A confession and some pages

Thank you to everyone who left comments about my day in photos.  But I need to confess ~ I don't usually do the ironing on the day I do the washing.  It can take up to 3 weeks.  But I needed to do it so I could get the photo!!!

On to more crafty items.   I am still working slowly through the Creativity Bootcamp prompts.  Not quite up-to-date but doing much better than with most courses.  Well done me.

Day 7: Hidden

We were asked to journal to empty our minds of the clutter and then to throw the journaling away.  I wrote some of mine on these pages and then covered the page with gesso.  I used water colour paints directly from the tube and used them as I would acrylics.   I put the 'a little bird told me' daily truth onto Safmat and stuck it down.

I also hid a dictionary definition under the flap

Day 8: Woven

I drew the lines with a water colour pencil, coloured in with the Neocolour crayons and then went over each colour with a wet brush.

Day 9: Journaling

Day 10: Mood

Day 11: Adagio

I stuck some music wrapping paper onto the pages and then sprayed with watercolour wash.  I drew the spirals, music notes and words with a Neocolour crayon and painted with water.

You may have noticed there isn't an art page for Day 9.  This is because my idea for 'Bold' involves sticking some chipboard on the page and I won't be able to finish the journaling on the other pages.

Today is Day 12 and the word prompt is 'Fundamental'.  I have no idea what to do.  However it's the last day tomorrow and that prompt is 'Refreshing' and I know exactly what I'm going to do.  Of course it might not get done tomorrow ~ there's a wedding to attend!  Even if it's only via the television.

My Day in Photos

Tuesday 26th April

See more days here

A balancing act

I am really trying to keep up with the two concurrent online courses that I am doing.  To the extent that I have given up doing any other creative work while I endeavour to stay up to date and finish each day's task.  Of course, I'm on a hiding-to-nothing as we are going away this evening and although I will have internet access we are supposed to be on holiday.

I am really enjoying the Creativity Bootcamp although using one medium is very restricting.  I am sticking with it for a little while longer but I feel that next week there will be an outburst of mixed media.

Day 3

Day 3 was about disarming the creative buzzkills.   There are no new thoughts in my journaling, but it is very releasing to set the thoughts down and no longer allow them to crowd my mind.

Day 3's random word prompt was PROCESS

I did give in slightly here over the one medium.  I stamped the cogs using gesso, put a light wash of watercolour over them when they were dry, and then sprayed water colour over some cogs as masks.  I'm still not sure whether it is finished.

Day 4

We were asked to take random photographs and then analyse what we had taken.

Day 4's random word prompt was GARISH

Day 5

Today has been about music and whether I take refuge in it.

Today's random word prompt was DEPTH

I decided that as the day 4 journaling had highlighted my love of form and line I would use that to influence this artwork.

I am taking my sketchbook with me and I have prepped all the pages for the next 4 days so that I can do the journaling each day and think about the artwork and then have a catchup day on Tuesday ~ in between doing the washing!

And the second online activity: Shimelle's Beyond Blogging.   Well, you've just finished reading the homework.  Thanks for popping by.

What housework?

Those who know me well will know that I am estranged from housework.  I do it very, very occasionally.  Usually if somebody is coming to stay or my Lifegroup decide to meet at our house.  And if you know me on Facebook this is usually heralded by the comment 'Blue Moon rising'.

But actually the 'What Housework?' of the title relates to the local craft group that I belong to, run by Morag and Nicki.   More information can be found here.  Not only do they run a monthly crop but they also put on workshops. And the most recent one was to make a configurations box.

And yes, I know I have already made two, one with the amazing Tim himself, and the other at home on my own.  But it's fun to mix with other crafters and to see what ideas Nicki comes up with.  Some of which can be very strange.  She won't mind me saying that.  I have said it to her face!!!!

On Sunday I went to the April crop and did one of Nicki's classes.  I don't tend to end up with the same result as the original, but for me this one is quite close.

Every two weeks Nicki posts a challenge on her blog and this week it's to make something wedding related : ie old, new, borrowed, blue!  This considerably less taxing than the one 2 weeks ago which involved 24/7/365.  You need to go and see!  I can't explain it (which is why I didn't do it!)   Anyway, here you can see my attempt.  There's blue ink and blue ribbon.  Both of which are old!  I crackle glazed the clock face to make it look old.   The tag was dry embossed with my brand new Texture Fade folder.  And the banner is made from hat stamps that I borrowed from Nicki for another project.

Timer

And this post is to see if I can work out how to set the timer

Beyond Blogging Day Two

You may have noticed I've removed a few things in my sidebar and now I'm learning about labels and pages.  This may radically alter my whole blogging experience.

Why do I blog?

Well there's a question!  I'm not sure really.  I like to write and I like to craft and blogging brings the two together.  But sometimes I write about the state of the dining room ~ or my craft space whichever you prefer to call it ~ rather than the crafting.

And of course there are always the posts about the new online course that I've started (and sadly never finish!)  And here's another one.....

Today is the first day of Shimelle's new class: Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers.  I love the first day of new courses.  I am excited and raring to go.  Sometimes that lasts at least half way through the course but sometimes I don't even make it to day two.  Which is what happened with the original Blogging for Scrapbookers!

And then of course there's the niggling doubt ~ does anybody bother to read my ramblings?  I know I have 30 wonderful followers but do they just click on by and not read each time I post ~ I know the feeling ~ I do it with some of the numerous blogs I follow.

So a question, whether you're a follower, an irregular reader or a first-time visitor:

What makes you stop and read my blog?  And which topics interest you most?

Actually that's 2 questions!  But please answer anyway.
Thanks in anticipation
Bernice

Creativity Bootcamp: Day Two

Today's question was did we think of ourselves as an Artist.   Well yes-ish and no.  I can see why I should but still not got enough confidence in my work.  I feel I need to know what my style is first.

Today's random word for the art was Flow

Creativity Bootcamp: Day One

Day One Journal Prompt: write a letter to yourself

I cut up the next page of the ebook and stuck it in my book.  I wrote the letter to myself and it is tucked away in the manila envelope

Day One: Random Word prompt: Scarlet

I did a wash of red watercolour paint using paint from a tube of paint.  Then I used Neocolour II watercolour sticks to draw with and then blended with clean water.  Only being able to use one media is really interesting.  I found that I could concentrate more on the content and composition because I wasn't thinking about what media to use next.

Never mind

Sometimes the best laid plans and all that ....

I thought I'd try out some watercolour wash in the Moleskine Sketchbook in preparation for Creativity Bootcamp and although it wasn't a total disaster, I didn't like the result.  The water reacted with the finish on the page and so I needed to have a rethink.

I had a look through all the empty sketchbooks I have in order to find a suitable one.  I found one I didn't remember having (lol) which has a purple cover and is spiral bound.  It has cartridge paper in it and I shall probably glue two pages together throughout the book so it copes with the watercolour paints ~ well the wetness of the paints!

So as I'm going out all day to the Solihull Crop I thought I would get started.   Here's the Title Page.  Painted with watercolour paint and then bubblewrap pressed on while the paint dried.

Then on the next page I did a colourwash with watercolour paints and cut up the ebook for the course and stuck it in the sketchbook with some journaling.

Creativity Bootcamp

A group of friends and I are starting a 2 week intensive journaling and creativity class on Sunday.   You can find out about it here.   This is last year's free book which we are going to work through together.

There is a new class this year which has a cost to it and starts in May.

One of the friends I shall be working along side is Pippa and you can find out more about her on her blog.

We have both decided to work with watercolours for this class.  We came to this decision separately but it will be lovely to see how we use the same medium in different ways.  I have gathered together my watercolour crayons, Neocolour crayons, watercolour tubes, paintbrushes and the new Moleskine Sketchbook I bought.  So I'm all ready for the off on Sunday.

Almost organised

In my quest to be able to store all my craft goodies and still be able to get round the table to get to them, on Thursday I built this flatpacked storage unit and immediately filled it with goodies.  However I decided I would leave the other, bigger unit for Roger to build.

So today he built this for me which fits under the window.

And was immediately filled with RUB boxes

At least I most of the stash is off the floor now and looks tidier and I can move about!

And I decided to remove the leaf from the middle of the table and make the table smaller so that it doesn't take up so much room.  It has helped to make the room look bigger.

There are still bags with bits in and untidy heaps of stuff to sort, but at least I can get to those and deal with them in short bursts of energy whenever the mood takes me!! 

If it ever does!

Been there, done that, got the ezine

I know, I've blogged twice in one day.  But I didn't want you to miss out on this freebie.

Just go to the Craft Stamper website and download this beautiful ezine.

No fooling

I'm trying to reorganise my crafting space which is more commonly known as the dining room.   Yesterday I assembled a piece of flat pack furniture and still have another larger piece to assemble.  Actually, Roger said he would do it.

I eventually found enough room today to actually do some crafting.  Today I have started another online course called Colour Your World.   And the prompt was to make anything. But it had to be something that stretched me.   Using these coolours supplied in the SFTIO kit was certainly a stretch for me!

  I had also seen a sketch on Shimelle's blog so I thought I would use that for the basis of the layout.   And in a new burst of time efficiency (hee hee) I made the layout for one of the challenges on Scrapbooking From the Inside Out.