Friday 30 August 2013

September Calendar

Congratulations to all those who have followed the blog since 1st March.  Well done if you have managed to keep up with the art.  You don't have to try everything.  Just pick and choose the challenges you want to do.

It's that time of the month again when we prepare our art journaling calendars.  The calendar is a project set up by Kate Crane.

At 12 Months in View we are starting a new season in September and for the following two months.  Here in the UK we call it Autumn, elsewhere it's known as Fall.   The colours for the season are orange, mustard, brown and red.  So I used these colours to produce my calendar page.

My journal isn't particularly wonderful quality paper so it doesn't really take to Dylusions Inks.  However I still keep using them.  I used my favourite White Linen to spray through the stencil.

I planned to have leaves on this page but as I cut out the leaves using a Paper Artsy die and my cuttlebug, I realised they looked more like little birds.

Please share your calendar with us.  It is so inspiring and encouraging to see other people's pages.

Saturday 24 August 2013

Art Challenge

We are coming to the end of our 6th month together and during that time we have tried lots of different techniques.

So for this month's art challenge I'd like you to look back through all the work you've done for 12 Months in View and choose the art technique or challenge you most enjoyed and use it again today.  Or a technique you would like to try again.

Try to include this quote on your page:

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.    John Lubbock

Have fun.

Please share your work via the linky below.  It is so inspirational to see other people's art.

Saturday 17 August 2013

Creative Date

Julia Cameron in The Artists Way suggested the idea of making time for a regular creative date.   This idea is also picked up by Matt Tommey in Unlocking the Heart of the Artist.   

Or have a look at ideas here: 101 Artist's Date Ideas.

I am suggesting that we should each make time for a creative date each month.  Ideally we will go out.  Go to a local museum, a local art gallery, go for a walk!  Whatever idea you have that will feed your creativity.
However sometimes it's not possible to physically visit those places.  So here's my idea for August.  Visit an online museum.

Do let us know what your favourite parts of the museum are using the linky below.

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Technique Challenge

The technique challenge for this month is rubber band embossing.

Watch this video and then experiment with various colours of cardstock and embossing powder.  Don't worry if you don't have the anti static pad.



If you don't have a brayer you can put the rubber bands across a piece of thick card and use it like a stamp.

Please share your work with us using the linky below.


Sunday 11 August 2013

Recycled Maps

I love maps.  When Roger & I are on holiday I am the one who does the navigating - with proper maps - no satnav for us.  Although Roger does own one - for the times when I'm not with him!

It's always sad when a map needs throwing away but here are some ideas for re-using them.

Some time ago I did an online class with Shimelle called Explore where she suggested making embellishments.  I loved these.

So stealing this idea I cut out circles using nestabilities and a die cutting machine.

I stamped birds, flowers and butterflies onto map paper.

And cut them out.

I also cut out butterflies with a punch. I  assembled the embellishments.

I used some of the embellishments I made on this tag.

And the cutouts on these tags for Summer of Color.


Another thing you can do with old maps is to make journals.  The obvious is a travel journal but you could use the maps as decoration.

I have made two different types of journal.  The first is a 5 inch square zigzag book made from watercolour paper.

These are all the pages laid out flat.




To find out how I made this book please go to Newly Creative.  While you're there you will also be able to find out about this book made from a map.

The inside looks like this.

I hope you enjoy recycling your maps.  Please share your work with us using the linky below.


Friday 9 August 2013

August Zine

Each quarter we are making a seasonal Zine.  The information for the Summer Zine is here.

My July Zine is here.

And so to August.   Here's the starting point.

I used Sepia Archival Ink to stamp the sunflower and then painted the petals with Dylusions Ink.

I printed out the quote, cut it up and inked the edges before sticking them down.  I stamped the month.  Last of all I used two colours of stickles to make the seeded part of the flower.


Our Summer Zine is finished.  If you are making this as a standalone zine then you will need to finish your cover.  If like me you are making all four seasons into one book then you need do nothing more except put it in a safe place!   And of course, remember where that is!

Don't forget to add your work via the linky.  Looking foward to seeing your finished page.

Monday 5 August 2013

Photo Challenge

In March I introduced this monthly challenge.  Each month we take a photograph on the same day, at the same time, of the same place.  HOw are you getting on with this challenge?

You choose a day or date and a place to suit you.  It could be taken from your front door, your back door, a particular place on your journey to work or on the school run.  It could be where you walk the dog.  Wherever it is, it needs to be a place you are at or near regularly.

Each month we will take a photo and over the year we will build up a picture of the changes in the seasons.   If you haven't already, I suggest you have a folder on your hard drive where you keep these photos so you can find them at the end of our 12 months together.

If you upload them to the Facebook group please add the photo to your album or if you are new please make an album with your name and a suitable title.  Thanks.

There's also a Flickr group if you don't have a blog or a Facebook account.

I've added a linky for you to add your photo or blog.


Saturday 3 August 2013

Flower of the Month

Susan has yet again written a great article for us on the flower of the month.



Sunflower - Helianthus annuus


The large, yellow flowers of the Sunflower are the perfect metaphor for summer. Beginning as a seed planted in spring, it grows in leaps and bounds as if racing with time to reach the sky and open its sunny flower face at the height of summer. As summer winds down, the flower heads droop, heavy with their crop of ripened seeds. Often the giants of the garden, sunflowers are planted among tomatoes and peppers and often as a support for pole beans. But they also look great in flower beds along with hollyhocks, brown-eyed Susans and Echinacea.


Native to the Americas, 5,000 year old fossils of the sunflower were discovered in Arizona and New Mexico.  Images of sunflowers were found on temple walls, ceremonial costumes, jewelry and pottery of the Incas and Aztecs. Archaeologists theorize that the Native Americans domesticated it even before corn.  Seeds were brought to Europe by the Spanish explorers. It was in Russia that the plants were first grown for commercial use. Sunflower oil is used for cooking, as fuel, to make candles, soaps and lotions for the skin. The seeds are used as food for humans and animals.

The most common sunflower is the very tall, yellow petaled, dark brown center variety; most often Russian Mammoth. However you can find a variety to suit your taste and your garden plot. Some are dwarf, others have large flower heads or multiple branches of smaller ones. Color range from a pale yellow (almost white) to dark shades of burgundy. Easy to grow, sunflowers’ only requirements are full sun and adequate water.

A wonderful plant to grow with children, their excitement and interest will be rewarded by the plant’s rapid growth. A sunflower plant can be measured each day to check its progress. One gardener writes of how her children would tie a ribbon on the stem of a sunflower plant when it got to the same height of the child. Then they would watch as the ribbon rose higher each day.

Sharon Lovejoy tells the delightful story of planting a sunflower house in her classic book, Sunflower Houses. If you have the room you may want to plant one next spring with your children, grandchildren or neighbor’s children. Mark out an area large enough to be a play house or at least large enough for 2 or 3 people to stand in. Remove any grass or weeds from the perimeter, loosen the soil, sow a tall variety along with morning glory seeds, alternating them as you place them in the trenches. Be sure to leave space for an opening to the playhouse. Cover with a half inch of soil and water every day. When the sunflowers are taller than the tallest person, suspend twine from the top of the stem of a plant from one corner of the playhouse to the other and criss-cross them. The morning glories will continue to grow along these strings creating the “roof”.

If you only have space for a pot, grow a dwarf variety. You will be rewarded with visits from bumble bees, butterflies, goldfinches and cardinals. And it is fun to watch as the flower turns to face the direction of the sun.

It is not too late to enjoy the sunny faces of this summer flower. Many garden centers sell them in pots and you can buy them as cut flowers at the farmers’ market. Cut flowers last about a week. Enjoy them indoors and out. Though the petals fade, the seeds will continue to ripen. At this point, hang them on a shed, garage, from a tree limb, secured in a hedge or wherever you will be able to view it from your house. You will be amazed at how quickly the birds (and squirrels) show up!




Challenge:
Take a photo of a child standing next to a giant sunflower plant or of a sunflower with a bee, butterfly, bird or other visitor on it.  (Please remember to ask the parent's permission to show us the photograph).

Or draw a sunflower in your journal.

Please link your page using the linky below.

Thursday 1 August 2013

The month of August

Our sixth month together and our last of this summer season.

August in the UK is associated with summer holidays.  The schools break up in mid-July and go back at the beginning of September.  Whether we have summer weather or not is dependant on the Gulf Stream.  As I write this in July we have been suffering/enjoying (depending on your point of view) a heatwave.  A category 3 heatwave no less.

Anyway, on to August. The eighth month of the year.

There are some really bizarre celebrations listed for this month.  Tomorrow is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day.  Enjoy!

Or how about Wiggle Your Toes day on August 6th or possibly August 7th.  You could celebrate on both days!

And I really love the idea of the Just Because Day on August 27th.

I will be celebrating my birthday on August 17th.  Happy Birthday me.   Let's celebrate with a giveaway.  Leave a comment at the end of this post saying what you would like to do on Just Because Day and I will choose one UK/Europe winner and one rest-of-the-world winner.  Please mention which category you are in the comment.  I will send you a small mixed-media ephemera pack with items for the Autumn/Fall season coming up in September.

Our Flower of the Month is the Sunflower.

You can find some sunflower poems here.

Here's your August checklist.

Art Challenge
Make a page inspired by the information or poetry you have found here.

Don't forget to share your work with us all via the linky.