Loving Letterpress

I've been having so much fun playing along with Geralyn Sy's class at Big Picture Classes. I actually took the class the first time it was offered at Studio Calico but it was nice to spend a Sunday afternoon taking a little refresher.

I tried to keep all my cards in a similar colour scheme to last month's Studio Calico kit (which only just arrived) so I'll be able to mix and match all month. So much letterpress fun!

Reading :: Watching :: Learning

Apart from spending far too much of my time browsing blogs, Facebook and Pinterest, I also spend my screen time in other ways too. Now as Autumn hits its stride, I've been spending more time indoors keeping busy. Here is a list of a few things I been loving.

• I've just finished The Winter People, it was much scarier than I had anticipated (not helped by reading it alone, at night!) but none-the-less I read the whole book in two sittings. Loved it.
• I devoured the Divergent Trilogy, but I ended up slightly disappointed by the ending.
• Hollow City was the follow-up to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which I loved. I didn't enjoy the second book as much and now I can't wait for the third installment (which will be released at some point next year).
• While I didn't enjoy the diary-style writing of The Martian, the story of Man vs Planet had me hooked the whole way.
• I've currently got two books underway at the moment, Creativity Inc. and The Goldfinch (which is the ABM Book Club May selection.

• I love Richard Curtis movies and About Time was no exception. Funny, sad and sweet.
• I completely binge-watched the first two seasons of Girls, so I was hanging out for the third. It didn't disappoint.
• I'd never heard of Austenland but it was a delightfully light-hearted movie about love. Plus it has one of the best quotes ever on creativity!
• I'm more of a Pixar fan but Frozen was pretty good. Can't stop singing Let It Go either.
• Derek is just the sweetest. I've been re-watching before Season 2 , only a few more days!

• I'm doing One Little Word again in 2014, so helpful having the monthly prompts keeping my word (Sparkle) front and center.
• I've just joined the Spring session of Daring Adventures in Paint and I'm finally getting messy again. Struggling to let go but enjoying myself immensely.
• In need of a little blog pick-me-up, I loved Styling | Shooting | Sharing by Ann-Marie Loves.
• I'm trying to carve out a bit more time for journaling this year and 52 Weeks of Art Journaling was just the kick-start I needed.
• And I can't wait to start Sketchbook with Kelly Purkey next month.

Learn Something New Everyday

I am taking part in Shimelle's Learn Something New Everyday again this year. But this time I thought I'd make it a little easier on myself by creating my album ahead of time and then all I have to do each day is:

1. Learn a lesson
2. Type it out and glue it down
3. Add a mini instax if I want too

Simple. 

So in the weekend I made a really simple 6x4 album. I grabbed 5 different card stocks, cut them all down to 6x4 and then I went to town with ink splatters, cut-outs from the insides of some envelopes, some washi tape and stitching.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. Now I just have to keep up the learning.

Restoration (warning: photo heavy!)

Over the last few weeks I have been taking a class by the Brave Girls Club, called Soul Restoration. I really needed something like this and I feel like a whole different person now that I am finished (although I'm not sure I'll ever be totally finished, and that's okay too).

(sorry the pictures aren't particularly clear but a lot of this is very personal)

 If you feel a bit stuck at the moment, I highly recommend it.

 

I have still been learning everyday...

...just not always getting good photos and uploading everyday.

I think I'll just do a little video once I'm done with September. Which is only a week and a bit away.

Where did it go?

Learn Something Every Day

I've been taking Shimelle's class and I am really enjoying this format. I made this folder for another unfinished project a long time ago. And while having a clean out I just couldn't throw it away, and I'm very glad I didn't and can finally use it for something!

Here are a few photos from the first week...

I am going for a sort of cross between a scrapbook and art journal. Mostly just trying to get something down, quickly. I'm not letting days pile up, just doing a little something every night. I've tried to incorporate the day's number into the page somehow. Its getting harder and I imagine by 30 I might have to get a little bit creative!

What lesson you learnt lately?