Three Videos in Three Days

Hello Love

Hope you're having a fabulous creative weekend, if not here's some kick-starters for you. The last three days I've posted a video a day so here they all are together, enjoy.

The first one I posted is all about 'How I Organize & Store Scrap Papers':

If you want more Ask Jennibellie videos you can get them via signing up to my Monthly Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/BHv-1. When you do so you’ll also receive a free Creative Ebook, Exclusive Videos, Collage Sheets & other goodies *instantly* as well as the monthly news, articles, videos & other occasional gifts sent direct to your inbox =)

The second was the new monthly art challenge video on Journal Workshops, where we are exploring your relationship with creativity. Check it out here: 

http://journalworkshops.ning.com/group/monthly-challenge 

The Monthly Challenge is a free group I host on my art community Journal Workshops. It is a monthly art date for us to stretch our art/journaling comfort zone. If you are not yet a part of this Group, come & join over 5000 creative comrades plus get new monthly art vids from me here: http://journalworkshops.ning.com/group/monthly-challenge 

The third video is from the Makers Meet-up is all about having yourself a 'Creative Spa Day':

http://journalworkshops.ning.com/group/makersmeetup/

The Maker’s Meet-up is another free group on my art community. A weekly meeting place where you can come and share, find support and be inspired (and where I give little extra creative assignment videos such as this one too) =D

So there you are if you follow all three you'll have an organized studio, be getting your creating groove on while improving your relationship with creativity and having a luxurious Creative Spa Day as you do it all. No excuses for a non-creative weekend around here, though in truth these are all 'regular' videos I create all the time (though obviously they are all on new topics each time) for my newsletter or art community - so just follow the links to get more ;)

Much love

Jennibellie

xoxo

New Video: a JUICY Art Journal Tutorial

Hello my lovely

Hope you’re having a gloriously creative weekend so far. I have a new video tutorial for you today, all about the EDGES of your journal pages.

After the little tut I share a few of my art journals pages I created using this edges technique as a base too...

hope you enjoy:

These are the sketchbooks I use: http://amzn.to/2rFFgjZ. 

The glues I use are double sided sticky tape, Glue Stick (my fav http://amzn.to/2ol28TQ) and Tacky Glue (Aleenes Original being my preference http://amzn.to/2oJmnxv).

Here is the ‘3 Glues Technique’ video I mentioned and used in the Juicy Edges tutorial: 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Jennibellie

XOXO

PS Are you part of my free art community Journal Workshops yet?? If not get your buns over there and signed up for free weekly and monthly art activities, all of my current online workshops *plus* a free art journaling class. 

http://journalworkshops.ning.com/

...on Altered Books

So my ramble this week is on, altered books...because that is what I've been up to and where my head is currently at.

Saying I have thousands of suitable vintage and antique books to alter is probably no exaggeration & it's always something that appeals to me, however when I come to create I'm usually drawn to a journal I have handmade. Not so much at the moment though, at the moment I am just thinking books, books, books.

It's not like I need to start a new journal, I have plenty going but the muse is calling and she usually gets her way (plus I do have a fairly good idea of a particular use I have for the journals I'm making so she has swayed my logic brain somewhat to her thinking too - which makes a change). 

Here is a lil video showing how I am prepping two altered books for my next art journals:

...and I did make something in it, 

I started this lil page...

using the same techniques shared in my recent pastels and charcoal video tutorial here, but this time I favoured the charcoals.

That's it for today my sweets, I am super busy making my 21 Secrets Lesson *awesome*, I have to keep this ramble short and sweet. If you wanna come join in the 21 Secrets LOVE click the link to take a goosey gander at what's on offer:

Much love

Fadding & a No-Reason Giveaway

I've been smashing a lot lately. 

I find with the small creative time I have I go around in circles of the different creative areas I like - like smash booking, art journaling, blogging & online art pursuits, book binding, zine making - all are obviously tailored around my love of journaling somehow but I do it in a 'fad' (as my mother would call it) kind of way.

 I do the same with materials, one fad I love pencils, the next acrylics, the next paper for collage, the next metal for mixed media. Does anyone else do this? Is it just a way of 'creatives' or am I a lone fadder???

I'm liking smashing at the minute because it allows either minimum or maximum creative input. Some days when I just don't want to do anything I can just grab a glue stick and go, and the days when I do I can create some pages that have some thought behind them.

One kind of creative pursuit that I'm not seeming to be fadding with is video making, and as I've been smashing that's what my latest videos are on. The first is on the difference between smash booking, junk journaling and art journaling. Many people I think have begun to think of them all as the same thing, but to me they're very different and so this video shows the different kinds of books and journaling styles:

 And then I've also done a smashing tutorial, which shows both the kinds of smash booking I mentioned above - the easy and the more thought through.

And finally I feel like doing a giveaway. And other than the fact that I really love my online art chums & can't find enough time lately to be fadding and being online too, I can't really find a reason for giving one, but hey it's like easter eggs right??? There doesn't need to be a reason to have that extra one right?? (yes I do have a little feeling of guilt this easter, how did you tell?). 

The giveaway is not much, just 2 small packets that includes the above girls from the drawing girls tutorial post. I always like to give away something handmade, the same as I prefer receiving handmade, so I'm including one in each packet.

And you can ask what's inside the packets but I'm not going to tell you lol but if you know me and guess that some vintage ephemera would be in there then you'd be, well not wrong but that's all the clues you're getting lol just leave a comment if you wana play, and I'll pick two winners out of a hat in my next post.

Much love and happy faddy pursuit wishes

Jennibellie xx

Tulkinghorn Page, Austen Love, Rebound Disney & a Knitted Journal

I've been watching re-runs of the fantastic adaptation of Bleak House (by the even more fantastic Andrew Davies) & here is a page because horrid Tulkinghorn, played by the wonderful Charles Dance, reminded me of something I need to do in circumstances that are out of my control.

In my large A3 sized journal due to the urge to get messy with mica

I've never talked about my love for classical novels & period dramas on this blog before, though I may have mentioned I'm a history geek, but it's what I threw myself into as a teenage girl. Still to this day my prized possession is a 30p copy of Pride and Prejudice that I brought at a small antiques shop when I was eleven, on a rather boring family camping holiday, but guess what??? I survived the holiday!!!

Later that year Andrew Davies' version of P&P came out & I, along with all the ladies that were much older than me at the time, swooned at the sight of Colin Firth. Soon I'd read all her novels, novellas & letters (which survived) and since then I've followed Jane Austen's footsteps EVERYWHERE, even to all the places that are not even connected with herself, but where her novels have been filmed (beautiful houses, villages etc). I decided to go to Winchester to study, not because of the university standard but because it's where she lived and is buried (and as she is buried in the Cathedral I graduated in front of her). When I was 22 I brought myself a second (but another vintage) copy of Pride and Prejudice from the small bookshop at her house in Chawton, the first having fallen to into at least 3 pieces, and vow to buy myself a new (to me, but old) copy every 11 years from a special connected place.

Perhaps this is where my love of vintage ephemera comes from? I dunno but I recently found a bunch of old vintage Disney books that are in much need of love - having been subject to kiddies & crayons etc - so I'm transforming them into useable journals, with a variety of papers inside but also with the whole book still preserved in the original reading order.

The binding is a simple spiral bound and it is a easy, practical way to keep something old and precious in a required modern item. This book is available in my shop, but why not give it a go yourself if you have any damaged or unloved old books around?

Finally I want to show you this journal, which I've been hinting at when I've shown you a couple of completed pages within, and that I have made with my Grandmother's knitting & a ton of old beads:

I know some of you lovelies have already seen it as it has been uploaded nearly a week now but here is a video I have made of this journal, so you can see it yourselves and how it was made, as I talk about the stitching and give my tips for bookbinding with soft fabrics etc and also the second half is a speed process of creating the first art journal page within it.

Wow what a long post, I'm very sorry I'm not usually this bad, that's what happens when I don't post when I say I will (yesterday in this case) something builds up like a science lab experiment till I'm bubbling over lol. Linking with Paint Party Friday & Studio Sneak Peek, come join some of the most awesome artists in blogland :) Much Love, Jennibellie xx

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 4

Today's creation for AEDM was made because I decided to go through the cardboard boxes I have been hoarding from food packaging etc, and soon became swamped in them! Something had to be done, so here is the first half of the two part project:

I decoupaged the cardboard box in pieces of scrap paper and vintage ephemera, painted it, then added metal pieces upcycled from old belts and broken things so it's all eco-friendly. 

Tomorrow I will be using the rest of the food boxes I have in this size to make what is going to go inside - that's where the real fun begins :)

Gotta love some crackle paint drippage! Linking up with Paint Party Friday, Sneak Peak and Artists in Blogland to see what wondrous things are being made.

Day 3's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 2037

Totalling: 5081 - Whoop, 10% of the way there!

AEDM & NaNoWriMo Day 2

Today's creation for AEDM is:

It's a vintage ladybird book I picked up on one of my recent treasure hunts (car boot sales/flea markets/charity shops etc) and I thought I would alter it. It has a damaged spine - which to me is fantastic as I can add some dangles of broken jewellery before I repair it. I am also showing my desk as I'm linking to What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday over at Julia's Stamping Ground blog as I didn't want to miss the weekly fun just because November is AEDM & NaNoWriMo time.

Today I'm just going to be gessoing pages as below, leaving all of the artwork as part of the altered design:

But what I thought was really cool is that it is from 1984 - my birth year - so I think I'll turn it into something to do with that year, or perhaps my journey from that year to this, we'll see.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to get some painting (other than painting of another new book) done, otherwise by the end of this month I'm going to be swamped in new journals and altered books to fill up, if I continue the way I seem to have started.

Day 1's final word count for NaNoWriMo was: 1668. The last 1000 words were a lot easier than the first 600 so I'm hoping (in my naivety) it is like writing a university essay - it's the first few sentences that cause the most pain, but then leads into you realising you have a lot more to say on the subject than you ever thought possible.

Here's hoping anyhow, thanks for stopping by, much love Jennibellie xx

Bargainous Bargains - Where I get my supplies

As I do not have much to show for Sunday Sketches, just this one very quick pastel pencil drawing, I thought I would put in this post the biggest tip I have for obtaining fantastic artist supplies ludicrously cheap, rather than make it into a separate post.

I'm as terrible as most other artists and crafters for spending more money than I should each year on new supplies. What Marvy have brought out alcohol pens? Well aren't I always running my promarkers out? And these have different 'painterly' tips? Well then they're a must aren't they? What Derwent have brought out inktense blocks? And they work on both paper and fabric? Well brilliant, naturally I have to have them, haven't I been looking all summer for a medium that will work in the fabric art journal I created in my June Challenge?

Yes I'm a sucker for new supplies, rather than sticking and mastering one medium (which would be a hell of a lot cheaper) but I love the different effects that using different mediums will instantly give and mixing them all up in one piece of art. Yes I spend more than I should, but that is not to say I am frivolous. My main source for buying materials has been online - and I will study and compare shop after shop until I get the best price on the item I want. That is...until this year.

Take Saturday afternoon for example, a relatively slow buying day for me I have to admit but I still got these:

Winsor and Newton Drawing Inks: RRP £24 - brought for £5

Staedtler Watercolour Pencils: RRP £35 - brought for £10

Papers, Cards, Acetate, Die Cuts, Large Stamp, Brads: RRP £25 ?? (estimate) - brought for £10

Humongous Guillotine: RRP £50 (but probably will need additional cutting strip/blade) - brought for £6

Also extra items of vintage (and new re: narnia) ephemera...

and random items of brass and jewellery for mixed media pieces:

You may not use ephemera or any random items for mixed media, but even so can you think of a shop you could get all this in one? No nor can I. The best tip I can give you for buying supplies is to buy outside of the box (that box being your computer) & head out to car boot sales, fares and fates. All the above items were brought at one car boot in about an hour and a half yesterday. Some people I know have snobbish attitudes to buying items that have had a previous owner but all artists materials & guillotine were brand new in sealed packaging when I got them, so I say more fool them.

Even with these all these items weighting down my canvas bags, as it is getting towards the end of the season (and too cold for many people to be out car booting already) I felt like I had a bad day at the office. Mainly because it has been one of my worst days for sheer volume of items brought. Yet looking at it now I think 'why, you silly cow? you still did well' - the drawing inks especially I have had my eye on (online eye) for ages. And that is something I promise will happen (if you go to enough of them), you will find items you have been longing for, at ridiculously low prices. I have - every single time I have been I have found something I have wanted.

I say look for things that may be going on around you before it's too late this year and get your scarf, hat and fingerless gloves on & rummage for treasure!

Zine & Ephemera Giveaway

Hi Guys

100 follower giveaway! Wahoo! Well a little while ago, before 100 followers point, I mentioned I wanted to do a giveaway with a handbound creative writing prompt journal and hinted at a reason. Well first I thought I'd tie up that loose end and say what the reason was (well actually still is) - I have signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and AEDM (Art Every Day Month) in November.

My theory for taking on both of these daily challenges in one month is that after I've pulled my hair out trying to make my daily word count on the novel I can turn to art to soothe me (that's what I'm telling myself anyhow, don't ruin my disillusion lol). On top of this I want to blog everyday, which will be more posts in one month than I have done in the whole of my life lol but I want to keep a personal 'achievement diary' so it'll just be a picture of my creation and a daily word count. Still I'll probably stumble at some point so if anyone else is doing either of these challenges please shout out so I can follow you/buddy-up.

However, with everything going on in my life at the moment (thanks to everyone who gave kind words re: my grandma in the last post) I simply don't have the time I need to make up, organise & print out all the pages to make the writing journal - let alone create the video on the creative writing exercise I said would go with it - so that'll have to wait till sometime after November. So what is in this giveaway instead is my new zine, Creative Juice:

I think it's more fitting than the writing prompt journal anyhow, as although it does contain a creative writing exercise, it is not restricted to that, and has creativity in all kinds of aspects within it. It also includes materials on some of the pages to fulfil the activities, if you want to check out more details click the listing here.

Also included in the giveaway is some vintage ephemera. Regular readers will know I am addicted to ephemera, and one of my favourite treasures to find is collectable card books (originally given away with cigarettes or tea):

I find the books and if incomplete I find and fill with the remaining cards and recently I had enough to fill a duplicate book, so I thought I'd offer it in the giveaway, here are a few shots:

It is on Adventurers and Explores and is fully complete. I don't know how much it is worth - could be 10p, could be £100. I don't do this for profit, I do it because I believe ANYTHING historical has the importance to be valued or saved (and obviously also because I'm a HUGE geek - and bloody proud of it too!)

Finally I'm also including the loose collectable cards above - there's some tropical birds, lots of royality ones and even the Beatles! These are fantastic to use in your crafts, especially collage - check out my flickr or the last section of my found projects video if you want some ideas on how you can use them.

So to enter the giveaway you must first be a follower and then just leave me a comment letting me know you wish to be entered. I'll draw the winner on the first day of my challenges, November 1st. Many thanks and lots of love, Jennibellie xx

Process of Creating a Journal - Peekaboo Stylie

This week I have been rather ill which has meant I’ve not made a great deal of things except a few journals for my shop and thought I would share the process through photos (which may mean this become a very long post lol – but you know 1 picture v 1000 words and all that).  Every time I make a journal however the process is a little different as sometimes I start with a particular piece of broken jewellery I may want to use, other times fabric, or may be some vintage ephemera, this time however it was a cardboard box:

Told you, a cardboard box, I hate throwing anything away, even into the recycling when I know I can create something from it.  Due to the length of the box I had two choices, one really long skinny journal, or two smaller journals:

Needless to say which I went for, they ended up measuring 4 x5” with a 1” spine.  I then covered the journals, one in grey leather and the other in a scrap fabric swatch of a birdie tree:

Next I picked the technique I wanted to use for the binding, which I found in Alisa Golden’s Making Handmade Books (which is not the best book on bookbinding I have come across, as the majority of it is made up of cards and a huge amount of accordion card/books, that are NOT bookbinding techniques at all – but it’s good if you’re just starting making books and as I’ve got the book there are a couple of techniques I’m going to try):

I didn’t stick exactly to the book with the preparing over the covers or button closure they use, I just used the bookbinding technique itself.   So I cut holes in the covers, and lined them with paper:

Then I cut the paper to size (If you try using a cardboard box as the cover make sure you measure the spine to see how many signatures should be included):

Then I chose the vintage ephemera (as I always include for interest):

Prepared the signatures:

And bound them into the covers with waxed linen bookbinding thread:

Then I added embellishments & closure systems, I think the cut out spine looks really nice with the ephemera cover signatures peeking through:

Here are some other journals I have previously made using the ‘cardboard box for covers technique’ to give you some idea of different bindings:

Finally here's a peek of the other journals I have made over the last few days, all are/will be available in my shop:

See told you it would be a long post lol hope you enjoyed and have a good week :)