10 ways to write a date on your journal's page

I don't speak about my journaling habits too much here, but I write and draw (and glue things!) in my Moleskine almost everyday.

I'm still using the Petit Prince Moleskine Journal I started more than two years ago. I'm not a compulsive writer, sometimes I add only a little sketch or some words, so the process of filling a page is a bit slow, expecially because I started to feel very good when the pages are beautiful to see, so I work on every single page like I'm doing a little work of art.

And I'm still experimenting new ways to write, to decorate, to express myself on those white pages (all started here).

Recently I noticed how much my date writing style has changed.

I always write the date beside all I do in my journal, because I want to keep precise memories of my life. I also like to add a draw or a note about the weather and the day of the week.

In the past I used to write in small letters the date + the day of the week and make a little drawing for the weather. 

But recently I started to be more creative.

I used my date stamp and decorated the space around it.

I gave to the date more importance and wrote it very big (and experimented different "fonts").

I grew a sort of obsession for banners with dates inside.

I put the date into my drawings, even drawings about weather.

I mixed bold and thin letters.

I have fun with these experiments. I'm always looking for other ways for date writing.

This is a photographic collage of some of my dates in differents styles.

I'm sharing it today, hoping to inspire you to be creative on your journal page and have fun even with a (apparently) boring matter like writing the date.

I'd like to listen about you.

Do you have unusual ways to write the date on your journal pages? Do you write te date or not?

Looking other people's work is very interesting to me. This is one of the reasons why I've recently opened a Pinterest board dedicated to Moleskine journals (and journaling in general). Take a look if you need more inspirations.

November in drawings: a beautiful start

I've decided to draw more this November.

An easy way to work on this purpose when you have only little time is having your journal and a pen near the bed and drawing something in 5 minutes before sleeping. Only a doodle or two is enough to nurture the artist in you :)

 

But I also like to have more time and fill a whole page with a bigger drawing project.

The first day of this month I realized this page about beautiful things in November:

 

In the scroll on top I wrote (in italian) "November is here" and on the bottom of the page I added a tagline about "November beautiful things":
- little birds coming back (like this)
- mushrooms
- chestnuts
- some rain (not everyday, of course!)
- wind (sometime it pulls up umbrellas)
- leaves falling down and making drawings on the ground
- first snow on the top of the mountains
- the moon (so beautiful in this season!)

 

In the next page I wrote some notes about my daily life and added some sketches about Macchia the cat and November wind:

 

 

 

Only black ink on white pages now, but I hope to have the time soon to paint something! I want to use my watercolor pencils again and test some acrylic colors I received as a gift in october.

I don't know its name, but it's funny (edited)

While I was still in Northern Italy, the first days of September, one day I decided to spend some time tidying up some drawers in my old bedroom.

 

And I found a lovely thing I received as a gift when I was a child.

 

It's a thing "to make art".

I don't know its name, I only know it's super funny. Similar objects were almost everywhere during my childhood (I remember I had a smaller version, too).

 

Does its photo say something to you?

 

 

You put your pen into one of its "holes" and start moving. This instrument help your hand to move till you have finished a whole round.

You can decide to remove the instrument to see the result or (more funny!) decide to go on, without moving it from its position on the page, and re-start with other shapes to mix them together.

 

The result is a sort of mandala, an hypnotising work of art you can't get tired of.

Yes, making these circles is addictive (the reason why I've decided to leave it where I've found it, because I don't need other time-consuming things here at home, eh eh).

 

But I brought all the circles with me, of course. And I cut them to glue my favourite into my moleskine.

 

 

I think they can have several funny applications... for example they can decorate cards, or became part of gift wraps, or be hanged up the Xmas tree like balls.

 

Do you know this funny tool?

Can you help me in giving it a proper name?

Thank you in advance!!!

EDIT: My Etsy Italia Team mates say its name is "spirograph". Mystery solved!
I'm a proud owner af a vintage spirograph, eh eh :)

A princess and her sumptuous skirt

Another post about drawing, this week!

Yes, drawing is really in my mind recently :)

I like making this kind of art, but also watching other people making it, expecially little people, like my niece C.

 

She is 5 years old now, a super feminine little girl, who likes elegant dresses, brides, high heels shoes, lipstick and nail polish... uhm, she is NOT like me!

When I was 5 years old I used to play soccer with my cousins and explore the grass around the house looking for little animals, eh eh.

But we a precious thing in common: we both like to draw and paint.

When C. is with me, she smiles and says: "Aunty, can we draw?".

She usually asks (ehm, orders!) me to draw ("Draw a bride with high heels, bows, long hair, a bag, earrings....") and she paints with crayons.

 

But last sunday she surprized me. A lot.

She said: "I'm drawing a princess to paint together!".

Oh, yes, of course, lovely girl!

 

The whole process has been amazing!

And this is what we made together:

 

 

A princess with blond hair, a crown, high heels shoes and... a giant skirt, so sumptuous, so decorated!!! *___*

Super funny!

I have no notions about how to interpretate children's drawings, and the thing is not important to me now. I've only enjoyed (oh, so much) the process and the final work of art.

 

This is C. starting her drawing:

 

 

I love those little hands bravely holding the pencil.

I love the way she draws hair (so sweet) and her attention for details.

 

I'm a proud aunt!

I hope we will have this moments also in the future and I hope I will be able to teach her all the creative things I know, like my AuntFran made (and is still making) with me.

Let images inspire your drawing

I'm experimenting something new in my moleskine journal in these days.

It's something about the "drawing homeworks" I often do when I have some free time (Tv time, expecially) and my brain says me: "Draw! Draw!" but I have no ideas of what I want to give birth with my pens.

 

This is what I do: I glue an image I like and then I start drawing, letting image inspire me how to add all around it.

It's super funny.

Nothing so innovative or surprising; I know that something similar is part of common methods of art lessons. But it's a new thing to me and I want to share it with you for its simplicity.

 

When you glue an image on the page you haven't a precise idea of what your brain is going to create and watching the process is so funny and interesting! It probably says something about who you are!

And it's also amazing the mix of printed images with a professional look and the various media you can use in the drawing.

In my pages I really like the contrast between super coloured photos on shiny paper and my black and white drawing with a childish look.

It's a strange mix, but it works :)

 

This is what I realized some evenings ago, in bed:

 

 

All started with a lovely photos of well-arranged flowers I cut from a magazine. 

The title is "Garden in april".

I filled the empty space around the flowers with my usual subjects: nature, flowers, little animals I like, weather conditions... this is me! :)

There were endless possibilities to complete the scene with (an altar in a church, a windows, a grave...), but my brain suggested to speak about gardening.

 

Have you ever tried this method before?

Feel free to write me in the comments about your experience and share your works of art with me!

Postage stamps: a light in the dark

Some days ago S. came back home from the office with an envelope of postage stamps for me, like he did last december.

I haven't found amazing works of art on them, this time. Most of them are a bit boring and traditional, nothing really new.

But a stamp captured my attention. This one from Austria:

 

 

Since I like ancient buildings (like churches), rural landscapes and special light effects ... it was love at first sight! :)

But there is also a different reason why this postage stamp fascinates me: its drawing shows a warm and spreading light in the dark, a thing I tried to draw in one of my faux postage stamps last January (but I explored the light of a candle).

 

 

The same theme, realized in two different ways in two postage stamps (one real, one faux). Isn't it funny?

 

Another stamp I like in this bunch is dedicated to International Women's day.

Doing my drawing homeworks: hedgehogs and paisley motif

Sometimes S. and I watch tv shows or movies after dinner. If I'm not too tired and have some energies to spend in something creative, I open my moleskine journal and start to draw.

I watch tv through rapid glances and by listening the sound, eh eh.

You probably know that women can do two (and more) things at the same time.

 

Recently, instead of drawing usual things (for me: pastage stamps, flowers, imaginary landascapes, birds and snails), I started to work around themes I like.

Subjects that fascinate me but I have difficults with. A bit challenging but relaxing. It seems like I'm doing drawing homeworks :)

"Draw a house ten times", the teacher in me says. And I do it!

 

Last week I spent almost an hour drawing hedgehogs:

 

 

These little creatures are so lovely!

They are very common in Europe; when I was a child dad captured one in our garden (and he gave it freedom after showing us).

I titled this drawing "Il prato dei porcospini" (hedgehogs' lawn).

 

Yesterday, while watching "Letters to Juliet", I challenged myself with paisley motif:

 

I have a fatal attraction for paisley. Don't ask me why.
My idea is to draw by myself an embroidery pattern to use on new accessories, but I'm not satisfied by my drawings.

I numbered them and my favourite are number 4 and 6, but I'm not sure if they have the right look to be embroidered. They have probably too much details and haven't the indian/oriental look that it is supposed to be "a must" in this kind of motivs.
Uhm, what do you think?
Suggestions are welcome.

In the photo you can see my favourite drawing pen at the moment.
Green+black, a recent love! :)

Happy mail recently!

Nothing warms up a day like happy things in the mailbox! :)

Expecially when you're very far from home, like me, and an envelope is from your beloved aunt!

And when you have a special passion for indie-publishing and in the second envelope there is one of your favourite art zines!

 

 

AuntFran's envelope

Guess what AuntFran sent me?

Some crafty things, of course! You probably know that she is my partner-in-crime in my crafty adventures and she is a super talented knitter and crocheter (uhm... does this word exist? Not sure at all).

She surprized me with an envelope filled with 20 crocheted bracelets and 8 pairs of crocheted earrings *____*

 

She made them for my shop, but I can keep my favourite for me, of course.

So this one is my new lilac bracelet:

 

 

Lovely!

I also like the navy blue bracelet, the dark blue earrings and the lilac earrings; probably I'll add them to my (little) collection of handmade jewellery:

 

 

After some problems with the photos (bad light!!!), I listed three bracelets in my shop: one is pale pink, one is dark blue, one is canary yellow.

 

 

 

My aunt is a special woman. I'm so happy to have her in my life :)

 

The zine

In the second envelope I found a zine I ordered some days ago from Sprouthead shop: 'Minutiae n. 3 - Cicada song'.

This isn't the first time I buy Aijung Kim's zines, but I have all the issues of 'Minutiae' and other zines (here what I ordered last december).

I like her style in drawing and the simple content (about daily life and finding joy in small things).

In this zine there's something different from the past issues: she started to use a typewriter for some pages, and the fonts make a beautiful mix with the handwritten parts.

There's also something new in her images, like the use of tiny line drawing not only to make shadows or filling the shapes, but also to define the contours (a thing that really impressed me):

 

 

I found in the envelope also two little gifts: another sheet of faux postage stamps and a card of Aijung Kim's big project "The golden moth illumination deck".

Very good shopping experience and nice reading moments for me! :)

 

 

 

 

Draw what you read - some summer readings

Do you know "Draw what you read" Flickr group?

You can add drawings of the books you are reading or you have at home.

I've already written that I find this idea absoutely lovely!

 

I've just uploaded three photos of the covers of some of the book I read this summer.

 

"Auntie Mame" by P. Dennis, a book I found boring!

I know it is considered a sort of masterpiece in the USA and it is appreciated by a lot of people all over the world, but, uhm, not by me.

It disappointed me a bit, but I decided to draw its cover the same:

 

 

"Le grand Meaulnes" by Alain Fournier:

 

 

It's a fascinating novel and I loved it, although I'm not sure if I've really understood it or not. The curious thing is that I found it in the pages of another book, "Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter" by Simone de Beauvoir:

 

 

My Moleskine notebook's pages are full of black&white things right now.

I haven't written too much recently, but I filled some pages with black ink drawings. I'm sharing it in next posts I decided to title "Horror vacui" and "Obsessed by alphabets". So stay tuned, if you're interested!

 

This summer I read other books I haven't draw. One of my favourite has been the short novel "Il taglio del bosco" by the italian writer Carlo Cassola.

Fun on the beach - Making art with pebbles

Hallo!

I'm finally at home after a week of holidays in a beautiful little town on the northern coast of Sicily (and this is the reason why I haven't posted a word recently).
S. and I shared an apartment with two friends, like last year.

We spent a lot of time on the beach, where big and little pebbles caught my attention and opened new ways for our creativity.

All started with me drawing portraits (of S. and our fiends) on tiny and flats rocks:

I inspired our friends to do the same, but they liked best to caricature:

And later we discovered that nail polish is amazing on the rough surface of pebbles, expecially for abstract art:

I have this painted pebbles on my bedside table now, it's my new talisman :)

If you are on a beach covered by little stones and want to make art, but you have no tools... you can follow a prehistoric way, like S. did:

Graffitis are an evergreen :)

This isn't the first time I look at art on stones.
I had big projects last year about a serie of landscapes painted on sea stones, but I gave up.
I'm still inspired by other works of art on this unconventional medium, like...
... these nautical fridge magnets
... these amazing alphabet (oh, I'm obsessed by alphabets!)
... mum's nativity (not posted yet), but beautiful like other nativities she made (here a similar one a find on Etsy)
... little buildings, like this
... all sabina's portraits of young ladies, like these (so beautiful!)

Portrait of a bear (Mr Buh)

In this photo you can see Mr Buh happily contemplating his portrait in my new moleskine plain notebook.

I drew it late in the night some days ago, while watching Mr Buh sleeping in its basket on my bedside table.

I think my little friend likes the portrait :)

I really like black&white drawings. I

I pondered if add or not some colors to this one, but I like it as it is now, black ink on white paper :)

Starting a new (and bigger!) Moleskine

I finally finished to write in my third moleskine journal.

I wrote, drew and glued a lot of thing on its pages and, new thing to me, on the cover, too. I adorned it with a sticker with my initial (given to me by a lovely little girl), a dottet tape (part of the packaging of the Xmas present by Alice) and a tiny scrap of fabric I really like. Uh, yes, and I added a dragonfly (one of my favourite animals) to the bookmark.

This moleskine journal stayed with me from March 2011 to April 2012.

I used it a lot not only to write about my days, bu also to test my handmade stamps (those with the shape of a postage stamp, Dala Horses and others) and the draw (here my favourite page, but I really like also the portait of Erasmo the crocodile).

So I finished it and it's the time to use The Little Prince Moleskine I bought last Year in may. So beautiful, so new and... so big!

I decided to go a bit over my habits and my taste for small things to try to write (and draw and glue) on a bigger surface. I wanted to evolve my style and learn something new.

So I abandoned my usual pocket size for the regular size. And I like!!! :)

Another new thing to me is that this journal hasn't my beloved squared, but it's plain. My journaling is becoming more visual day after day, and the lines started to bother me.

I've already written 4 pages, tested a new stamp (a post is coming), glued the paper of my new organic soap and the paper of a Yogi Tea filter with the quote "To know others is smart. To know yourself is wise". Do you agree?

:)

Imaginary worlds part III

Do you remember my previous imaginary worlds?
If not, here the first (my favourite) and here the second :)
I had a third prepared background, ready to be filled with black ink. I started, but I had some difficulties. Excited by the firts two drawings I decided to realize something more difficult. And I got stuck soon. Uhm :(
I tried to draw a landscape full of buildings of different styles and I noticed I have some difficulties in drawing this kind of things.
Well, I finished the page a couple of days ago.
Let me know what do you think about it, if you like it or not. And why.
Your opinions are important for me to get better! :)

Imaginary worlds part II

Today I want to show you the second imaginary world I've drawn last saturday evening, as promised yesterday.

This is the page without drawings:

I used two of my favourite colors, green and light blue, to make a delicate striped background.

Then I added drawing, made with black staedtler drawing-pen, as usual. I had a lot of fun with it, because it's a two-sides landscape. You can watch it starting from the top, the zone with mountains...

...or from the bottom, when you'll find the sea and some old buildings:

I can't decide which direction I like best.

S. appreciates the second. And you?

Now I'm working on a similar background, but in different colors (purple and darker blue).



Imaginary worlds

In my last post I wrote about the strong need to drawing I was feeling during the week, without having the time to satisfy it.

Well, yesterday something changed. My fiancè had a high temperature and all our projects for the weekend stopped. While sitting near S. in bed to help him, I decided to draw.

I had no idea about what to draw. I simply started coloring three pages in my moleskine watercolor journal with watercolor pencils. Then I started to work, following what my imagination was suggesting me, line after line.

I worked on two pages: I realized two landscapes of imaginary worlds.

This is the first one, before...

... and after!

An imaginary world where you can find a lot of my favourite things: birds, clouds, flowers, butterflies&dragonflies, funny animals like sheeps and rabbits, water, the moon and buildings with strange roofs.

I like how some parts came out.

I'm particularly proud of the sheeps:

And the moon, too!

After this landscape I made the second one (I'll write a post about it tomorrow), but I was too tired to finish also the third page I had prepared.

After about two hours of intense and meticolous drawing I experimented a strange and positive sensation: my brain was lighter.

I feel like I've opened the windows of my brain and, drawing, moved away dirty thoughts to enter clean air!

It's something I haven't experimented before. I'm understanding that I probably need to express myself with drawings more than I've imagined in the past.

Drawing probably is not only a funny activity, but a healthy practice for my brain and soul.

Can you understand me? Did you feel something like this practicing art?

I made other patchwork bracelets. And something about me.

A busy week!

I had no time for big craft projects, but I intensively felt the need to create something. So I dedicated myself to some patchwork wrap bracelets: easy and fast to make, funny, colorful. Great satisfaction in a bite of time!

Bracelets making can become a bit addictive. Yes.

I have so many fabric scraps to use, so lovely, that I can't resist! And if you are a crafter I'm sure you understand me!

The patchwork bracelets I made are:

- two with flowers for a friend who ordered them from me (she picked some fabrics thanks to some photos - here, here and here - and the charms, too! 100% personalized!)

- one for the shop, beacause it became empty of bracelets last sunday after selling this and this. It's a romantic pink&white bracelet with roses;  charms are a crown, a little hand with the word "handmade" and a dragonfly. Not in the shop yet, but I think I'll have the time to list it today.

Opinions?

Let me add something not-bracelets-related.

It's a sunny morning, after two terrible days of rain (with flooding and blocked roads). I'm so happy! Washing machine is working hard this morning and I'm going to clean the house and let the sun come in! :)

In these days I felt a special desire to drawing. I don't know why, it's the first time for me that I feel it in a so strong way. Probably I have something to say and express with drawings. But I had the time only to make two of my faux postage stamps :(

Last sunday I started the day in a very special way: I read the blog post Pam wrote about me! Me! I'm so honoured! Pam's appreciation fills my heart with joy! Thank you, Pam!!! You are a lovely person and I hope you'll permit me to call you "my friend Pam", though we haven't known in person yet.

Two new (to me) zines by Aijung Kim

Last week I received a lovely envelope from USA; inside I found two zines I've ordered from Sprouthead, a lovely Etsy shop managed by Aijung Kim.

They are "Minutiae n. 1" and "We carry each other".

Both lovely, well printed on strong paper, full of author's poetic style.

My favourite is "We carry each other", an illustrated poem about love and reciprocity. Though I'm not an ardent reader of poetry (I like best novels) and reading it in a language different from italian is difficult for me, I really appreciated the message of the poem.

But most of all I felt in love with drawings... so sensitiv, connected with the words, strong in their deep black, rich in their meaning!

This is my favourite page:

I also like Aijung Kim's attention for little details, as you can see (to make only one example) here:

"Minutiae n. 1" is a bit different, being a sort of visual diary of some summer days in Portland. I've read "Minutiae n. 2" last november and they are similar.

Reading them, you can take a peek into another life, another sensibility and a different way of watching life. Nothing too much serious or important, but inspiring :)

Look at this page, isn't it lovely?

Together with the zines I received a little gift, a card with some drawings of... faux postage stamps!!! *__*

You know how I love to draw little stamps (and how I've become a bit obsessed). This card made me jump for a happy surprise, it's a great gift for me! :)

And I'm so lucky that the real stamps on the envelope aren't stamped, so I can remove them to collect them somewhere, probably in my moleskine.

Which color autumn is? Watercolors in my moleskine :)

Sometimes I draw and paint, too!

Though my creative life is mostly absorbed by sewing and related things, you know, I like to draw. I usually fill my moleskine journals with black&white sketches, but sometimes I add colors, expecially when I make art on my moleskine watercolor journal, where I usually color my drawing with watercolor pencils.

I spent some autumn evenings on it, working on a (probably too much traditional, or too much odd, I don't know) page:

It's a page dedicated to some gifts autumn gives us.

Colored gift. I drew fruits and other vegetables that, day after day, came into my home, often given by friends and relatives that have grown them in their garden or picked up in wild nature around us.

Beside each fruit I wrote its italian name with the same black ink I've used for the contours and in the centre the sentence "Which color autumn is?".

Drawing and coloring this page made me reflect about how colors in nature are "seasonal". A lot of orange, yellow and brown in autumnal fruits! Probably they are the colors of this season. And spring? Pink like roses and red like strawberries and cherries! And winter? And summer?

:)

I haven't thought to seasons in this way before working on this page and this is why I like drawing: it always teaches something about the things you are working around.

My favourite images are the apple and the white grapes, though they aren't my favourite fruits.

Now I want to work to other thematic pages, not necessarily dedicated to seasons. Why not a page about Christmas decorations? Or instruments I have at home (guitars, piano, harmonica, ukulele... my brother and I play a lot of instruments!)? Or vintage jewels?

Suggestions?

New books in my wishlist

I love books and my wishlist is always full.

Though I have less time to read now that I live here with S. (and I have to solve this problem soon, because I really miss my reading routine), I always need to buy books. Probably I'll make myself a gift for Christmas, why not?

These are books I'm in love with now; they are books about creativity and sewing.

- The fabric selector, by Dana Willard

- Raw Art journaling, by Quinn McDonald

- Miss Scarlet's school of patternless sewing, by Cathy Cano-Murillo

- Regina's closet, by Diana Raab

- Sewing bits and pieces, by Sandi Henderson

Well, in my mind there are some good novels, too, but I'm looking for them in the library.

Have a good weekend, dear readers!

In my plans for saturday and sunday there are... a lunch with a couple of friends, an elegant birthday party, some sewing, washing and ironing some new fabrics I bought yesterday.

And you?

Any suggestions about lovely crafty books to read?