Hacked Moleskine Planner

I used some scraps of the painted watercolor paper to make monthly tabs. I laminated them with a bit of packing tape, and cut and glued them on. They are short little tabs so that the elastic band slips over them easily.

I went to moleskine.com and printed out some monthly calenders to paste into the front. I need to be able to visualize my whole month this way.

Hacked Moleskine Planner

 I made some progress on my planner today. I taped in one page for each week. Those pages fold over the lined page to the right of the week's calendar. I'll use them for notes, drawing, or whatever trips my trigger at the time.

 Taping those pages in is a bit of a trick to get it straight, but I finally got them all in. I used Washi tape that I already had (and had never used) to tape them in.

 Some of the paper is 90 pound watercolor paper.

 Some is sheet music, some are shipping tags. I use shipping tags in other artwork, so I thought it would be fun to use them here too. I almost always do a checkered border on them...it's something I use on my journal pages a lot.

Some pages are from old ledgers and maps. I gessoed some ahead and some will have to be done as I go along. It didn't occur to me to gesso them first until I was half way through the book.

Hacking a Moleskine Planner

 I'm hacking a Moleskine Planner with the help of The Documented Life Project. I think many of the folks are using these more as a journal, like I did my old calendars in my journals. I want mine to actually work as my planner, so I picked a small pocket size Moleskine planner. I chose a weekly calendar, but I'll be taping in monthly pages too. There will be pages taped in to draw or make lists on, and that's what these watercolor pages will be cut into. I'm a little worried that the pocket size won't work out as well as the larger one that most folks are using, but it's the size that will fit into a handbag, so that's the one for me.

Here's a bit of Washi tape I'll use to tip the pages in. I didn't have any red (and you always need a bit of red for energy!), so I cut up some gift wrap to use too.

I'll be using the weekly pages, and I'll be incorporating lists like those in the Bullet Journal. I've never been able to find a planner that really works for me, so I'm hoping that cobbling one together will work for me.

Life Map

Another exercise from the workshop I'm taking part in. A map of milestones...emotional and physical. Places my path crosses...

Tree of Life

This page is the result of an exercise in a workshop I'm taking this month. I'm not going to go into explanations, as it's part of many exercises, but I just wanted to to post because I'm back to journaling and painting and drawing. That was my goal this December: to get back in the the swing of it!

Route 66 Travel Journals

Playing around with some little Moleskines and ink. Just have to add a drawing of a vintage sign or stamps or something. I've had a  long break from drawing...bit of a block I suppose, but I'm back.

She sells seashells down by the seashore.

More doodling around on Bingo cards. I still might add some watercolor to the seashells. Makes me think of nice sandy beaches and warm sun on this cold day!

 Small pieces that have to be seen close up to catch the background, which is made with paints plus ephemera including maps and trading stamps.

Shake the World

In a gentle way you can shake the world. ~Gandhi
Doodling away on another Bingo card.
Indian Ink, marker, acrylic paint, and stamps.

Mark Twain Quote

I've been playing around illustrating quotes on old Bingo Cards. Here is the first one. This one is marker, Indian Ink, and collage. The little kids are from an old envelope that license plates came back in the 50s. Things get slow at the shop in the winter, and I sometimes work on small art projects in  my office.

Route 66 Giants...and a little color

Adding some color to the tags. So far so good. I'm not sure how this is all going to go together, so I guess we will find out together!

Route 66 Giants

Today I'm at the shop and since it's a little slow, I decided to work on these tags...they are (or will be) 3 of the giant muffler men along Route 66 in Illinois. I will probably watercolor them and add them to a larger mixed media piece on panel. That's a cool thing about journaling and/or mixed media: you can work on bits and pieces in a small area or while traveling, and then put it all together later.