February 29, 2016

PROJECT LIFE 2016: WEEK 4 & 5

Week 4
So the Project Life journey continues: I particularly like this week's layout due to the white spaces I've allocated in it.


I didn't use as many stamps as I did previously, and because I had a Project Life card with wording already on it, I didn't stamp any on my photos to prevent it from looking so cluttered with the many phrases.

Here are some close ups:



Overall, I love the contrasting whites and darks in the spread, with the touch of gold.

Week 5:
Week 5 took me a while to decorate, mostly because I was always out on the weekends which left little time for me to play. Either way, here's an overall look at Week 5 of my 2016 Project Life:


Here are some close-ups:




I think my fav part of this layout has to be the large gold alphas on the brown Project Life card. And I love that the gold alpha, gold striped border on the bottom right, gold heart and the gold bordered date box managed to tie the whole layout together subtly. I seem to have a touch of gold in every single layout I do but I can't seem to stop (and I regret nothing)!

February 28, 2016

MTN WEEKLY 2016 #2

Like last year's MTN weekly, I'm attempting to try out different layouts with each week. Last week was all about messy post-its (which I loved) which you can find here, but I've been looking at Instagram accounts like @greenpaperleaf and @thedailyroe recently and they've inspired me to take on a more vintage approach. I think I probably could have improved on the layout a little, but as I am still in the experimental stages, I'm not too fussed about it. Every bit has been a learning curve, about my pens, utensils and layout, so doing something was definitely better than doing nothing at all. Anyway, here's a look at my page:


And here's a little close-up:



I didn't use many embellishments in the layout and have focussed it primarily on penmanship (which needs improving!) to 'decorate' the spread. Apart from washi tape and stamps, the only other embellishment was a leaf I plucked from a trip to my local hardware store with my mum. It was super simple, but I must admit, it took me a while to decide how to fill the space. I guess I got there eventually!

February 22, 2016

CURRENTLY #12


TIME: 9:16AM
WEATHER: Sunny, blue skies and cold wind - my kind of weather
LOCATION: Bedroom
FEELING: Lazy
LOVING: My late shift today - sleep in on a Monday!
READING: Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert
DRINKING: Milk - yes, I drink milk in the morning.
ANTICIPATING: Work. Always work.
LISTENING: To the quietness around me.
WATCHING: Vampire Diaries
PLANNING TO: Draw out some flowers and animals at work today
LOOKING FORWARD TO: Picking up my UE portable speakers at Officeworks
CREATING: New MTN spreads
NEED TO FINISHProject Life spreads
WISHING: It was Friday today rather than a Monday

MAIN GOAL: Get up from bed.

February 21, 2016

MTN WEEKLY 2016 #1

I confess: I sold my Hobonichi Avecs so I can get back to using MTN weeklies. In my defence, I didn't actually promote my Avec to sell, it just so happened that someone was looking to buy one - used or not - and so I saw an opportunity to sell mine knowing that I just can't keep up with an A5 day to a page!

I've been using my Kikki K A5 in the mean time to record my daily journaling and I think it's good enough, so far. I must admit, there are times where I wished I had more space, but I guess I have my private blog for that. Anyway, enough waffling, here's my first MTN weekly post for 2016!

I picked up the undated version from Notemaker seeing the dated ones were not available in Australia. It didn't really bother me though, as I'm now able to start whenever I want - in this case, middle of February. Hah!

Anyway, I was highly inspired by Kelly Purkey's messy (but absolutely beautiful) layout using her new Clearly Kelly sticky notes and wanted the same for my first layout. I gathered my supplies from a variety of places and this was what I came up with:



I was actually pretty pleased with it. I love the mess of the various paper sizes but how colourful it all turned out. To list the items I used in this spread would be extravagant though, as I probably used one from each stamp / sticky note set I own. Majority were definitely stamps from Kelly Purkey, Big Picture Classes and Studio Calico, though.

Here's a little close up:


I must admit, I have missed documenting in my MTN for so many reasons - the size and the portability would have to be the main reasons. Not to mention, I can finally document on the go, which means (hopefully) no more accumulating 47856428 posts to do in one day. Can you tell I'm excited to create more layouts? Hahah. Here's to more weekly MTN posts!

February 20, 2016

NOTEMAKER


I rarely do haul posts, but I recently got a package full of new stationery from the one and only Aussie Notemaker, and I decided that it would be a waste not to review these amazing goodies for you guys. I've taken an abundance of photos though, so be warned, this post will be picture heavy (but who doesn't like pictures?)

The items I will be going through in the post includes:
1- Lamy Al-Star Charged Green
2- De Atramentis and J Herbin Inks
3- Hightide Pencil Case & Graph Paper Pads
4- Craft Design Technology Brush Pen
5- MT Masking Tape

Lamy Al-Str Charged Green

If you're a green lover like me, you'll love the 2016 Limited Edition Charged Green Al-star by Lamy. Every year, Lamy brings out a limited edition for the year, and because I love the Aluminium version, this was perfect. I got the medium nib for this, and since I own both the extra fine and fine nibs already, it was a great edition to test out the different sizes (I still prefer the extra fine, though).


Here's how it looks like pulled apart, getting ready to be filled up with a cartridge:


Once I loaded it up with the limited edition Charge Green ink, I tested it out on 80gsm regular printer paper, and here's how it looks:


On first try, the ink was more of a dark olive green, but after testing it out further, the ink actually lightened up to a more yellow green colour, which was actually pretty nice. Unfortunately, I didn't actually take a picture of this...

And if you have the Blue Green edition, here's a little colour comparison:



Overall, because I have used Lamy fountain pens previously, I know that this one will hold up just as well as the others. I'm definitely loving the new colour addition to the family though!

De Atramentis and J Herbin Inks
I must admit, it has been a while since I have played with my fountain pens. I tend to use my Uni Style Fit 0.28 pens in my MTN and journal posts as I'm able to write super small to save space, but since I was itching to play with my new inks, I decided to spend the entire morning cleaning and refilling my new inks into my 3 fountain pens.


In this haul, I got two de Atramentis ink - one cherry blossom and one fig ink, and what I love love love about these two inks is that they're scented, and they smell absolutely divine! Cherry blossom really does smell like it while the fig ink smells a little more like bubblegum rather than fig, but still lovely anyway! And of course, I did test runs. I had previously bought J Herbin sample bottles from Notemaker as well but have yet to try them out, so since I was testing out my De Atramentis, I decided to give my J Herbins a go too.


Here's a little close up of the inks (unedited picture):


I actually couldn't really pick a favourite of mine from the colours I had, but if I had to, it would definitely be the Cherry Blossom, followed by the four J Herbins shown, respectively. I love how bright and saturated the colours were, so in my fountain pens they went! I tested these inks on my 2015 Hobonichi techo, and because the paper is so thin, there were so show and bleed through, however, I know that they should be fine on any other paper.

Hightide Pencil Case & Graph Paper Pads
Hightide is a new Japanese brand coming to Notemaker's ever expanding store. I love Japan made items, and I can't really decide why; maybe it's the quality of the items and maybe it's because Japan is basically the birth place of Midori and all the other awesome stationery I have, but either way, I love it. I was fortunate enough to have been gifted some Hightide graph paper and a pencil case by Notemaker, so here's some photos of them. The first is the roll pencil case which I must admit, I have been looking all over for. I love roll pencil cases, and the other I had was used for my art supplies. The one thing I like about this roll pencil case is how versatile it really is. When unrolled, you can see how there are three different 'sections' you can put your things in:




The next item is the graph paper pads: I got an A5 and A4 paper pad with both possessing tear off sheets. I haven't yet tested the paper, but I'm hoping these will stand up well to all kinds of pens.



Oh, and if you're wondering, yes the A5 does fit into the back of the Kikki K. So if you ever need paper in your planner, tear those sheets off, punch it and in your planner they go. Easy.


Craft Design Technology Brush Pen
I was actually looking to buy this brush pen a while ago, but decided that I should actually improve on my brush lettering skills before I buy another one, so I'm glad that I managed to try one out thanks to Notemaker. Here's some overview pictures:


When opened:



And after loading the cartridge (which came with the brush pen), I tested it out on 80gsm printer paper:


I definitely still need to practice my brush lettering, but you get the gist - hah. I've even demonstrated how thick and thin the brush pen can go. I must admit though, the brush on this pen is amazing. You're able to create varying widths by applying only a little bit of pressure and it springs back so so easily - much better than any brush pen I have ever used in fact! I am definitely mighty impressed with this and can't wait to get better with it.

The only minus point of this product is this (excuse the typed words!):


The ink shows and bleeds through. But do remember that I have only tried this on 80gsm paper, which may be too thin for a medium like this. I'm sure that thicker paper will hold up much better with minimal or no bleed / show through.

MT Washi Tape:
There really isn't much to say about these lovely things, but I've been wanting that book washi tape since seeing it in Kelly Purkey's shop and I'm so glad that I currently have one in my possession. I was also fortunate enough to receive a three pack of thin washi tape and two new limited edition Miroslav Sasek thick washi. I'm actually amazed at the little Paris and New York drawings on the Sasek washi tape and can't wait to cut them up to use as stickers.

You can get all these things on Notemaker. Some of the items (like the Lamy Al-star) are yet to be released on the site yet, but rest assured, they will be there! I've been a long time customer of Notemaker (to the point where I now enjoy 10% discount for every order because I've ordered more than 10 times from their site - lol) as they offer a range of items and have pretty great service. I remember the first time I ordered from Notemaker was to purchase a Brown MTN, but because they didn't have it in stock, they asked if I would be fine with a black, and threw in extras as well for the trouble! They ship super fast and because I live in the same area as their office and warehouse, I will more often than not, always get my order the day after its shipped (without even paying for express!).

NB. Items pictured in this post has been kindly gifted to me by Notemaker, but has not influenced my opinions on the items whatsoever. I wouldn't recommend anything I wouldn't use. Now, you can click here to be redirected to their wonderful site so you can fill your cart with yummy stationery goodies.

February 10, 2016

CURRENTLY #11


TIME: 8:50PM
LOCATION: Bedroom
FEELING: A little tired from work
LOVING: My new set of botanical books I received in the mail today
READING: Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert
DRINKING: Good ol' water
ANTICIPATING: The last two days of work
LISTENING: To the wind
WATCHING: Pretty Little Liars
PLANNING TO: Draw a whole lot of botanical stuff this weekend
LOOKING FORWARD TO: Shopping this weekend
CREATING: Flowers, flowers and more flowers (drawings, ie.)
NEED TO FINISH: Reading my books before I buy more!
WISHING: I was paid already...

MAIN GOAL: Get some sleep.

February 7, 2016

BULLET JOURNAL: PART IV

February has come around faster than I know it, which meant that a new set-up for my Bullet Journal was required. But before I get ahead of myself, here was the last spread of my Bullet Journal for the month of January:


This pattern was similar to the blue pattern I had on my previous spread, but instead of triangles, this was focused on squares.

Anyway, I eliminated quite a few things for my February set-up. For one, I didn't include a February calendar because January's was left unused, and for another, I eliminated my 'Goals' section as well (which I know I shouldn't have, because it did keep me on track last month, but oh wells). You can see how I set up January's layout here. I did, however, keep my monthly overview and my habit tracker as it proved the most useful.

For my first week and spread of February, I decided to go for a minimalist view (kinda like my first BuJo spread which you can see here), and I quite like it.


Most of the designs here were drawn with pen (Micron 01), with the exception of the alphas which were stamped using Kelly Purkey's Shoreditch alpha stamp and Kaisercraft's stamp pad. I then added some stippling within the alphas to give it some patterns. I will definitely be experimenting with stippling a whole lot more in the days to come. That's about it for this part of my Bullet Journal series, but you can check out more Bullet Journaling posts by clicking here for part one, here for Part II and here for Part III. Enjoy!

February 2, 2016

PROJECT LIFE 2016: WEEK 3


I really liked this week's spread. I managed to get a number of great photos with a natural brown theme thanks to the photos of flowers, cupcakes and art materials. I decided to go a little less with stamps and embellishments and let the pictures speak for themselves. When it comes to items used, Kelly Purkey was my main partner in crime. However, as I'm lacking alphabets that are solid in colour (rather than just the outline), I decided to use my Posca white marker to fill in the alphas, which worked quite nicely, if I say so myself.

The 'I like pretty things' Project Life card was from Studio Calico, which took all my strength to prevent hogging it. I love it, to say the least. But I guess it worked beautifully in this spread showcasing all my favourite things in one.

But enough words, here are some close ups of my spread (I've included captions detailing some of the items used in the close-ups):

'FRESH' was stamped using Kelly Purkey's stamp and coloured-in with Posca

Vellum, gold heart and labels

'Hey Beautiful' sticker from Me & My Big Ideas

Hope this gave you some ideas for your next Project Life spread!

February 1, 2016

FEBRUARY GOALS


February sees me starting a new full time job from Monday to Friday as a Radiographer, which means my time spent doing all things creative will now take a back seat (for now). I'm not too fussed about this as unlike my previous years working Monday to Friday, I now don't have any uni work to complete concurrently (hooray!) which means once I get home, I have all the freedom to work on anything creative (if I'm not too tired, ie). So compared to January, my goals for February will undoubtedly be slightly different, and even maybe a little less creative. But before I get to that, here's a look at how my January goals turned out:
  • ü Launch my digital shop
  • ü Get a job
  • ü Document every day in my Hobonichi
  • x    Spend less than $300
  • x    Create 5x digital stamp sets
3/5 things accomplished is better than none, right?

So for February, here are some of my hopefully realistic goals to achieve:

  • Draw every day
  • Spend less than $300 (let's do this again...)
  • Get up to date with my Project Life
  • Read two books: Big Magic & Reluctantly Charmed
  • Eat lesser sweet things!
Let's do this!