Sorry Not Sorry… But I’ve made another journal, filmed a flipthrough and popped it onto YouTube.
This time the inspiration for the journal came from Instagram /YouTube artist Francine of JunkJournalJoy. She showcased an Alice in Wonderland journal that I just fell in love with. The digital pack is designed and available to buy from VectoriaDesigns, Francine is also giving away an Alice themed sheet. So after getting the freebie and buying the pack (70% off with a code from her Instagram link) I decided to give it a try, however as I need to print the pack, I decided to use papers from my stash, I settled on mostly 12 x 12 Stamperia Imagine sheets I’ve had laying around for ages and some fabrics from the scraps drawer.
I spent around 5 hours Friday evening making the journal and I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I still need to embellish it further with dangly charms and maybe put another cover on so it has a closure and things like that (Francine shows how to do that in her video).
One thing that Hubby and I were shocked about, was how LITTLE wastage there was from the sheets, genuinely everything was being used, nothing bar some tiny slices of scraps came from the pads. Obviously it will be slightly different when I print the pack, as I will have to cut around and there is white space, but overall, for this journal I used everything!! I got through one glue stick and half a reel of double sided tape, but stash has been used so that’s good right, turn stash into a useable /saleable item.
On that note, I can definitely see how people can make and sell these, and given the amount of time I took to make it, I can now appreciate why they sell for the prices they do! This one I suspect could sell in the region of £30 and that’s not really taking into account the time factor. Add all the embellishments and really jazz it up with more internal embellishments, tucks, pockets, flaps etc and I could easily see it in the £50 range, again not really taking into account time/effort.
“Imagine” Junk Journal May 2021
Well what do you think to this? This time I filmed the flipthrough using my phone, I held the phone whilst trying to turn the pages, it was only meant as a test but I think it came out quite well, I definitely need to get a phone holder to try it again, it was so much easier and quicker to video, edit and upload to YouTube from my phone than the DSLR and editing software, but there are also limitations and I still had to go back to a full browser to edit the YouTube upload and add music as I forgot to do that via my phone. As a learning curve, the video malarky is steep but I’m getting there. One day I may end up doing process videos and even scarier voice overs… Arghhh well maybe not yet!!?
Let me know what you think of it, and as always what I could do better. Thanks for reading (and watching!)
Disclaimer:
All opinions expressed here are my own. I paid for any products discussed. I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.
I have another YouTube video out in the wild!! OMG what’s going on with me huh! This second video is another journal, it’s probably has twice the pages of the last one, and so the video is a bit longer. It took me quite a long time to put the journal together, and felt equally long doing the video and edit and subsequent upload requirements!
At this time the journal is in a finished and ready to be used state, it is quite heavy, and is sitting at 5cm (2″) thick and approximately 16cm x 27cm (6.5″ x 10.5″).
Journal Front Cover
The journal cover and signatures were made sometime in 2020 as part of a tutorial by Jolene at Live Art Journaling and Self Development. I can’t remember if the tutorial was part of the Facebook group or YouTube videos, either way, it’s free and available for anyone to view and take part.
The cover is made of collage papers that have been sewn and then sealed with (I think) Mod-Podge. Internally the cover is fabric. It has 4 signatures, each with 8 double sided pages. Most pages have a small tab on them with a sticker. The journal pages were made from found papers, magazine pages, white papers or palette papers. Each page had clear gesso applied so they have a tooth to them for whatever I plan to do with it. I finished it and it sat there for months doing nothing.
Each of the pages in the signatures have now been “decorated” with papers and items from my stash. Found papers, collage materials, stickers, ephemera and pockets I’ve made from tutorials and left laying around. I used thread for the binding that I bought from the local sewing shop, its not waxed, and typing this I realised I normally run it through a candle before using it to bind, but I forgot. Oh well! Each signature is threaded onto a ribbon that is in the spine of the cover and can be removed if needed to be to worked on. Over the last year I have watched many YouTube videos, it’s impossible to say where where my inspiration for it has all come from, but some of my favourite watches are The Paper Outpost; Septeria18; ShanoukiArt; Its Only Paper; ShabbyDabbyDooDah; 49Dragonflies; Joie de fi; Ms.Paperlover; Kia.Creates; Gi Kerr and Johanna Clough. There are bound to be more but in trying to fill this list I’ve realised I have over 200 YouTube subscriptions and I kind of got sidetracked ….. 🙂
So, onto the pages themselves. I have created tucks, flaps, pockets, space for writing, applied stickers, tried to create a style for each page, some pages have jewels on, others have pieces of my actual artwork, Many of the stickers and journal page items come from either Under the Rowan Trees, The LollipopBoxClub and Kia.Creates subscription clubs.
Journal inside page Kia & Rowan
Journal inside page – Lollipop
Journal Inside Page – Kia
I’m pretty new to this style of journalling, so I haven’t actually done any writing yet, but hopefully having the journal made and ready will encourage me to add the text, and extra bits as and when I want to.
For now the journal will sit on the shelf looking pretty and waiting to be used, but I wonder if this will spur me on to making more for me and maybe eventually to make well enough to sell. Hmm there’s a thought!
Oh and I cannot finish this page without saying a HUGE thank you to my lighting crew. We did a practice run of filming after school yesterday, and although he should have been doing homework, @owlsowner helped me by holding Dads garage torch on one side, whilst our lounge lamp with a daylight bulb was on the other. We had fun creating the video and trying to get the best setup. All that hard work paid off and we produced a video, for practice at least. Its all learning right ?!?!? And well you know what, I may teach him how to use the editing software and he can be my video editor too!
Film Studio and Lighting Crew
Well until next time, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy watching the video. Please feel free to send feedback to help me get better. I am an eternal learner, so you can only help me 🙂
Disclaimer:
All opinions expressed here are my own. I paid for any products discussed. I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.
I was excited to get this box as I knew it was to be Bees’ and they hold a personal significance for me.
May 2021 RowanBerry Box
The box this month has some interesting journalling items in it. Every item is a Bee related piece. There is a wooden ornament, a Bee Stencil from Oops a Daisy, Post-it-Note pad, 3 Journal cards in stiff card and nicely printed and blank on the reverse, a sticker sheet, a daily tracker pad, 2 Stabilo 88 Pens in Pink and Yellow, the A6 Calendar sheet, a packet of Calendula seeds from Something Pretty and the notecard stating everything that’s here.
Everything is good quality, well made and ready to be used but I have to say that as excited as I was to receive it, I was disappointed to open it and find the contents. I realise this is a box aimed at the Bullet Journaller and I absolutely know that every BUJO person out there would rave for it. I’ve seen some of the comments from the recipients but I’m just not that kind of stationery geek. I have never “written” in a journal, I am hopeless at taking notes, I write on post-its and scraps and leave them scattered around the house. I have always been this way and at 50 years old I’m unlikely to change! So for me this box is disappointing. But it’s a lovely set of items in their own right and I am not knocking them at all. I am unlikely to make the best use of these items, they will scatter to the various corners of my art room stash likely not to be seen again.
The box arrived late April, I took my photo on the 1st May, and today (20th May) is the first time I have opened the box again since then. I think this tells me everything I need to know about how I am spending my money.
So May 2021 is going to be my last RowanBerry subscription box – for a while at least. I’ve had a really good run of buying the boxes. I started with the “Deeds Not Words” box back in February 2020, and along the way I’ve had some amazing boxes. Lately the boxes have in my opinion taken a turn into bullet journalling rather than Stationery led fodder, and that’s just not for me. Danielle’s customer service has always been good, her business is growing and she now has two other members of staff, her business looks to be be thriving even in these trying times but I do find her less available to answer questions either via email or on Facebook. That said, her staff Samantha and India are available, so maybe they have had a shift around. Over the 15 months I have been a customer I have spent a lot of money in Danielle’s online shop and I have enjoyed supporting her small business grow. But I feel that at this time I have moved away from where the subscription boxes are currently and potentially where they are heading.
I wish Danielle, Samantha and India all the success in the world with the business. I’m not leaving, I’m just taking a break from the subscription boxes. I will keep an eye on social media and if a box comes up that speaks to me I shall order it.
Disclaimer:
All opinions expressed here are my own. I paid for any products discussed. I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.
It’s been a while so I thought it best to come and say hello! After the month of April blogging every day I felt the need for a bit of a breather, but I do realise I need to keep my hand in and keep the habit of blogging going! After all that’s what it was all about.
So what have I been doing in my “down time”? Well I’ve been homemaking, and gardening and, of course, artwork! I have however taken my time over things and made a bit less than I had been doing. All round I seemed to need a breather. I will do a post showcasing some of the stuff I’ve been doing, including an art project with @owlsownerr that he was so proud of he took to school and his teacher gave him positive points for! More about that in another post soon.
But the big news today is I created a YouTube channel!!!!
I made a video and uploaded it, which of course sounds incredibly easy, however I did not realise quite how much effort it all would take! I had to find video editing software (free of course for now so we chose VSDC Editor), then spend ages trying to learn how to use it, which also reads as “get hubby to help as I did something weird and my video was all pixelated”. But eventually we had a finished video, whoop whoop! but then was time for the fun of setting up the YouTube account. Oh that was “fun” in itself! I wont bore you but it’s there, up and running and just waiting to be picked up by the masses so I can become an overnight sensation and make my millions …… Ha ha ha well OK I am not expecting anything like that, but its kinda exciting to have my “brand” out there on that big bad platform!
The video itself, actually is showcasing a journal I have made. The journal is made in the style of the “Willa” journal from the course I have recently purchased from WillaWanders. I made the cover from a snippet roll made by the children during lockdown. The pages are made from papers from my stash. Then I have been buying up back boxes from TheLollipopBoxClub and so I have filled the pages with bits and pieces from two boxes “Good Vibes” and “Winter Wonderland”.
Well thank you for coming back and reading my page, if you like the video I’d love you to head over give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel (yeah I really am expecting the £ to come rolling in soon…!) All joking aside, I’d love feedback as to what I can do to improve my video making and editing skills, and generally what you think about it.
Of course a massive thank you to My Hubby for all the tech support and website teachings. I have to say that his WFH situation is a massive help to this budding Social Media Mogul. 🙂
Disclaimer:
All opinions expressed here are my own. I paid for any products discussed. I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.
For my April 2021 art challenge I chose to test three A5 dot grid notebooks I had previously purchased because they looked amazing and would look fabulous on my shelf. Obviously there comes a time when being on a shelf not being used is just a bit silly, especially when I am busy making and filling journals with all sorts of art creations on a daily basis! So my challenge was to use them, create art in them, use different medium and styles of creating to test and write a review about them. This review therefore is based upon the art pages I created, the medium I chose and my personal opinion of how each book performed.
My challenge was to choose one medium and use it over the three books, using one book per day. So to summarise: 3 books, 10 mediums, 30 days to find the best book for my ongoing purchases.
If you want to skip all the chatter about the tests and just see who wins my vote you can find out at the end.
The Archer & Olive (£33 from Under the Rowan Trees) is 100% Vegan, an american brand and the name comes from the owners studio mascots: her cats! Scribble & Dot (£19 from Scribble & Dot) are a recently launched UK based company and are partnered with @OnePlantedTree, a sustainable tree planting initiative across the globe. The notebooks come in nice brand relevant cardboard protective boxes, both have elastic bands to hold the book together, both have a pen loop and a note pocket at the back. Mindful Giraffe (£22 from Mindful Giraffe) has the best weighted rated paper at 170 gsm, is manufactured in Europe and is FSC certifed. The notebooks themselves are manufactured in the UK. Although not boxed they are nicely wrapped in a paper sheath with a logo sticker holding it in place. All books have two bookmark ribbons, Archer & Olive has a little logo charm on one ribbon. Scribble & Dot has Key, Index and Pen test pages and all pages are numbered. Prices are correct at the time of writing and include postage and packaging.
I designed a scoring system that I would apply to each notebook (features, specification, durability and construction). I created a piece of artwork each day according to my schedule and scored according to how the page performed with the medium, its finished appearance, whether the ink bled on the page and whether it bled through, which in turn would affect the back of the page being used or not. In addition I added a “normal” pen test page where I used a variety of everyday pens and scored it based on general page look and feel and bleed through.
In general the pens worked OK, no bleed through or feathering, the ink laid down OK and created a decent enough image but my biggest issue was how easily the paper pitted with the ink and now has a “rough” feel to it.
Mindful Giraffe
The pens worked nicely, no bleed through or feathering, the ink laid down well and created a nice image, some of the inks have a rough feel to the finish, but no obvious page pitting.
Scribble & Dot
The pens worked well there was no bleed through or feathering, the ink laid down nicely and created a good image with no roughness or pitting on the page.
Winner : Scribble and Dot, Posca, April 3rd
Pitt Pens
Archer & Olive
Nice and easy to use and created an OK image. However, the Pitt pens didn’t really layer too well and started to pull at the paper a little, so I didn’t push it too far.
Mindful Giraffe
Nice and easy to use, created a nice enough image, the pens layered ok but did not blend too well, and heavy layering caused some page damage, so care would be needed to not ruin the page if heavily colouring in layers.
Scribble & Dot
Nice and easy to use, created nice images and layered and blended well. I couldn’t be happier with how this book took the Pitt pens!
Winner : Scribble & Dot, Pitt Pens, April 6th
Ecoline Watercolour Brush Pen
Archer & Olive
The paper really wasn’t keen on these pens. They feathered easily and there are no smooth edges to the pen marks. That being said there was no bleed through, but when attempting to layer they scrubbed at the paper causing damage, so I’d say a single layer only with these pens.
Mindful Giraffe
I drew a full page with the pens they laid down nice and easily. However I also did some blending and watercolour feathering occurred when going too quickly but this is not unexpected. On the positive side, there was no bleed through at all.
Scribble & Dot
I drew a full page image, the pens laid down nicely they layered well, created a feathering effect when I was too quick and didn’t let it dry, just as you would expect from watercolour. The paper stood up really well and there was no sign of damage to the paper with the amount of liquid on the page. Once again there was no bleed through at all.
Nice clear marks on the page with no feathering and blended well, however there was a lot of bleed through but with alcohol markers that is to be expected but it does mean I’m unable to use the reverse of the pages. Layering is not brilliant and I was not able to blend too well with them.
Mindful Giraffe
Nice clear marks on the page, again with no feathering and colours blended well, but again with expected high levels of bleed through so again I’m unable to use the reverse of the pages.
Scribble & Dot
Nice clear marks on the page with the now expected lack of feathering. In this book they blended well on the page and layered nicely but as with the other books there was an obvious bleed through, as expected which again means I’m unable to use the reverse of the pages.
Winner : Scribble & Dot, Alcohol Marker, April 11th
Acrylic & Collage
Archer & Olive
The paper took the acrylic really well. It held nicely and created a nice background image, it took the collaged elements using a glue stick and has all remained stuck well and nothing is showing through on the other side of the page. I have to say I’m pretty happy with how this performed!
Mindful Giraffe
Once again, the paper took the acrylic really well, it held nicely and created a nice background image, taking the collage elements using a glue stick and has all remained stuck well, and the next page is perfectly usable as nothing is showing through. Closed pages sit nicely with the added elements.
Scribble & Dot
The paper took the acrylic really well, it held nicely and created a nice background image, it took the collage elements of papers and washi tape using a glue stick glue and has all remained stuck well with the now expected lack of bleed through. Again there is enough give in this book that closed pages sit nicely with the added elements.
Winter Secrets Lead to April Delights
Mindful Giraffe April 14th
April 15th journal page
No clear winner, they all performed well
Fountain Pen Ink
Archer & Olive
The paper really doesn’t like the ink. I had really heavy feathering on all the letters and a reasonable bleed through. I also drew with it and used a water brush pen to create a watercolour effect and it doesn’t have a great look to it. I have to say, I’m really surprised by this, I expected it to do better.
Mindful Giraffe
Some feathering on the letters with a small amount of bleed through when ink is used heavily. I also drew with it and used a water brush pen to create a watercolour effect. This is more along the lines of what I was expecting from these books!.
Scribble & Dot
Small amount of feathering on the letters with a small amount of bleed through when a heavy blot of ink dropped by accident. I also drew with it and used a water brush pen to create a watercolour effect. As a watercolour the results were pretty much as expected with obvious blending and feathering.
Winner : Scribble & Dot, Fountain Pen Ink, April 18th
Sharpies
Archer & Olive
As with the Alcohol markers, these have an expected bleed through making the reverse unusable, not as bad as I expected but still there. Otherwise they went on the page pretty well and performed as you’d expect Sharpies to.
Mindful Giraffe
As with the Archer and Olive book there is an expected bleed through making the reverse unusable, although again not as bad as I expected but still there. Otherwise OK usage on the page, created a nice clear picture.
Scribble & Dot
In keeping with the other two books on test, these have an expected bleed through making the reverse unusable. Otherwise OK usage on the page, created a nice clear picture with no obvious paper damage.
April 19th a&o sharpie
April 20th mindful sharpies
April 21 S&D Sharpie
No clear winner, my favourite finished page however is Mindful Giraffe
Multipage Acrylic, Collage & cut about
Archer & Olive
This book worked really well in this test. The pages nicely took all medium and ephemera, and isn’t causing any problems with added items. Overall I’m really pleased!
Mindful Giraffe
Once again, this book worked really well with results very similar to the Archer and Olive book. As before, it nicely took all medium and ephemera and isn’t causing it any problems or snagging with added items, This time I added a pocket for a notecard and it still seems fine in the book.
Scribble & Dot
As with the previous two books, this paper worked really well and took all medium and ephemera easily without causing it any problems with added items. The pages are sticking, but that’s pretty normal with an acrylic base page.
Archer & Olive with cutabout page 2
Mindful Giraffe St Georges day page 2
Scribble and Dot April 24th Page 4_5
No clear winner, however my personal favourite art work is probably Archer and Olive
Stabilo Carbothello Pastel Pencils
Archer & Olive
The paper in this book is pretty smooth so the pastel has no tooth to grip too, but it took the pencil well and blended nicely. I didn’t apply any fixative so even with the book being opened and closed there is some rub off.
Mindful Giraffe
Again the paper this book is made with is quite smooth so the pastel has no tooth to grip to, but as before the pencil went on well and was able to be blended nicely. As before I didn’t use a fixative so again with the book being opened and closed there is some rub off.
Scribble & Dot
Just like the other two books the paper in this book is quite smooth so as before the pastel has no tooth to grip to, but it took the pencil well and blended nicely. I even added some water to one section and it mixed well and created a nice watercolour effect. To keep the test consistent I didn’t use fixative here either and with the book being opened and closed there is some minimal rub off.
Archer & Olive April 25th Stabilo Carbothello Pastel
Mindful Giraffe April 26th Stabilo Carbothello Pastels Pencil
Scribble & Dot April 27th Stabilo Carbothello Pastel Pencil
Personal favourite is Mindful Giraffe
Gel Pens
Archer & Olive
The pens felt scratchy on the paper. This could be my pens but they didn’t give a clean pen line and often skipped laying ink down. I ended up doing a “scribble” style drawing to cover this up. The Gel ink also stayed wet for a long time so I had to leave the book open for 24hrs otherwise it would have smudged.
Mindful Giraffe
In stark contract to the Archer & Olive book, the pens felt nice on the paper, they gave a clean pen line, coloured well. The Gel ink didn’t take too long to dry, and didn’t smudge. All in all, a very good result in my opinion.
Scribble & Dot
As with the Mindful Giraffe book, the pens felt nice on the paper, they gave a clean pen line and coloured well. The Gel ink didn’t take too long to dry, a small amount of smudge when I caught it before it was dry. Some areas could do with a second coat to get a clean covering, but not unexpected from Gel pens. Once again a decent result.
Winner Scribble & Dot Gel Pens, April 30th
Normal Pen Test
I tested the same pens in all 3 books, using the same quotes each time Brush Pens, Biros, Felt pens, Brush sign pens, Derwent line markers. Pilot Parallel pen, Kuratake brush pen, Faber-Castell Metallic pen, Gelly Roll Pen
Archer & Olive
At this point in the notebook the pages are not sitting flat and there is a visible fold in the page and previous pages being seen. All pens wrote OK with no obvious issues apart from the Parallel pen that has bled through as its a wetter ink.
Mindful Giraffe
The book has some bounce to its pages, not sitting completely flat by now. Pens all wrote OK, no obvious problems with any of them, although the parallel pen does have a small amount of feathering and again has bled through.
Scribble & Dot
Pages sitting nice and flat, no real bounce or showing earlier pages. All pens performed nicely, including the parallel pen which has not bled through this time.
Archer & Olive Pen test
mindful giraffe pen test
Scribble & Dot Pen Test
Winner is Scribble and Dot as no bleed through
Final Score and Thoughts
A5 Dot Grid Notebook
The scores and rating are in my PERSONAL analysis and opinion.
Archer and Olive Ranked 3rd in my tests, with a final overall score of 57%. This is really disappointing to me, it’s the most expensive of the three, and comes in at 20 pence per page. I have several of these books, buying them when I was in a “must have these” trap with a small business that I like and have used a lot. But the reality is that the book just does not warrant the cost. It’s a perfectly good and usable book but it fails in a number of areas to be a “great” book. It’s lovely to look at and hold but the paper just doesn’t cope well with some of the mediums I have used, and will be using regularly. But ultimately if I want to use the book I want it to perform and this one just doesn’t. Of course if I want it because it looks fantastic sitting on a shelf unused, then it would score better.
Mindful Giraffe Coming in 2nd in my tests with a 66% performance rating, with a very good 14 pence per page cost. The book looks lovely, the design on the front is fun and enticing, has a nice hardback cover, it performed well in my durability and medium tests and it would definitely be on my to buy list again. It doesn’t have all the “bits & bobs” of the other two, but that doesn’t actually bother me. What I want is a book that can stand the medium I am throwing at it and this book did. It’s a nice thickness paper, smooth to touch and can take the medium well. As a direct comparison, Mindful Giraffe come in a very good second place for it’s paper usage. What would I want to improve on their books? Honestly, probably not much, althought I think the price would be my main request for change. I think it either needs to be a little cheaper or the addition of an an elastic closure and a back pocket. Either way, I am putting them in a good place to buy again.
Scribble & Dot is my winner! It got a score of 83%, performing the best across all tests. Although the paper does feel a little thinner, it is 160 gsm and it is also the cheapest in the test coming in at 12 pence per page. This is a lovely book, the cover feels great with almost a faux leather feel, it looks great with the embossed logo of the Bee, the paper feels good with a nice smooth touch, has all the additional bits to make it a really well thought through and an exciting book to have before you even get to the using part of it. Pretty much every medium I threw at the book performed well on the pages. Very little bleed through or pitting of the pages, it stood up well to wet medium and even held well with medium that had pulled at the fibres in the other books, so I will very happily buy more of these books. Overall this is my winner and would be my go-to book for me, or as presents for family and friends.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope you have enjoyed it, and please do ask me if there is anything you want to know that I haven’t covered, or would like me to test. I am more than happy to play in the books and test more medium!
Disclaimer:
All opinions expressed here are my own. I paid for any products discussed. I received no payment and I am not affiliated in any way with any brand mentioned herein.
