Book Review: Craft-a-Doodle by Jenny Doh

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Do you Doodle? Or wish you did? In today’s post I will be reviewing; Craft-a-Doodle by Jenny Doh. If the winter blues are getting you down, or your life stresses you out, you need this book.

Craft-a-Doodle by Jenny Doh

• Title: Craft-a-Doodle
• Author: Jenny Doh
• Publisher: Lark Crafts
• ISBN: 978-1-4547-0422-5
• RRP: £12.99 at time of writting

My Reason for Buying

Growing up I used to doodle quite a lot, but gave it up for no particular reason. Lately Doodling has become the latest craze and since I used to love it so much, I wanted to see what other artists doodle.

I tell you this as often a review is based on how well the book lived up to the expectations of its reader, for their purpose ;)

Contents

This book brings together a number of artists and has tutorials/doodle prompts for each of them. The artists included in the book are;

• Cori Dantini
• Gemma Correll
• Carla Sonheim
• Flora Chang
• Corinne Dean
• Dawn Devries Sokol
• Jessie Oleson Moore
• Dinara Mirtalipova
• Julie ArmbrusterStephanie Kubo
• Cynthia Shaffer
• Aimee Ray
• Teressa McFayden
• Hanna Anderson
• Mafalda Laezza
• Pamela Keravuori
• Jennifer Taylor
• Teesa Moore

Pros/Cons

Pros

• Good clear font used throughout the book
• Most of the text is NOT on patterned or textured background, some is in red ink but not too much and some is on coloured panels but the background isn’t mottled so that helps.
• Lots of different style brought together in one publication
• At the back of the book is a paragraph about each artist included in the main book
• Links to artists websites/blogs are in the back of the book
• Details of materials used by each artist are included with the tutorials

Cons

Haven’t got any

Value for Money

Excellent, covers a lot of different styles in one book

Would I buy it Again?

Totally

Summing up

You know when you were a kid and saw someone drawing something cool, if you were lucky they would teach you how to do it, then you went off and made it your own.. This book is like that. I like that there are different styles in the book, I didn’t love them all but found lots that I did. I like that there are lists of websites in the book so if you fall in love with a style you can visit the artists site and find out more.

You don’t need much to doodle, if you have a sheet of printer paper and a biro you can doodle. Just bring an open mind and your favorite brew and this book will inspire you to get back to doodling and all the fun and relaxation that it brings. You can get pretty with it with coloured pens and pencils or paints of your choice if you like, but whatever you do, its a lot of fun and will bring a smile to your face. Who doesn’t need that from time to time?

Go get this book, its excellent, you need it. ;)

Links

Craft-a-Doodle on Amazon

Jenny Doh; Blog

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie :)

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Stash Dive February 2014

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Well we got through the dark days of January and here we are in February. Time for a new stash dive. This month I’m going for some colour to brighten up a gloomy time of year. Lets have some drawing fun and have a go with doodles. Dig out some coloured pens and pencils and chill out with some creative scribbling.

Art and doodling great stash dive for Feb 2014

How about you, do you doodle? Its very relaxing, as a lot of the time you aren’t too focused on where the design is going, just scribble away till you get some thing you like. I used to doodle a lot in my teens but gradually gave it up. When I saw Jenny Doh’s book it inspired me to have another go.

Will you be joining me for some arty fun this month?  Do you doodle? I’d love to hear what you like to draw the most. Don’t let the gloomy weather get you down, why not choose your own colour for your day and wear something bright that makes you happy or create a project with a happy colour.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie :)

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Paisley Doodle

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Today I’d like to share another doodle I have drawn.

Paisley Doodle inspired by Shoo Rayner tutorial

This one was created after watching a Shoo Rayner tutorial on You Tube. I used Faber-Castell Pitt pens for the outline and their Polychromos pencils for the colouring.

Links

If you are new to the world of doodling and want to learn how to draw a paisley shape check out Shoo Rayners tutorial and channel on You Tube.

• How to draw a Paisley Pattern
• Shoobeedoodling Shoo Rayners Doodling channel on You Tube

Really enjoying doodling, just turn of your brain and let the line go for a walk. I leave the design uncoloured and go back to it another day when I don’t have inspiration to draw but want to colour in. A win win really :)

Do give doodling a try, you only need a little notebook and any pen you have to hand,  great for waiting rooms or long commutes.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie :)

Thank goodness for the awesome light DH bought in the Amazon sale, the natural light is far too low to photograph without it.

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Paisley Doodle Page

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Today I’d like to share a doodle page I created over the holidays.

Paisley Doodle Page

I was playing with the teardrop shape of the paisley and noticed that it reminded me of the shape of a bird. The materials I used were;

• Daler Rowney Sketch book
• Pens: Stablio; Point 88 (0.4 mm),  Staedtler; Triplus colour 1.0mm
• Pencils: Faber-Castell; Polychromos (set of 12)

The Triplus pens were very comfortable in the hand as they are triangle section. I struggled a bit with the Polychromos as I’ve found in the past you need to press quite firmly to get good coverage, which my stiff hands didn’t like at all. This time on the DR paper they went on with very little pressure and felt quite velvety smooth. They tempted me into splurging in a set of 36 in Amazon sale.

Links

Have a nosey round You Tube there are lots of doodling tutorials. I just used a teardrop sort of shape with a bit of a curve for my paisley shape.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie :)

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Art Journal Page; Hope

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They often say that art imitates life don’t they? Well unintentionally the exact thing happened when I painted this.

Art Journal Page; Hope

PIC

It started out as a play with texture paste, and my favorite colours of blues and paynes grey which is a lovely grey with blue tones in it. I added layers of paste, and colours and the finished piece was definitely an experimental journey rather than a planned trip! The last 4 years have been tough and this year I’ve been feeling pretty low thanks to having a lot of pain and little use of my hands to take my mind off things. This piece was  one of the early pieces I created, when I finally had enough use of my hands for my first afternoon in the studio this year.

I liked the look the texture pasted gave and just added some quinacridone Nickel azo gold to highlight it. With the ‘layer love’ style of layers of paint and drips, the finished piece reminded me of a phrase, ‘The light at the end of the tunnel.’ I’ve put a second picture in as its so hard to get the real colours of the piece to show in photographs.

Art Journal Page; Hope

Who knows how much use of my hands I’ll get back, will I ever be pain free? Its not looking likely any time soon but when the going gets tough I can look at this piece and remind myself that there are better days too, sometimes I get to play, if only for a short time.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie :)

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Mixed media Art: Beneath

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Today I’d like to share an experimental piece of mixed media art. If any of you are following me on Twitter or are members of the UK Stampers forum, you will know I’ve been very tempted by a Geli Plate but not having the funds to buy one I’ve been trying alternative ways to create a similar effect.

Mixed Media art: ‘Beneath’

To try to replicate the geli plate I put some thick funky foam under my craft mat, spread on acrylic paint to the mat using a brayer, then pounced on it with bubble wrap. I pressed the piece of card that had a layer of acrylic paint on it, the result was very faint but now my brayer had a layer of dried acrylic paint on it was giving a lovely textured finish.

I applied more paint to the craft sheet, removing the mat, it hadn’t achieved what I’d hoped. Love the ripple look the brayer now gives and using paint still on the sheet I pounced onto that with the bubble wrap to pick up paint. Love the texture that gave too.

Call me converted. I love acrylic paint + brayers :) :) :) MUCH fun. A word of warning for the folks that like to keep stuff clean, this will leave paint on the brayer that dries. If you like using your brayer with ink, get a separate one for paint, as it won’t be the same again.  So far I haven’t tried removing the paint on the brayer, I’m enjoying the textures its creating. If it gets too clunked up and I feel the need to clean it, I’ll let you know how I do so. (OM Days did I really just say that! Yes I am a card carrying ‘won’t use Stayz on coz I can’t get it off the stamps and I’m happy not cleaning my brayer!!!!!)

If you haven’t tried it yet, rush over to Joanna Sheen who has brayers for great prices, grab a craft sheet ( I use the  Magic Non Stick liners from Lakeland) and give this a go, its so much fun. Like the geli you can’t ‘control’ it too much but that’s all part of the excitement.

Have fun playing, hope you give this a try.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie :)

PS: As you probably guessed, I am saving for a geli plate ;)

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Craft Room Roundup

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Got a bit behind with posting, the pollen count has gone mad here, so much so that you could write your name in the pollen on the cars! Fogging my brain big time.

Time for a quick round up of whats been happening at Billie’s Craft Room

• The Craft Room Clear up

Over the last month I’ve been having a real blitz on the craft room. It has needed doing for a couple of years, now the weather has warmed up and I can move at bit, I’ve been tackling a small amount at a time and have been getting on very well. Went through boxes and anything in the wrong place got pulled out. Had a life laundry where only kept stuff I loved, or needed. From that selection it got separated into Materials, Tools, Surfaces, Finished objects. Now I’m in the last stage of sorting through those boxes to re-home ie-put back where they should be, anything in those boxes.

It has taken ages, you do need the space to make more mess before it gets better but it has been so worth it. I found my BELLS!!!! Having decided to put bells on my Cable keys for interchangeable needles I promptly lost said bells! Irony eh! but they are back in the room and back in the drawer where they live.

• Art

Ok between sorting out, so I know where stuff is and hay-fever I haven’t had the energy or brain power to actually create anything arty at the mo. I’m hoping that once I’ve finished the clear out, I’ll have surfaces and know where things are so I’ll want to get painty again. Found some ATC sized card I cut ages ago, so that sounds like a good place to start when I get going.

• Yarn

Have new pattern, the last one I gave up on. Being newish to knitting and with the dyslexia I find it hard to work out what the instructions are asking me to do. So when I get a pattern I write it out in longhand, each new instruction seperated so I recognise it and know what I’m doing. People say its nuts but it works for me, so its worth it to me. Well on this occasion I’m even more glad I do this, as a third of the way through the instructions had error in them that I couldn’t work out. A pain after all that writing but far better than discovering this after months of knitting!

So started with a new pattern, no more details I don’t wanna hex it. Will give you the full story when its done ;) {tease much!}

Got very excited with a new crochet magazine called Simply Crochet. Bought issue 4 as it had some nice projects and I needed a shawl pin after creating all those shawls. Its really good, home stuff, mandalas, garments/accessories, toys so something for everyone and at the back there are how to tutorials so you can get started right away.

Issue 5 of Simply crochet has features on Granny Square, ohhh love them, love mandalas. The good thing about crochet is as long as you know where you are in the pattern you can stop anytime :) Probably not the ideal way to do it, but when your hands lock up, at least it means you don’t have to battle on to the end of a long row ;)

I’m very boggled by the instructions in the magazine tho, its the brackets that are throwing me. Anyone else got this magazine? Followed the link to one of the designers blogs OMG such pretty things!!!

• Textiles

After getting very excited watching the Great British Sewing Bee, I bought some patterns when Simplicity had a half price offer. Hoping to make a skirt! Another one I can’t say too much about for fear of jinxing it, but will shout when I get stuck ;)

Invested in a small amount of pattern drafting paper so I can either trace the pattern I have so I can make alterations to it without wrecking the original, since I don’t know what I’m doing yet. Also hope to have a go at finally drafting my own pattern. I love my book Sew What skirts and have fabric, thread and elastic good to go, just needed paper big enough to create a pattern onto. WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spent yesterday going through some books with the Brother (BM2600) in front of me. Made button holes, a casing for elastic (which I’ll need for on of  my skirts).

Talking of The Great British Sewing Bee, after a good look at the book IRL, I bought the sewing bee book from Amazon for £10, I’m happy with it for that price but there are a lot of very valid issues readers have brought up on Amazon about the book, which I agree with. Will review it, once I’ve had a better look through.

Ohh eck! Its a bit of an essay without pictures isn’t it. I have pictures but none that were sorted for the blog, so thought it best to just let you know whats happening.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie :)

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