(Cross) Hatching a Plan

It's a good day when you receive Royal Mail.

I love detailed drawings, and I recently ordered a couple of 'Zines from Andrea Joseph.  I am just blow away by what she can do with a simple ballpoint pen and other drawing tools.

I got her Travel Sketchbook, and also How to Draw Like A Nut.

Within just a few minutes after reading How to Draw Like a Nut, I had drawn the scissors lying nearby and made notes on my journal page.  (I would have drawn peanuts like in her examples, but I didn't have any.)  I definitely see a lot of this in my future.

Sorry I've been a little absent lately.  Apparently Blogger didn't like my old browser and would not let me post.  Won't go into all the upgrades and fixes, etc, plus re-learning how to post on the new layout they have.  All's well that ends well. 

True North

I have a lot of journals, and I have a lot of notebooks.  I recently came across an old notebook I had started a few years ago.  It had some decorating ideas that I was considering during a time when I really wanted to shake things up around me.

One thing in there was a paper stencil - actually, a 2-part stencil of a "compass rose".  My plan was to enlarge it really big and paint it on a blank wall.  I also had some large letters (about 12 to 18 inches tall) which I would hang to designate North and East on the compass design.

Needless to say, I never did that, and the blank wall has long since been covered up by two large bookcases.  But coming across the stencils, I decided I needed that compass on my journal map.  I had to reduce the design on the copier, then cut two stencils.  The part where I could use a ruler for cutting straight lines went quite well.  But on the rounded cuts, I didn't do so great.  Still, I'm liking the compass in the journal.

Mapping Adventures

I am still working in my "physics journal" (which has nothing to do with physics other than that I used the cover of a physics book to make the journal).

I knew when I started it that I wanted a fold-out map in it. And I knew that it would not be to scale or be accurate like a real map, but rather a representation of places I've gone this year. I know from reading Jill Berry's book Personal Geographies, that I can take liberties like that. So, if I go to Gaye's house twelve times this year, there will be twelve "roads" showing that. Yes, I'll take liberties like that, making duplicate roads.

My problem is, I know what I want it to look like in the end.  I just don't want to put down too much permanently in the beginning.  I may have to "map it out" in pencil for now and make everything permanent in the end.  (If you can't follow my train of thought here, that's okay.  Sometimes I have that problem too!)

I think I am distracted by some wedding maps I saw on line.  I am blown away by them.  They are here, and that is sorta kinda what I want my travel map to look like eventually. 

Egg-cellent Day

Happy Easter to All !!

Saw these eggs on the Martha Stewart site.  I didn't check out the instructions or save the link, but they make me want to go color some eggs!

These were done with wax resist, postage stamps, rubber cement used as a resist, and I think the last might be stickers and tape as a resist. 

Hope you are having a lovely day wherever you are!

Oh My

The way I look at it, we all get older every year.  So you might as well enjoy it!

Having a birthday means you can go visit family and celebrate.  My mother apologized because she only had two candles for my cake.  Then I saw the two candles.  I guess you can see where I get my sense of humor!

 I can always count on my sister to find the right thing to make me smile.

My brother was smart enough to salvage our grandmother's scrapbooks that our mother was going to toss when she moved recently.  We really had fun looking through those old books, even though they were practically falling apart. 

Of course, nothing is more fun than receiving all the fun birthday greetings.

Somebody knows exactly the right thing for me - more coffee from Alaska.  Awesome bag with something funny on every single side.

And of course I'm thrilled that Gaye gave me some of the fun pens and pencils like hers.  Now I can also use them to make awesome cards and art, just like she does!!

As they say, better to be over the hill than under it.  Am I right?!!!