NaNoJouMo

I've been a little lax about scanning lately. I started a new job last week and put in 40 pretty intense hours of training at the computer so didn't want to put much more time in. But this weekend I got a couple pages scanned so want to share them with you.

NaNoJouMo day 19 the word was FRAY.  Since I was feeling a little frayed from a week of training I extended it out to FRAYED and the page above is what I came up with.  The background is watercolor pencils.  Then I used a piece of mesh fabric with frayed edges.  The word is on a piece of ledger paper that I first drew a bunch of lines on with a sharpie and a ruler.  Then tour it out of the ledger paper and inked the edges with a black ink pad.  Then I stamped the word "frayed" on the paper and adhered it and the mesh down with gel medium.

NaNoJouMo Day 13 the word was MYSTIQUE.  Below is the page I made inspired by that word.  I decided it should be a tribute to the ever mysterious, ever powerful Feminine Mystique.  And I wouldn't want to say anything more about it and take away from the Mystique!

The background is watercolor crayon.  I then covered the whole page with used postage stamps stuck down with gel medium.  Stuck a blue border of stamps on 3 sides with more gel medium.  Then printed the words on a piece of ledger paper and cut it out with postage stamp decorative scissors.  Edged it with teal ink and stuck it down with gel medium.  Last step was to put more stamps down on and over the edges of the ledger paper.

I'll share more as soon as I have a chance.  I want to thank Dawn again for sharing NaNoJouMo with us.  You can check what she's posted for it all month on her blog here.  Thanks for taking a look.   

Equanimity - NaNoJouMo

Here's another page I did for NaNoJouMo.  You can find more info about it in previous posts or there is a link on the sidebar of this blog.
The prompt for this page was "Equanimity".  I had to look it up to make sure I knew what it meant.  Good thing cuz not sure I did!
I used watercolor crayons, white acrylic and a brayer for the background colors and layers.  The collaged flowers and circles are cut from decorative paper.  And various rubber stamps were used on each layer.  The words were stamped on last.
I really like how the colors turned out.

With NaNoJouMo I find that I don't journal and/or create fast enough for a daily prompt.  The goal is not to complete a page everyday but to journal everyday.  I am doing that and I will keep a list of all the words but I don't think I'll make a journal page centered around each one.  My goal with art journaling is to create no pressure art so words that don't do anything for me would be pointless for me to journal about.  That's not to say that I won't challenge myself and use words I wouldn't normally, just that I'm not going to make something using every word.  But I don't think of that as the true goal of NaNoJouMo - I think of it as a way to explore your own journaling and to get in the habit of journaling everyday and it is working wonders for me to that end.  It is so good for my heart and soul to make a point to be creative everyday - whether in a few hours stretch or even just to fit in 20 minutes on a stressful, rushed day.

My best words to offer to you - take time to do something you really, truly enjoy everyday.  Make the time!  You'll realize benefits.  Being happy isn't always a given, sometimes you have to reach for it and take it in whatever small bits you can get it, and build from there.

Library book sale at the expo center at the fairgrounds this weekend - I'm hoping to find some cool books there for inspiration and art materials for some bargain prices.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

NaNoJouMo - CHOICE

Here's another page for NaNoJouMo - Dawn DeVries Sokols' prompts for journaling everyday this month - you can find the original post here.  And be sure to check out her blog here to see lot's of link to what others are doing for NaNoJouMo and lot's of inspiration.  All the daily prompts are posted there too.
                                                                  

The background for the page is a rubbing from a rough surfaced picnic table.  It doesn't show real well in the photo but it shows the wood grain.  I drew squares of various colors on the background.  Stamped out the word "CHOICE" on squares of scrapbook paper.  Edged them in various colors and glued them down.  Then I printed the words for the rest of the page on a couple dif pieces of patterned vellum and attached those with brads.

Thanks for taking a look.  And be sure to check out Dawns' blog and NaNoJouMo at the links above.

NaNoJouMo - one week down

I've been participating in NaNoJouMo.  You can see the original post here.  It's Dawn DeVries Sokols' idea to give us prompts to get us journaling every day for a month and it's alot of fun!  Check out Dawns' blog http://www.dblogala.com/ to see lot's more about it and lot's of inspiration.
The first week is over.  It started Nov 1st and goes for the month.  Here's what I did for the first day:

I don't usually do anything to the first page of a journal.  Or, save it for last.  But with the start of NaNoJouMo and a word like "Inception" it just felt right.  I went all with words for this one and started with a piece of scrapbook paper.  I used ledger paper for the words and the 1.  Grunged it all up a bit with a stencil brush and ink and sequin waste and more ink.  I think it ended up looking pretty fun for a first page.

Here's another page I did.  The prompt for this day was "Fortune".  And since I'd been saving this fortune cookie fortune (aka hoarding) to use someday this seemed like the perfect time.  You can click on the picture for a bigger image but just in case you can't read it, it says "You will emerge from uncertainty into great peace and freedom.".  I've had alot of "stuff" going on in my life for a few years now and am ready to move past the uncertainty and great peace and freedom sounds wonderful - bring it on world!  

I have more pages in various stages of completion.  I'll share them as I get them scanned.  The challenge isn't to complete a page each day.  The challenge is to journal each day, whatever works for you to that end.  So think about it and check out Dawns' blog - it's never to late to start.  Just Begin Where You Are!

Have a great week everyone!