DLP Planner Weeks 29 and 30

On week 28, I had used a tan/beige tag.  The back of that tag is dark blue, so this is what I did for week 29, the week starting July 10.  I printed a collage sheet from Artstronauts onto sticker paper, and cut out a nice long border section to put down the side of the tag.  Then I used a white gel pen and stencil to mark the days of the week. And that was that! 

For the week starting July 17, week 30, I cut a section of watercolor paper from where I had played with some Koi brush markers and water a couple of weeks ago.

I took some white mailing labels and stenciled feather designs on the sides.  The labels were wider than what I needed, so I cut each one in half, then stamped the dates on them.  I placed them on the page, each one with the rounded edges of the label at the top and the cut part at the bottom (not that it's even noticeable!)

 I finished off that page with some washi tape on the left side where the holes were punched.

It still looked a little plain, and I ended up making scribble marks around the labels with a black pen. 

I might actually have all of the July weeks done before August gets here!

Journal Play

Another journal page in progress, in a journal where I paint the pages with leftover paint from other projects.  I needed some play time, and didn't want to do a whole page, just doodle.  I started with a big stencil and some watercolor pencils.

I traced around the stencil with two colors (black and brown).  Just a messy trace, not really pretty.

 Used a brush to paint the pencil lines with water.  It really gave it a dimensional look.

 A couple of days later, I used different stencils to put pattern in a few of the openings.

 Today I used a face stencil and added half a face.

 I like having this to doodle on just to take a break from other things. Who knows how it will end up!

Two Things

First, I wanted to share this cool little ATC caddy that my friend Gaye Medbury is teaching at Stampaway in Cincinnati this year.  I was in her studio earlier this year and made this one using her artsy collage sheet. 

The caddy can hold ATCs or tags, photos, business cards, whatever fits! As always, she has so many creative samples to inspire the students.

The class is on Friday, August 5-- sign up here at Stampaway. 

Secondly, I am still one of the few people on earth not on Facebook.  But I did recently enter the world of Instagram.  I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing, and today I added a video of the ATC caddy.  Instagram chopped off the top and bottom of the video but you get the idea.  I do know the pictures there are square, so it's a learning experience on my part!  My account is here.

DLP Weeks 27 and 28

July has been pretty busy.  You would think I would keep track of things in my DLP planner.  Except I just got around to making the weekly pages.  I think starting July in a new binder threw me off.  I don't have any inspiration from the preceding week to jump start me!

For week 27, the week ending July 2, the first thing I had to do was cover the whole page, which happens to be the back side of the monthly calendar page from the previous post.  Although that calendar page is a gold color, the back is white.  I debated many options, painting, stenciling, etc... but decided to just print a weekly page onto a patterned paper.  This one with writing is a free insert from Somerset Studio magazine.  The paper was not quite long enough to cover the whole page, so I put washi tape around the edges.  I stamped the dates and days, and that one is done.  Not a whole lot left to say about that technique!

For Week 28, week ending July 9, I decided to use a tag from my stash.  I have these tags with a fold at the top, but I decided to cut off the flap and not add bulk to the planner.

I picked a light color as it looked best next to the preceding page.  I had some of the same background paper left over and cut it to size to fit the tag.  I used washi tape to divide the days, and stamped the dates and days.

 I wrote July at the top, and that one is now complete as well.  Not very creative, but it's okay.

After I made it, I discovered the light colored tag has dark blue on the back, so that will be my challenge the next week.

Random Play

At random times, I'll use up extra paint with a stencil on a journal page, or use a stamp I had out, or just other spurts of playing around, because it's there.  I wasn't liking any of this, then one day, it looked okay to me, after adding a little more to it. Just paint, stencils, stamps, art sticker, more paint, cleaning off a round paint applicator, etc.  It's still in progress...

I'm sure some day soon, that bird is going to grow some legs while I'm waiting for the coffee to be ready.

Working Things Out in July

New month, new month page, even a new binder for the DLP 2016 planner. 

 

Earlier this year, my sister gave me a calendar that I think she said she got for free. She gave it to me because she thought the pages were about the same size as my planner pages.  Plus, it's a calendar! There was one quote we both liked, but you have to wait til September to see if I use it.

 

The calendar theme is mainly about fashion and beauty.  I usually check each month to see if the quote for that month is something I want to use.  Even if it's not, the calendar section at the bottom might work for me.

For July, you can see it says "Be Patient, it will go on sale".  But that wasn't what caught my eye.  See the tiny words at the top... "Things have a way of working out."  Wow, is all I can say.  Seriously.  I am going through some challenging work things right now.  I've been at my present job less than a year and things have been in a downward spiral over the last month.  None of it is anything I can do anything about, other than look for another job.  Most of the time, I feel like a 4 year old, wanting to stomp my feet and whine, "I don't want to". 

See, I feel like I'm whining right now!  Anyway, I wanted to use the calendar just for that alone, to look at that sentence every day. The part about things working out, not the part about going on sale.  Although things on sale are good too!

I have been saving quotes from Pinterest off and on, and looked through some I had saved. This one seemed to also work for this particular point in my life, so I printed it out.  I layered it on cardstock, then decided it needed another layer of black cardstock.  I happened to have a small piece of black cardstock that was the right size, but just a little long.  Rather than cut that part off, I used three different size hole punches to punch circles.  I covered up the original quote, and added a July tab. 

 

It all seemed to work just perfectly, without me having to spend too much time resizing or thinking too hard about it.  Like it was meant to be.  Because sometimes things have a way of working out. :)