February

This is the last month of 12 Months in View starting with An Introduction to February.

I think the most important thing I learned at the Make It Personal workshop was to 'not think'.  It wasn't a new concept to me but putting it into practice has always been difficult.  However I managed it and took the same approach to this journal page.

I knew that I wanted to base the page on the words 'The day the music died' but hadn't any picture in my mind of how I would get to it.

I looked through a pile of papers I had and found some sheet music, a dictionary page and some stars that I had cut out from something else I'd done.

I glued the music paper and the dictionary paper into my journal.

I scraped Gesso over the page with an old credit card and then stuck down the stars.

I sprayed Dylusions Inks over the page.  The paper the stars had been cut from had been a play sheet painted with acrylic paints so the stars resisted the ink.  The gesso reacts with the inks so they are paler than if they are sprayed directly onto paper.

I wrote the words with a black Copic pen and then wrote again with an orange crayon.  I added the black and the white lines to the page.

I didn't think or plan while I was making the page and I am really pleased with the result.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

A Bible Study Journal

Identity: A Study in Ephesians
On Monday we will be beginning our study on Identity.  But before we delve into the study I thought I would show you how I have made my journal.  I used the idea shown in my Creative Responses post, using the Teesha Moore instructions.

I had torn my paper into 3 pieces and folded them.

I decided I wanted to be able to keep my journaling notebook inside the finished art journal so made the sheet that had folds at both ends smaller.  I kept the small fold on the right and made the whole page on the left smaller.

I used the piece I had torn off to make a large letter I and then drew it on the paper that will be the cover.

It is easier to start the backgrounds of the pages before you assemble it whether you are sewing or gluing - or as in this case - both!  The other thing about putting some colour on the paper is that it takes away the fear of the blank page each time you come to work on it.

I put 4 colours of water-based inks onto my glass mat and sprayed them with water.  Don't copy this idea because what I ended up with was a deep orange!

Back to the drawing board!  I decided to do each colour separately.  I chose 5 colours and added them to the plate individually, sprayed with water and then wiped my paper through the ink.  You could do this with watered-down acrylic paints or with watercolour paints.   I 'dipped' both sides.

By randomly dipping the papers but keeping to the same colours I ended up with a set of papers that go together.  If you don't have paints and inks you could get a similar effect with water soluble colour crayons.  Scribble randomly on your paper and then use a very wet brush with clean water.  You can see below the difference between the scribble and the wet washed colour.

Here's my journal as the pages unfold.

The Exercise Book has too many pages in it.  When I get to the end of my journaling for session 4 I shall remove the middle pages.  At the end I shall cover my book.

I shall make a pocket with the small fold so that the book sits inside it.  To strengthen my journal I am going to glue in the middle piece of paper that folds round the book.  I shall sew in the other folded page.  I shall do that at the end of the study as it will be easier to work on individual pages if they are not stitched or glued in.

If you try this make sure the paper is totally dry before you start to write or do anything else with it.  It's also a good idea to go back to the folds and press them again with a bone fold or the handle of your scissors to make sure the folds are totally creased.

I look forward to seeing what you decide to do for your creative response to the study.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

Plans and Planners

It's nearly the end of January.  Can you believe it?  I have no idea where the month has gone.

We went away for 3 days to the New Forest (Hampshire) to celebrate Roger's birthday.  We had vouchers for a half price 2 night stay in a hotel!  We managed to dodge the showers on the whole and visited places we had never been to before as well as going on a couple of walks.   We saw some New Forest ponies at the side of the road.

The view on our walk.

A BIG Thank you
When we got back I wrote about my One Little Word: Participate.   I would like to thank those who read to the end and to Danielle, Sandie, Pam, Catalina, Beverly, Lynne, Kate, Missus Wookie, Rinda and Valerie for leaving such encouraging comments.  I really appreciate that you took the time to write.  I have been back to read the comments several times.


I have continued to participate in my life and have found more joy.  I have kept my word in front of me and have kept fairly up to date with my planner.  I haven't been following all of the challenges set by the team but I am really happy with how my book is looking.  I am including a study of Psalms although I have yet to actually do the journaling to go with it!

In between I have been working on the new 'challenge' blog that started on Monday: Identity: A study in Ephesians.  It is slightly out of my comfort zone as I have never done a purely Christian challenge.

And having accepted the challenge to PARTICIPATE in my life this year, I am excited that I have been invited to be one of the teachers for an online class coming later this year.  And of course I said yes to participating in that!

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice