Kel's Space

The 12 Month Apron

From this:

To this:

In only one year! Ridiculous, I know.  I bought the fabric last October and made the apron Friday night. Longer post about how-to over at It's a Creative World.

Unfortunately, Kelly...

I saw this over at Carla Sonheim's blog and it made me smile, so I tried it. The idea is to type "unfortunately" followed by your name into Google and see what comes up. I'm superstitious enough to exclude any doom-laden results, and fussy enough to exclude any where the next word is a surname.

Unfortunately Kelly was unable to reveal a secret she did not know, and the stock of the magical powder was nearly exhausted.

Unfortunately Kelly then suffered a knee injury which kept her out of major competition until 2000.

Unfortunately, Kelly's career ended soon after (s)he became famous.

Unfortunately, Kelly announced it was her last song

Unfortunately, Kelly says, she didn't get to do what she "sought" out to do: to show us the real Kelly.

Unfortunately, Kelly's strategies are inherently flawed

Unfortunately, Kelly's research is less than complete and (s)he contradicts (her)self constantly

Unfortunately, Kelly didn't err with caution

Um, I starting to feel there is truth in memes, so will wind this up. I want to rearrange them into a story!

Supernova Journal Pages

Now, I know you're not telling me you're sick of journal backgrounds. Although it is time I shared some journalled pages too. These pages are in two of the three journals I posted a couple of days ago.

So what's on my mind, wanting to spill out onto the page?

• questions and questioning, after reading Gwen Bell's post on the topic (and seriously, do the Chuck Norris thing)
• popular culture - what do I love and seek out, and what am I not into?
• the changes I am making in my life, seeking to live better and record the journey
• my creative journey, looking back and checking out the map
• thoughts on the Mike Dooley talk last week
• and inevitably, after that talk, a little reflection on what I want from life 

More Journal Joy

I was going to share instax mini pics from Greenwich Park today, but I really couldn't be bothered to get out the scanner and find the cable blah blah blah. Sorry. Instead, I have all kinds of journal backgrounds to share. I was feeling really blocked creatively by the time I finished my course, so I knew I had to play/create. I haven't been in a journalling place, but I thought if I played around with a bunch of backgrounds it would get the mojo flowing again. These are from three different journals.

Edited to say: these are taking a really long time to upload tonight. I'm going to leave you with these for, all in my lug around Moleskine. Just a mixture of messy paint (acrylic and watercolour too I think) and magazine cutouts and quotes that grabbed me. It was very interesting the other day when I went to hear Mike Dooley speak (notes from the universe, infinite possibilities, etc.) and realised that this journal which I brought along to write notes in was actually full of very appropriate quotes already. Everything seems to flow together when you're on your true path.

Journal Joy

I am so happy with these journals. I am particularly happy that I have finished them at all, with so many ongoing projects around here. They're from a class by Julie Prichard, called Super Nova Part One (I'm taking Part Two as well). They are so gorgeous though, I wish you could see them, these photos don't do them justice. I don't want to give away any of her class secrets, but I will tell you a bit about the kind of journals they are.

The first one we did, my green and blue one, is a hardcover journal filled with Fabriano watercolour paper. It opens out nearly flat, so it's going to be lovely to work in. It's basically a classic stitched signature binding, although Julie teaches a particular stitch, very clearly by video. I'm planning to use it for part two of the course, which is journalling backgrounds. I'm very aware that if I hold onto it too long, it will become cherished and somehow too good to use. It's covered with paper I painted, stamped, stencilled and glazed with techniques taught by Anne Bagby.

The tall one you can see more clearly in the picture above is more than 12 inches tall. I am so looking forward to using it. It has 23 collaged spreads, which will end up being painted over. It was both challenging and freeing to be collaging without any concept of the end result. Normally, I would be working towards a particular theme or imagery for a journal page, but these are just random background. It is joined together in such a clever way, but I've only ever seen it in this class, so I won't reveal the magic! Yummy, right? (By the way, I got totally thrown by reading a post on Twitter from someone who hates non-edible things being described as yummy or delicious. It took me a couple of months before I relaxed back into realising that I don't mind it and in fact, I like it!)And check this one out! Julie's is actually beautiful and patchworky, with a deliberate shabbiness. Mine is just one piece of fabric for the outer and one for the lining. I have adopted the deliberate shabbiness to the extent that I chose not to obsess over the neatness of my stitching! It has such a cleverly stitched spine and it is the only book I had to have the video playing while I put it together. The cover is this crazy, cutesy, Japanese fabric I bought and was clearly never going to use for anything else, although I can't resist it. The lining is cut from an old pair of his jeans. I have some new backgrounds to show too, and I've already promised to share my Instax mini photos from this weekend in Greenwich park tomorrow. See you then.

Back to school

September is always busy for those of us with anything to do with school. I'm feeling really good about work at the moment, not something I normally talk about here.

I've been trying to clear the decks at home, finishing projects, decluttering nooks and crannies, revitalising my studio and getting prepared and open for whatever's next.

After the amount of work for my art foundation course last year, I've been particularly keen to keep the creativity flowing. It's so easy for such a fragile, ephemeral entity to be squashed by academia. Sometimes it juices you up and sometimes it dries you up - I'm trying to learn how different situations affect me and ride the waves instead of floundering.

The internet is such a gift for the isolated and the introverted. I've been playing over at The Land of Lost Luggage, making gorgeous rich journals, and now we're starting to fill them up. I'm also looking forward to some photography and reflection on Unravelling in a couple of weeks. 

I'm also getting out there and meeting new people. I really crave a creative community, made up of friends from my life, online friends and all the busy little corners of London where people are already meeting to draw, knit, create and connect. 

All that and a little bit of knitting. This is a practice hat, because the postal strike has eaten my wool for the real version. I like it though! What are you working on?

A little later, I've been very excited about the launch of ella publishing - small business, great design, green premise, inspirational eye candy, what's not to love? Click on the button to read more about it

GPP Street Team: Crusade No. 33

Michelle Ward has a new crusade up for September. If you haven't seen these before, take some time to look back through them, she has some great ideas and really gets people motivated. This month the theme is 'back to school' - thinking about the learning we do in and out of the studio.

I am most surprised that I learned a little bit of Mandarin. I took a class last spring to prepare for my trip to Beijing in May 2008. It was so gratifying to be able to speak a little bit of Mandarin, and the effort seemed to be appreciated. The best moment was when I was able to speak to a Chinese painting teacher after a lesson and thank him for his work, while many people only thanked the translator!

A Lovely Way to Start the Day

So, I'm getting a cold, and I'm really annoyed about it, because we've just starting refining our diet and we've been eating really well, so this feels like a kick in the pants, you know?

It's back to work and work is good, but still, early mornings are tough, and those ingrained routines are hard to dig up at the end of summer.

So I'm awake early, but drinking tea and feeling sorry for myself and I see this on Twitter:

 Which leads me to the website (click on the umbrella to see for yourself):

 

Which leads me to the first video, which asks you to pause and watch the second video at one point. 

The second video is below, having two videos in the same post wasn't working well.

And now I feel all inspired and happy and just lovely! I hope you do too.

One rainy day in September

I'm having such a cosy September evening. We were both back at work today, but we both got away early. Last night's crockpot chicken was turned into fajitas with spelt flour tortillas, red peppers stirfried with smoked garlic, and a flax-enriched tomato salsa. Immediately after dinner the rain started.

I got my first book block stitched for Julie's journalling class. We're making our own journals for the first two weeks of September and then working on the insides for the last two weeks. You can see the journals we're making here. Tomorrow I'm going to paint up some gorgeous cover papers for and bind it.

I've also been doing a class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking with Jenni Bowlin. The class is Re-think, Re-purpose, Re-invent and it's all about finally using the little bits and pieces you've picked up at flea markets and yard sales. I have a beloved stash of keys, watch parts and flashcards that I don't know how to use. I would much rather be using them than keeping them precious and shut away. One of the key things in the course is building an inspiration board and this is mine - empty for now.