July's Muse

July is a month for sunshine, heat and the seashore!
My Theme for July's Journal page is "Seashore".
I love watching children run and play and make sand castles - then create a moat because a wave intruded the castle grounds. We sail away, loving the wind in our faces.

We are glad to be Americans!

What is your July Muse? What do you wish for this month? Please share with us.

More - June Ponderings

Fabric book for Mom several years ago 

My Calendar Journal pages for June are taking shape. I have used 2 magazine pictures from my collection and found that they inspired several thoughts.

A word list includes: Friendship, sunshine, shadows, blossoms, fruit, lovely breezes bring coolness and fresh smells of nature around me.

The second picture is of women and children at the sea shore. These thoughts are the beginning of a poem:
*Shoreline play, chasing the waves
*Watching the never ending surf
*Running in the wet sand
*Wonderful seal smells
*Mommy's joy
*Precious memories

Monthly Muse - June's Ponderings

What should my Theme be for June? Birthdays? Vacation Trips? Family flying in for a Visit? I'm still pondering:)

Can you help me out? What are your ideas for June?

May wrapped up with our son's birthday, a few birding trips, and reading about how doodling facilitates right & left brain engagement for creativity! Wow - got to doodle!

More on handmade envelopes:

Larger envelopes can be made by using an old calendar or map pages for the cutout. I like the petal shaped designs.  See the following websites for the Petal Patterns:

https://www.thespruce.com/petal-envelope-template-2905167   

Or this one for Chia's 4"X4" design:

http://houseofstirfry.com/chia/templates/4x4env01.html



May's Muse

My Theme for May is Birdsong & Sunshine. Small pictures of colorful birds have been glued into my pages.
I am grateful for watercolor painting and I am searching for a mentor to develop my skills. I really want to paint looser with a wet into wet approach. If any of you can refer me to a great mentor, please comment below – Thanks.
My colors are yellow gold, sky blue, royal blue and red.

Now for envelope making.

Here are a couple of very rough patterns and a few links you might find useful: 

https://www.thespruce.com/simple-envelope-template-2905168

http://www.auntannie.com/Stationery/Envelope/

http://www.allcrafts.net/cards/envelopes.htm  

The Monthly Muse Catch Up

To Muse is to:
• To dream
• To ponder
• To reflect on - a song, a poem, a story, a life event
• To wonder, to marvel

So, The Monthly Muse was launched.

Let's do some catch up. 
Add magazine cut-outs of your favorite things to your monthly pages. The left side includes the title for the month, the theme, items I am grateful for, a word list, a color list, drawing ideas and two columns for notes.  The right side has a small calendar, cut from a full year calendar glued to one upper corner, two rectangle outlines for drawings surrounded by open area for ideas, notes, and things I want to remember such as special happenings that month.  Please share with us how you personalize and add to the page set-ups for your journal.

My January:
Theme: Beginnings, learning
Gratitude: Writing community, rain
Word List: Winter, cold, stormy, rain & snow - grateful for every drop.
Colors: Blue, white, green sprouts
Drawings: Sketch 365 challenge, leaves, tangles
Notes: craft plans, ideas, writing craft, work on design elements, time management

My February:
Theme: writing
Gratitude: for focus
Word List: wisdom, discernment, compassion, grace, love & kindness
Colors: pink/purple sunsets, grey-blue rainy skies
Drawings: practice illustrations for children's books, design notes & ideas, flowers
Notes: empower, leave toxic situations, find community

My March:
Theme: Spring is coming
Gratitude: New friends!
Word List: confidence, contribute, trust, solitude, journaling
Colors: green, pink, lavender
Drawings: finished one sketchbook and started another "Anything Goes" sketchbook, love watercolor best, consider giving away acrylics.
Notes: editing classes, finding where I fit is a life-long process, write one short story per month - join challenge, use photo images for story prompts more regularly.

It's time to gather our ideas for our May pages.  Have fun with it, maybe start by adding the set-up outline and pulling some magazine pics for inspiration like I do.

----------- next time -- making our envelopes for magazine cuttings -----------------

 

April 2017 - The Monthly Muse



Calendar Journal 2016

Spring is a season for new beginnings! 

So how about an artsy Calendar Journal?

 I have been considering several definitions for MUSE.  These are my favorites:
• To dream
• To ponder
• To reflect on a song, a poem, a story, a life event  
• To wonder, to marvel
So, The Monthly Muse began.


Here's the story: While browsing through craft books, I stumbled upon an idea for creating a monthly planner and making it artsy.  I used too many page as signatures for my 2016 book, resulting in several blanks I plan to go back to sometime.  I used watercolor paper, stitched binding, monthly tabs, and a fabric cover.



Calendar Journal 2017

For 2017, I reduced the page number by half and created my planner with a fabric cover that reminds me of my Mom.  I used fabric I had bleached with a design, beaded, and applied lace reminiscent of my mother’s generation. For the center stage, I used a pair of my mother’s dressy evening earrings. This time I used heavy stock paper not watercolor.  It can only handle a tiny bit of water.
 

Let me show you the interior set-up. The left side includes the title for the month, the theme, items I am grateful for, a word list, a color list, drawing ideas and two columns for notes.  The right side has a small calendar, cut from a full year calendar, glued to one upper corner, two rectangle outlines for drawings surrounded by open area for ideas, notes, and things I want to remember such as special happenings that month.



 My WIP April pages include:
Theme: Spring
Gratitude: Time in seasons, months, weeks and days, my writing group
Word List: Taxes, classes, trust
Color List: pink, green, sky blue
Drawings: leaves, sunflowers & poppies
Notes:  Do No Harm

Have a go and share what you chose to do.  It is perfectly OK to start your Calendar Journal in April!  It is your book. It’s wonderful whenever you start.   ------ some Jan/Feb/March catch up next time -----