WILD [my word of the year 2017]

Hi everyone!

Yes, I'm still alive!

Very very busy at the moment, but full of strenght and ready to start the new year with good energy!

In these first days of 2017 I dedicated part of my free time to find my word of the year 2017.

A lot of people in the world are doing it and I find it very inspirational for my daily life, my job and my creative journey.

I followed the (free!) course by Susannah Conway. 

It's a 5 days path, full of ideas and good advices to find the right word.

To be honest, I was so busy (for my jobs) that I needed 10 days to complete the course. At day 3 I started to feel a bit confused, because a big amount of words was rolling here and there in my brain.

But at day 4... an epiphany! 
I was 100% sure about my word for 2017.

My word of the year 2017 is WILD!

I started to brainstorm in the last pages of my Moleskine journal the meaning of "wild" (to me, of course). 

I wrote in italian, but I'd like to translate something for you.

WILD means:

- to be close to nature, animals and plants

- to be in contact with instinct and inner energies

- to live a simple and basic life

- to live respecting nature's rules and the cicle of seasons

- courage

- defense of territory

- to explore

- to take care of the nest

- to avoid all is artefact and empty social convention

- to take care of the herd

- cold, hot, hunger, dirt

- green, brown, blue

- freedom

- to roar, to howl, to purr

- to go hunting

- to leave footprints

Oh, it's so inspiring and full of meaning to me!!!

There's in this list something in common to being a little fox, but something more, too!

And now?

How to bring the word of the year into real life?

The first thing I've done is this little painted pebble:

I've decorated it with a black marker and nail polish in different colours (+ transparent to finish the surface).

Now it's into my wallet, among coins.

I use coins everyday, expecially to buy fresh bread (you know, I'm italian).

So I'm sure to have a lot of opportunities to see this little pebble and my word! I think it's a good idea to remember it during busy day, when you start to be a bit "disconnected".

I'd like to find other creative ways to have my word with me. Are you interested? I could write a post about them (next week).

In the meantime you can look for the hashtag #woty2017 to discover something about other people' word of the year and their ways to make them live into their daily life.

I'd like to know if you have a word of the year for 2017 or not. 

Share it with me in the comments!

Any suggestions for my next post?

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.

Taking photos on the beach + new items in the shop

The beach isn't only a good place to make art, but the special light we have there in the late afternoon, when the sun is almost gone, can be perfect to take photos.

In my last trip to the beach (looking to Mount Etna on the left and Ionian Sea on the right) I photographed the last thing I made for my shop: a tiny coin purse.

I like to take photos of my items outdoor. 

I get better images than indoor, because the light is more clear and "clean" and spreads gently all around the object. 
Of course I'm writing about the light you have in the shade or when the sky is cloudy; you will have very ugly photos (in my opinion) if you take photos under the burning sun.

I like so much the light and the sharpness I get in my outdoor photos that I started to bring my handmade items in the country, in the garden and even to the beach hoping to capture a good image of them.

And sometimes I'm very pleased by the result, expecially when I find a beautiful and rustic background like in this photo and in this one.

About taking photos of my new coin purse... I'm not 100% satisfied. 

Although the light was just perfect (clouds!), the color of the sand and the stones was too much similar to to beige cotton of the purse. 

So I went on using the sky and the sea as background: they give an interesting contrast, but these kind of photos aren't the best choice to be published on Etsy and be included into treasuries (although some buyers use beach photos: this is lovely).

But, since I have no time to take photos again, I uploaded them the same in my item's page.

It's a little coin purse I made sewing together by hands two of the granny squares I crocheted last summer (of course I've been inspired by my mp3 readers' case, always with me in my bag).

I added a beige lining (cotton fabric) and a zipper.

I've also added a new embroidered moleskine cover in the shop some days ago:

Photos taken indoor this time.

This cover is one of my favourite pieces in the shop now. I've experimented with monocromatic embroidery for the first time and I love it!

Flowers are a very common subject of my drawing and my embroidery and, as usual, I realized these without a pre-traced pattern on the fabric. The embroidery is improvized at the moment. This is my favourite way to embroider: I simply "draw" with needles and threads.

I'm selling this cover with its journal inside:

So these are the news about my shop. But I'm going to leave my home to spend the holidays at mum's home, so I think I have to set the shop in vacation mode for a while.

Time for...

May, time for...

... snuggles!

... new flowers to enjoy

... new fabrics bought at the outdoor market: plain jersey (white, blue/violet, aqua, dusty blue) for my clothes (only 6 € for the whole pile!), strong cotton for table-clothes which will be lovely in my kitchen!

... sewing another striped t-shirt for me, with this 3/4 sleeves this time! I've finished it today and I can't wait to show you how it came out!

... fresh fruits, typicall of this period of the year: cherries and white mulberries! So yummy!

... cutting magazines and pasting beautiful images in my moleskine journal + saving other images in my yellow envelope of future collages (I haven't made collages recently, but I'm still interested in this form of art).

HAPPY MAY!!!

Using my stamps: handmade stickers

I'm in love with carving stamps with my hands.

I love the idea of making little tools which allow you to repeat your "works of art" without limits. 

But, to be honest, I rarely use my stamps in very creative ways. I used to decorate pages and envelopes with them and anything else.

This happened till last wednesday, when a simple but funny idea knocked to my brain: stickers made with my stamps! 
Uh, sounds good!

I picked up some ready adhesive labels (not sure about their name in english) and started to decorate them with my stamps.

Then I cut around them with my scissors and ... ta-daaah!!! I got cute and unique stickers! :)

A very easy and quick project to fill some minutes with!

I want to use my stickers to close envelopes and decorate cards. 
I made some foxes, swordfishes, leaves, birds, stars and red hearts. But I also have other animals (+ a dino!) to play with in the future.

As usual I tested the final product on my moleskine journal, adding also the date with the date stamp S. gave me last october:

This experiment gave me some happy moments and now I'm looking for other creative ways to use hand-carved stamps.

If you have some suggestions, please, leave a comment!

[Sorry for the bad quality of the photos in this post. Artificial light doesn't help!]

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.

02 OTT. 2013

02 OTT. 2013... this is what my new stamp says today!

 

 

Yes, another post about tools, after yesterday post. It's to thank S. for giving me this (totally unexpected) lovely gift :)
 

I'm so happy to have it to "write" the date into my moleskine everytime I want!
I've tested it today, early in the morning, before starting to write down some interesting notes from a book I'm reading these days.
Good way to start a day! A warm and sunny october day :)

And, together with my new stamp, I want to let you look into my moleskine's page and on my desk.

The page was white, but now, after an intense writing session, it's full of black&green words:

I often glue images I like (from magazines, etc.) on the pages, because I like to decorate the space when I write, expecially when these images say something to me.
I'm gluing a lot of birds recently, because I decided that birds are symbols of my dad for me (he was an expert of these little creatures).
I'm working a bit about this symbol, now, drawing and making collages. Believe it or no, I've almost finished a bag with birds! :)

On the desk I also have an interesting book about Palermo's churches (for study) and a pink flower my little niece gave to me as a gift (it is my new book mark).

What is on your desk today?
Have you some new tools you want to share with me?

Summer sales!

You already know (by my previous posts) that I'm on holiday!

I'm enjoying 10 lovely days at my parents' home, reading (Ken Follett's Fall of giants, because I love big books), crocheting, working on other Xmas ornaments in cornstarch clay, studying plants and sleeping :)

 

I'm trying to stay productive around my neglected shop, too.

AuntFran is making new crocheted pouches for it (I will be ready to upload them in the shops in 2-3 days, maybe!) and I'm refreshing photos, tags and so on.

 

I decided it's the right period for summer sales, too!

I'm offering some items with 20% discount; you can find them in 'Clearance sale' section (the price has been already changed, so buyers haven't to apply any coupon code... easier!).

 

They are:

 

1) Salmon and brown crossobody bag:

 

 

Discounted price: 21,60 €.

(here a blog post about it)

 

2) Elizabeth the giraffe:

 

 

Discounted price: only 8 €.

(she will celebrate her 2nd birthday next july!)

 

3) This moleskine cover (+notebook):

 

 



Discounted price: 12,80 €.

 

4) Camel and brown pouch:

 

 

Discounted price: 12,80 €.

 

5) Metallic pouch with chain strap, crocheted by AuntFran:

 

 

 

Discounted price: 20,80 €.

 

6) Shoulder bag with recycled lining:

 

 

Discounted price: 20 €.

 

The reasons why I'm offering them with a reduced price is that I want to make space for new bags/accessories I'm working on this summer.

I need clear space, I hope someone will help me buying something, eh eh :)

 

And now... it's time for another chapter of "Fall of giants"!

 

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!

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! :)

What is it? A collage?

Two days ago there was a large space next to the kanelbullar's recipe in my moleskine pages. And it wasn't empty, but full of colors and images.

 

 

What is it? A collage?

No.

Two :D

 

 

After more than one year I jumped over my fear and I started to glue images on the page and I finished to make two collages.

The bug input went from that golden frame I found in a magazine. The original plan was to write into the empty space (I like to write into frames!), but it inspired me to create a sort of "paint" and a collage was born.

So natural and so exciting.

It's a new way to create images; you use images created by other people to create other images, a process so different from drawing (= you create images by yourself).
I found this creative process so "intriguing" :)

And less difficult than my previsions. Loved it!

Now I feel like I can't stop making collages. Eh, eh.

 

My mind is full of questions about these two collages I created this week. Have they a meaning? What are they speaking of? Have they to represent a subjet?Or not? Can I call them "collages" if they are simply a group of cut&glued paper without a precise pourpose?

But I don't want to torment myself. I simply want to experiment and make beautiful images for my journal. And learn new thing.

I have no artistic ambitions, I only want to enjoy creativity :)

How to damage a Moleskine notebook

I know a lot of people who buy Moleskine notebooks (or other beautiful and "precious" notebooks) and don't use them, because they don't want to damage their pages.

"You know" they say "This notebook is so lovely that I'm afraid to ruin it!".

Their beautiful notebooks sleep on bookshelves or into drawers, because their owner are waiting for the right occasion to use them. They are waiting "important" things to write into those white pages.

 

Well, I'm not this kind of person... I love to damage my moleskine :)

First because I paid a fair amount of money to buy them (they are a bit expensive) and letting a not-cheap thing unused is a waste of money, in my opinion.

Second because they are notebooks! They need your thoughts into the pages, they were born for this aim! They don't like to stay alone and silent into drawers. I don't want sad notebooks in my home.

Third because, hey, who said there is only one proper way (tidy and serious) to use them? I like to have fun with my notebooks and funny things, well, sometime are a bit dirty and mess and make some damages.

Almost two years ago I wrote that my way to use my moleskines was changing: I started to make more visual pages. And to irreparably damage my precious notebook :P

 

I glue into it all sorts of things:

 

 



In this pages we have...

... fabric scraps from finished sewing projects (there is a part of the dotted belly of Oscar the dog, and some back parts of my embroidered snowflakes)

... lovely things I received in the mail (on the left you can see a card sent by Aijung Kim and three of her faux postage stamps)

... printed patterns for my craft project (do you recognize Carina's embroidery pattern?)

... images I like, cut away from magazines

... papers with a special meaning to me (that dusty blue heart, my way to thank our captain Roberta)

Messy pages but so important and funny! They sum up my creative steps during 2012 autumn!

 

I've already said that I like to use Moleskine's pages also to text unfinished things, like my handcarved stamps. And I also like to decor them here and there with my not-perfect artsy things.

Last sunday I used ALL of my stamps on a page and I made a vibrant red+black mess:

 

Then I drew a sort of frame and started to write down some happy memories.

 

Some days ago I glued a beautiful image in the first page of the notebook (still white, because I don't like to write on the first page):

 

 

You know I like all things in small dimensions and that magazine page attracted my attention. A lot of lovely little things in it! This photo represents how I want my notebook to be: filled with little everyday things (who said they are not important or less important that big events?).

 

And this is how I damage my beautiful and expensive moleskine notebook.

I damage its pages filling it with unexpensive precious little things :)

Uh, and you can damage the cover, too! :)

Bedside table

 

On my bedside table today:
- my Moleskine journal (Le Petit Prince limited edition),

- Les misérable

- Elle

- an envelope with this zine inside

- Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

- handmade basket full of things, like artsy pebbles

- handmade doily (by AuntFran)

- a lamp

- my snowflakes ornaments just finished!

 

 

What is on your bedside table today?

Is there something that makes you happy like my ornaments make me?

Is there a sweet memory of a loved person?

An amazing book or a quiet place to write down your thoughts?

 

Please, tell 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.

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?

:)