'll have time to spend a couple of days at the sewing machine (I'm not the best machinist so it takes me twice as long to get something done).

Day 25's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 1,083, only managed a thousand :( and these were an absolute struggle, though I've no idea why - I know exactly where the story is going, what I want to write next but just couldn't get it to come easy. Hoping today it will :) Totalling: 35418.

Oh and Lovely Gwen asked yesterday if I would be posting my novel here, erm no, I wouldn't dream of putting you through that - although I have put an excerpt of it up on my NaNoWriMo novel page. Click here if you want to read it. Although don't come crying to me if you do, 'cause I didn't make you lol

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 25

Today's AEDM is a quick art journal page:

This page was purely about getting messy. I used every wet media & scrap in arms reach, not caring about the outcome, I just needed to get some feeling out.

Linking this today with Paint Party Friday.
My glaze finally came so I have been sealing all those paper beads I made earlier in the month:

Adding glitter and other things like silver flakes, which you can see on the loose beads above, here's a close up:

Day 24's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 4,150

My Nano stat's were telling me yesterday:

Your Average Per Day: 1,430 

Words Written Today: 4,150 

Target Word Count: 50,000

Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667

Total Words Written: 34,335 

Words Remaining: 15,665

Current Day: 24 

Days Remaining: 7

At This Rate You Will Finish On: December 4, 2011

Words Per Day To Finish On Time: 2,238

2 days ago it was telling me I was under a thousand words a day & would finish Dec 17th or have to write three and a half thousand a day or something to finish on time. So I'm actually pretty chuffed how it's turned around. I can do this, easy!

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 24

Today for AEDM is the final layer of the canvas:

I'm not sure if it is the last layer yet, we'll see if I end up fiddling more.

I added an enamel pendant from my uni days on her dress

Some chipboard, gem trees and stamping.

Day 23's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 5,080, was in the zone yesterday, so hoping it happens again today. Totalling: 30,185

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 23

Today for AEDM is the third layer of the canvas: 


I had wanted to get it completed today but I haven't got too much time. I have managed to paint the additional items that I'm going to add to give it some dimensional.

So I just added pencil detail

and more of the Gem Gels in drops:

Day 22's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: zero. I had to play nurse nightingale yesterday as my grandmother is back in hospital, but I have to say a big thank you to my mum, who had been brilliant this past week that she's been in (hoping that she reads this) I love you :) xxx

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 22

Today's creation for AEDM is second layer on yesterday's canvas (first layer here):

Acrylic paint, jelly-type glaze and hand cut glitter hearts. The jelly-type glaze is like a coloured glossy accents, except really vibrant. I tried getting a good picture of this for you but nowhere is the light good enough to capture it:
Even the uber sparkly hearts are dull in these pics. The jelly stuff is called Gem Gels - does anybody else have them? I brought them last week along with a few other goodies and this is the first time I've used them. Will be interesting to see what else they can be used for. They're not only the drips but also in swirls on her dress, purple laced with blue but again don't look particularly great in the pics.

Hopefully tomorrow I can the final layer done, though I don't have very much time at mo so bless her she's been pretty rushed. I usually don't allow myself to paint on canvas unless I have something 'proper' in mind, as not only are they cumbersome in comparison to one journal that'll hold tons of playful pictures, but they feel like they should be a deliberated creation. But for some reason I didn't care about time restrictions or lack of 'proper' direction with this one, and just did it because I liked the shape of the canvas, and I'm really glad I did. She won't be a great piece because of it but she's made the little time I've had to play these couple of days really enjoyable.

Day 21's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 2,727
Totalling: 25,105 - Over the 25k mark yay! Half way there with only one quarter of the month left to go, yet somehow I don't care, I made it past 25k!

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 21

Today's creation for AEDM is this canvas:

Antique music sheet and lots of scraps. Obviously still a long way to go but think this is all the time I'll have for today, hopefully tomorrow I will have enough time to make progress.

Day 20's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 4,128, finally, a word count and bum (yesterday's post explains) I can be proud of lol
Totalling: 22,378

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 20

Today's creation for AEDM is:

Yet another quick page in my horrid journal, this time to test out some new metallic powders, which when wet medium is added over the top of become matt and dull - oh well, lesson learnt.



Also been making some mini journals to top up those I give away free in my Etsy shop.

And trying to finish one I used myself as a travel journal for my summer break to Shakespeare's land:

Day 19's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: again not worth mentioning, but today is day 20 - I have 10 days left, 10 days! So I think (or rather I hope) that it has given me a good kick up the backside to get somewhere today. I actually have a good story, good plot (knew where it was going on day 1), characters are well rounded and funny, what I don't have is a writer with the ability to keep her bum parked on the seat. Pretty fundamental to the task really, but there we go! Happy day 20 to all those doing any challenges this month - big pat on back that we made it this far, yay :)

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 19

Today's creation for AEDM is:

Another quick page in my horrid journal (which I think matches the theme of the journal exactly - don't like it at all, but I am a true believer in keeping all of your work, ugly or not) and some fabric beads:

Day 18's final word count for NaNoWriMo is not even worth mentioning. I did a few but not enough to update my word count because I had a lovely lady required a custom journal asap for a course she is taking. It was one of my prompted art journals, full of different media pages so I only had a couple of hours to print out all of the prompted chapters, cut the medias & personalise the covers:

I also had to move all of my perishable materials from my outdoor studio to my tiny indoor studio, so had to be pretty creative with space, here is my makeshift sewing space shoved in small area behind my workdesk's chair - so I have to squeeze myself in and out of it a bit haha:

So I didn't manage to get around as many blogs as I'd have liked yesterday, so if you left me a message thank you very much for your kindness and I'll hopefully have time to return the favour today.
Thanks for visiting, hugs Jennibellie x

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 18

Today's creation for AEDM is another eco-friendly journal:

This time a soft cover one made from an old check shirt, buttons on front and back recycled from clothing too and beads from old jewellery. The inside is lined with felt, which is 100% made from recycled plastic bottles. Hard plastic bottles = super soft felt, I love what we can do now.

Inside are just a few odds and sods from my scrap drawer - patterned paper, vintage ephemera etc

Yesterday I said I would post the video tutorial on how I made this journal:

So here it is and with damn YouTube taking for-ever to update the thumbnail you have this very inspiring craft mat image to click, rather than a terrible picture of the actual book or something lol

Linking to artists in blogland, sneak peek friday & paint party friday in the hopes I'll have enough time today to get around in blogland and snoop :)

Day 17's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 1019, totalling: 18,250. I am trying, just life seems to get in the way...every day lol 

Thanks for stopping by, Jennibellie x

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 17

Today's creation for AEDM is:

The finished recycled art journal - well I have to fill it, but I've finished making it.

I can't tell you how pleasing it is to see lovely useful things crop up from the recycling bin, it's quite addictive

I've nearly completed the video tutorial on how to make it, but rather than rush the editing and have a video I'm not proud of, I'm going to post it tomorrow and have another day to tweek. So please come back tomorrow if you want the low down :)

(And a frigate is a boat I believe, but in this quote I think ED's meaning is 'vessel'. I've only had one person view this book and already had the question asked - with a look similar to someone searching for my sanity! Geez)

Day 16's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 980, (though for some reason my NaNoWriMo counter decided it would not add any more than 469 words - it's trying to sabotage me, I know it lol)  totalling: 17,231.
I'm not worried, me worried? No, I'm not worried lol (can't you tell?) Only 33,000 still to go Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhh

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 16

Today's creation for AEDM is: 

More journal pages in my horrid journal

 Day 15's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 1, hahahaha yep i managed to write the whole chapter number before I got distracted lol which incidentally coincides with this weeks WOYWW pictures:

Yep, I've been painting cereal boxes again! And am going to bind them into a journal today, hopefully by tomorrow I'll have another journal making video tutorial for you - but editing takes a lot of time so might be the day after (unless today I only write one word again today). So my total for is still: 16,251 (no I didn't add the one lol)

Thank you to all my friends who gave me such good advice on my post yesterday - I really appreciate it, I don't usually post about feelings so I'm really grateful for all of your lovely words. Much love Jennibellie x

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 15 - A Personal Post for Me Today: My Inner Voice

Today's creation for AEDM is:

First journal this month I have made for my Etsy shop, created from recycled goodies.

The basis is three office dividers that I salvaged from going to the landfill at my old 'world be damned' workplace.

Then covered in found paper scraps, stitched and covered in gems, broken jewellery and vintage ephemera decoration:

I've been pretty neglectful of bookbinding one journal, after another, after another, to refresh stock in my shop the past couple of months, but creativity has taken me in another direction; and I think it's always important to listen to that inner voice.

For this reason I have till now tried to avoid taking online art classes. I have only ever taken one class with one person, and then never finished it because I worry that I will not channel my own work, but the work of the artist who taught the class. However there are two classes I wish to take next year, and literally feel broken down the middle trying to decide what to do - one side is screaming "do not miss such great opportunities", the other is saying that "if you do the classes you will get caught up going down the creative path they have carved out for you, and fail to see your own (and what if that path had your masterpiece on it in your own, uniquely found style?)".

Finding my creativity has never been an issue for me, I have never misplaced a muse, so it is just technical skill I need (and feel I don't always have) to be able meet the muse and produce something great. Lets just say I feel like I have ideas/imagination at 100%, but can never produce GREAT work because my skills are at 20% and it leaves me frustrated, feeling like I have not expressed myself to my fullest potential.

This is my art journal page today and this is the most personal I have ever gotten in a post but perhaps all artists feel something like this at some point do they? From what I read they do. And I guess art, like life, is a learning process, which means I'll only be at my fullest potential on the day I die - for that will be the day I have learnt most. Sorry if this sounds terribly morbid or like I am ranting, this is the first time my inner voice has failed to give me an answer so I am trying to do it through a blog post. Shall I take these classes or not?........Still silence. I guess I shall just have to see on the day.

Day 14's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 1,033

Totalling: 16,251, by today I should be on 25,000 as this is the halfway point. I cannot see my writing nearly 9,000 words today alone, but hopefully if I am feeling better today I plan on making a decent dent in that figure. Fingers crossed.

Jennibellie x