Seasons Greetings

Welcome Back

Just popped into wish you all a Merry ‘whatever’ and may the season be as kind to you as possible. Please know its always OK to say NO especially if your health or sanity depends on it. The expectations of others are THEIRS, not a to do list….just saying.

Winter wishes, you choose your celebration.

To all those I forgot to send cards too ‘Sorry, brain fog’.

To all those I have lost contact with, I send you love, wish you well and hope the coming year is as kind to you as possible.

Thank you to everyone still reading this blog, even though it gets neglected. I have plans for some more videos, taking that You Tube channel in a new direction in the coming years. Expect Crystals and card decks and maybe some bullet journalling as I figure out ways to cope with high pain levels, anxiety and depression etc.

I started a new blog for the crystals and card deck stuff its called The Willow Tree Retreat, I had hoped it could have the same layout as this one but this theme has been retired now and I need to spend more time tidying it up and adding more stuff but its a work in progress and like this one, dependant on health limitations but I’m doing the best that I can, like all of us.

Links

The Willow Tree Retreat

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you when I can

Billie x

Read Full Post »

Bookmarks for Filofaxes

Welcome Back

Today I’d like to share a picture of some bookmarks I created to quickly get to the pages of interest in my Filofax.

Page/Chapter markers for your filo fax. Hand drawn design.

Items used

• Zig Art & Graphic Markers.
• 160 GSM cardstock
• Faber-Castell Pit Artist Pens

When you are designing bookmarks, it is important to be aware of how permanent or not your ink is. Lovely though they are, these Zig Art & Graphic markers are water based and will reactivate if they come in contact with moisture. For that reason I’ve only used them in the lower sections of the bookmark, not the areas you would ‘grab’ so the ink doesn’t spoil on your hands or book. TBH they are fine for this Filofax as the pages they are in contact with are replaceable but if you are making these for reading style books then make sure you use an ink that will not reactivate.

Pitt Artist Pens are waterproof once dry so they are perfect for this project and for using on the tabs, where they will get most use and handling.

Let me know in the comments if you would like to see a tutorial for making your own markers for your Filofax and I’ll get one written up for you.

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie

Read Full Post »

Bird Doodle

Welcome Back

Today I”d like to share a bird themed doodle I drew, inspired by Flora Chang’s designs.

Bird doodle page, inspired by Flora Chang

Items used

• Daler Rowney Basic A6 Sketchbook
• Faber-Castell Pit Artist Pen
• Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils

First I drew a few birds, then I wrote the word. Gave me the idea that looking up a word and doodling from that or the thoughts/ideas that you associate with that word might be fun 😉

What inspires you to draw & doodle?

Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon

Billie 🙂

Read Full Post »

Book Review: Craft-a-Doodle by Jenny Doh

Welcome Back

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 🙂

Read Full Post »

Stash Dive February 2014

Welcome Back

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 🙂

Read Full Post »

Paisley Doodle

Welcome Back

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.

Read Full Post »

Paisley Doodle Page

Welcome Back

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 🙂

Read Full Post »