Saturday 8 January 2011

Journaling, mud, and you tube

Paints and inks by Dylusions

Finally, the festivities are over, the house is back to normal and the kids are back at school so I had a little time for journaling and made this page in my A4 (12 x 8") Moleskine. The wonderful images are by Marsha at Tumblefish Studios and are available in her Etsy. The figure is from a set called Dollface, and I handcut the border and flowers from a set called Brightside. Marsha puts fabulous backgrounds together and these are just perfect for cutting your own shapes.

Here's the page before I journaled on it:


The journaling itself was triggered by a Teacher Training day I attended earlier this week. It was the first day back at school after Christmas - the most dismal of days - and 240 teachers were listening to an inspirational / motivational speaker. It takes a lot to motivate anyone in January I always think.

Anyway it did get me thinking a bit .....  

There is always a danger with this sort of thing. If you get people to think too much about their real dreams and ambitions, and encourage people to be very very honest with themselves about what they really want to do with their lives, they might just all quit their jobs and go and follow their dreams LOL!


Back in the summer I spent 3 wonderful days at Art from the Heart taking lessons from the fabulous Dina Wakley. She had a small journal with her for 'mopping up' ink left over on stencils etc, and paint on brushes and so on and these 'leftovers' made perfect journal backgrounds. I got myself a little cheapo sketchbook so I too could mop up ink and here is a completed page. The little note was written by my daughter some time ago, which she left in my lunchbox one day. I decided to get it out of my box of treasures and add it to my journal.


Here's the second page of the note and this really makes me laugh. Like I need directions to find chocolate!! Ha ha ha, I can sniff it out a mile off!



Finally the snow has cleared and following a big snow fall you always get mud. We had a particularly muddy walk after new year:




Here's a few random pics of things I saw on our muddy walk:



I just love hand-made signs! Who or what on earth is Cherry?! Is she riding a bike and walking dogs at the same time?! I may have to go back and investigate further ....!


I have been overwhelmed by the response to the calendar challenge for 2011 - over 70 of you so far and the list is still growing. I'm so happy and excited that so many of you want to participate. Please check the list and do let me know if I have made any errors. Due to the large numbers of bloggers involved this time I will add a 'Mr Linky' towards the end of the month to make it easier for us all to visit each other's blogs so keep an eye out for that.

Here is my first ever vid on you tube. I am a real amateur at this so please excuse the camera wobble ha ha ha ha!!


Byeeee for now.

36 comments:

  1. Everything is terrific Kathryn, you are an inspiration. Annette x

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  2. Love your journal page Kate, and the little one with the note from your daughter is so sweet :)

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  3. wow a monster post from you, that note is so cute and brill idea for all the excess ink, Im always holding a messy template in one hand whilst trying to find piece of paper to press it on. Love the journal page as well you are so creative, (not ODD at all) LOL. Am being good and writing on diary every day, gonna watch vid in a minute, having a Pink music mo now, :)

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  4. Gorgeous journal page Kate... I LOVE this image of Marsha's... in fact I have just used this one in a little whimsical canvas...
    Great pics too... a definite need for gum boots I think... is that what you call them over there???

    Have a wonderful weekend
    Jenny x

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  5. that's a VERY weird sign post Kate. love the music on the video. the calendar looks great.

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  6. camera wobble not a problem, but the music is, where on earth did you get that, it gave me a headache I had to turn it down, Note to Kate, different music, pref from this century, LOL

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  7. Hi Kate.. Love your journal page.. your flowers look fab. Loved your first video.. great to see all your pages together :) wondering if that's you on guitar? Oh goodness you did find a lot of mud on your walk.. you've got to find out who Cherry is for us! We NEED to know! :)
    Have a great week back at school. Love your pages in Winter 2011.. scrummy yummy.. we have been spoilt. Thanks for sharing your wonderful creations..xx

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  8. hello treacle - I am just too excited about your Calendar challenge - lost a bit of mojo since the festivities and this is sparking it back into action! now off to watch your youtube !!

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  9. Loved the sign about Cherry,yes it makes you wonder who she is. That mud is awful you get much admiration from me for walking in it.

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  10. That brought me up short: "a vision without action is just a dream ..". Now there's a sentence that packs a punch! Intrigued by Cherry - do keep us posted!

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  11. Love the page you shared with us today...the bright colours anre fabulous, and I love the notes from your daughter! Great to see all your journaling pages together...such a real insporation, I am sure I will lwarn loads from you over the next year! Hugs Juls

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  12. i am loving this journal page kate! how adorable for you to get a little note!! that made me smile. love your photos. you are brave to walk in all that mud! you did a great job with the u tube video. i didn't see one little itsy bitsy shake!! you're a natural kate!

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  13. Well that's a post chock full of good stuff!! Love your sweet journal page and nice job on your video. Fantastic note in your journal page and I find that sign post to be the most randomly bizarre thing I've read all day.. maybe in a couple of days! Please post any follow up on that!!!

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  14. Your pages are so colorful. I am in total awe of what I am seeing. I have already messed up on my journal, but I hope to get better. I can tell right now, this is NOT my thing, but I'm sticking with it because I so love what I see you making. This is a great first video.

    When I saw those photos, they reminded me of some of the scenes I see on Masterpiece Theater. Gorgeous countryside and gates. Maybe Cherry will blossom when spring gets here.

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  15. You have such a beautiful blog! I'm so inspired to open up my art supplies and do play with my journal pages, thank you! And Happy New Year!!!

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  16. Great post. It's amazing how many blogs I have visited via other links who are doing the calendar challenge. Thanks for sharing your journal pages- your work is so joyful and fun- it just makes me smile.

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  17. Lovely journal pages, the 'mop up' page is great, especially the note from your daughter! Your video is fantastic!! Its great to see all your calander pages together. My friend did a video for me last weekend of my sketchbook project (I helped a little but I'm not very technical!)and I so so pleased with how it turned out! I loved reading your article and seeing your work in the Art Journalling magazine, it's lovely to get an insight into why people create and get some tips!! Well done! x

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  18. Love the pages Kate, and what fab pics of the gate and the wrought iron !

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  19. That mop up idea is great, and your pages are as inspirational as ever. Thanks for the video - it helped me to understand more about the calendar pages, and I particularly like the little drawings you've dotted around. As ever, thanks for all the inspiration ....

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  20. Lots of loveliness to see on your blog again. I think my fave has to be the note from your daughter as it's written with true love!
    Please let us know about the sign!!! xx

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  21. ROCK STAR! I just read the Somerset mag with your feature. Such a wonderful and inspiring article. AND, the journal page is sweet yet so true about getting people to think about what they want is risking that they might actually do it. AND, I need to train some folks around this house to lead me to the chocolate instead of eating it! :) xoxo, Shelly

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  22. Gorgeous page Kate (and equally gorgeous note from your daughter!). And what IS with that sign? Very random!!

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  23. Love the journal pages......and the mind boggles slightly at the 'Cherry' sign.

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  24. Good for you (getting back into things). I'm finally surfacing to wish you a Happy New Year after a disastrous computer crash compounded by my 2nd bout of flu! Not a good start... it can only get better, lol.

    Congrats on the YouTube - not as bad to upload as we thought, huh?

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  25. What a fabby post hun. The pages are great. You know I am in on the calendar journal have my pages for January completed. And thank you for the group thingy I am so happy I asked.

    I love walks like this. we went on one early Sat. and I took my new SLR I am so total happy with the pickies I got to take. Love you gate on the walk too. And what is the sign all about?

    Love Dawn xx

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  26. Fabulous, as always Kate, love the note from your daughter, precious. The colours on the journal page are stunning and I love your flowers. Will be joining in Art Cal 2011, but only just got back from my daughters this afternoon, after 3 weeks, home, heaven!! xx

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  27. I started a lovley long post to you last night when I read your latest but took so long, looking and reading, my battery went and I was too warm and comfy to get out of bed to recharge so lost the whole post.Boo hoo. Everyone else has said it now so I'll just say WOWEE!!! Love your guitar playing too. xx

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  28. Ok, so I WANT to go on a walk with you, what a magical place to take a walk, OMG. I'd be willing to walk in the mud for that view. Holy Moly. And of course, love the pages. Dina is brilliant and love nothing more than to splat down a painty surface on to a page. BLISS.

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  29. Wonderful page and just love the backgrounds. Your photos are lovely, love the first one of the gate. :)

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  30. Hoi Kate.
    I just came by to catch up your latest posts and to read your blogs :)
    It's every time a little feast for when I see your art and photos :)

    Hugs from me
    Rian from Holland

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  31. Gorgeous!!! Even your muddy shots! Your journal pages just rock! And...such a great first video!!!

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  32. Your pages are always so exciting, and this is no exception!
    I can't believe you walked in that mud!

    The note from your daughter is pricless!

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  33. Great colors on the journal pages, and it's really neat to put your kid's note in there too. I love those GATES! Great for sketching. Patsy from
    HeARTworks

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  34. Stunning pages Kate as always ;-) Great family pics.
    I'm in this year too but will put a link in your latest post
    Happy New Year
    Anne xx

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  35. I love this 'mopping up' concept and think I need to do that myself. Your pages are lovely. Congrats on the Somerset spread, I just picked up that magazine and now need to go take a look. Yippee for you!!

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