New Course - One Badass Art Journal, Discounts and competition!!

Ok, I have some great news to tell you!  I am teaching in another course, and this one is being hosted by Tiare Smith and is called ONE BADASS ART JOURNAL!

REGISTER TODAY

There is a wonderful group of yet more talented artists taking part in this 12 week workshop.  There is so much being offered, you will be able to make your own BADASS Art Journal and view 24 lessons/classes.  Check out the video below!

INTERESTED?  Why not treat yourself for and explore your own Badass Art Journal and link up with the facebook group there is so much more check out the rest of the course HERE

As a special offer you can get a 15% discount on the price of the course.  You have to enter the code IMBAD15 at the checkout BEFORE Sun 27th Dec to receive the discount.

And as a special bonus, SIGN UP HERE BEFORE DECEMBER 31 and you will be entered to win 1 of 2 spots in the other course that I am teaching in called The Journey Within: A Year of Handmade Journals.

Sign up for one for both courses and make your 2016 a year to remember!

Win a spot on The Journey Within 2016 - GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY - GIVEAWAY - GIVEAWAY

I have 2 spots to giveaway on the course

1st place: One full year registration

2nd place: single quarter registration (Jan-Mar 16)

You will be aware by now that I am teaching in a course called The Journey Within A Year of Handmade Art Journals, and we are in the middle of a blog hop challenge.

You can check out HERE the challenge I set for Kiala on my blog hop day, and also see the blog hop schedule.

The course officially starts on 1st January 2016 and will last for the whole year but you also get a December mini course so you can test the waters, see how you can pace yourself.

Each month, Kiala will teach you how to make your own handmade art journal, give you prompts, tips, and techniques for filling the pages, and there are 17 other guest artists to share their art journaling process.

I will be teaching 4 lessons created just for this course for the year and I am looking forward to sharing with you!

Why not Join us for this amazing adventure and have your most creative year yet.

For a chance to WIN a place in the course, complete some of the tasks below - each one gives you two chances, or Sign Up anyway and if you win a spot you can bless a friend!

The Journey Within E-course 2016: a Year of Handmade Art Journals

Christmas Fair - Emmanuel Centre! - more giveaways!

It is approaching at a phenomenal rate, as it does each and every year around this time, the reminder that Christmas will soon be here.  Each year I have been taking part in EEC Christmas Fair and will be having a stall selling some of my art and crafts.  It is a really lovely event that ends with a concert. 

There will be a wide variety of stalls, with lots of gift ideas for those who are seeking inspiration and want to get in early with their shopping, lots of tasty treats from the international food court, and activities to keep the whole family engaged.  it is an event not to be missed and you will be able to finish your evening with the Westminster Community Choir and be engaged in so much more.

Venue:

The Emmanuel Centre, 9 -23 Marsham Street, London SW1P 3DW

***Prize Draw***

Come down and say hello!

I will be running a free prize draw for all those who attend the show and sign up to my mailing list.  You could be in for a chance to win a copy of:

 Crafting with Nature in a Weekend: Over Twenty-five Inspirational Projects

It is full of ideas for some lovely things that you can do with the materials that you can collect, and some of the things that you can make are delightful!

I would love to see you at The Fair you will definitely have a lovely time on the day. 

For those of you who won't be able to attend, don't forget the free bonus giveaway that is available for signing up for the 'My Color is Beautiful Art' Course.

I am excited to be able to offer a bonus gift for all those who register HERE for the course.  For everyone who registers here you will receive a free paper and embellishment pack, filled with lots of goodies for you to use as part of my lesson on the course and for any other creative activity that you might have...

I will include in the pack a selection of:

• Paper ephemera
• Patterned and hand painted papers
• Handmade paper
• Die cuts
• Ribbons
• Findings
• Handmade Stencils
• Beads and embellishments and more

Once you have signed up via my link I will arrange to have the kit sent out to you before the course begins.

If you have already signed up else where for the course and would like to purchase a paper embellishment kit you will be able to do so from the beginning of next week for $7.50 including P&P.

Register here now and receive your free bonus embellishment kit by clicking the button below!

I will be sharing over the weekend some images of the pack and how you will be able to put the contents into creative use!

My Color is Beautiful Art - Giveaway Winner Announced

Register Now

Registration is now open for the course and you can sign up for $49, for an experience like no other!  Be prepared to be immersed in color, creativity, and lots of juicy techniques!

I was running a giveaway for a free spot to the course and there were many entries, and it gives me great pleasure to announce the give away winner!

Whoop Whoop! ....Drum roll please!.......

***** Vicki Louise Neil Ross*****

Come on down and claim your spot, 

I will be sending you an email to confirm

It was great to receive all those lovely comments and I have decided to do a bonus giveaway, and I will be giving away 5 packs of embellishments that you will be able to use as part of my lesson, and will include paper, beads, jewelry, thread. to the next five names selected at random from those who had entered the original giveaway....

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing with you exactly what is in the embellishment pack, and where you can purchase them from.

The winners of the extra giveaway these are:

Rasheeda Nelson-Howard

AJ (The Quilting Pot)

Linda Doherty

Cathy Potosky

Kris Nadeara Duval

With registration now open I recommend that you give yourself time to select the supplies that you need in                               advance, Christmas is nearly on us.  Come and check out the course HERE

In the news - Change, Coming Soon Club and Competition winner

Welcome to another special day, for us to be able to share our gifts, connect and make a difference in whatever way possible. Even the smallest effort can make a difference.  

Change

Flowers still in bloom - in October!

Yesterday I spent time in a park close to where I grew up as a child.  It brought back memories of my adventures with my brother Robert who passed away in June.  In thinking of our loss I still have a hard time believing he is gone, I said to my son Sekani that this time last year I was sitting in my brother's kitchen over a cup of tea talking about our creative paths, without a clue of what was to come.  As children we sometimes use to go to the park after school and play because it was close to our home.  The area has changed a lot over the years.  

Outdoor Gym open to all!

The park is now also home to an outside gym to encourage the locals to get fit, and a skateboard park and basket ball pitch for the younger crowd.  The apartments that you can see in the picture above used to be a school.  As you look around the park you can see that they have really taken time to consider what facilities they provide which has made it more accessible for community that live there. 

Creativity and organisation

Over the past couple of weeks I made a conscious decision that I wanted to make several changes to my processes, organisation, output etc.  I was feeling as if the things that I really wanted to do and see come to pass were so far out of my reach.  I prayed that the changes in my life I had been working on to manifest, would start to be evident.  This is really where patience comes in, any change that will be lasting takes effort and time.  You can decide to do nothing and change will still take place, whether it will bring the results you seek is another matter.  I guess in some cases my impatient side was looking for the immediate, but also know that unless you plan and make adjustments then you won't get the results you require.  

I looked at my output in my writing and art and wanted to become more focused, sharing and interacting more.  This is one of the changes that I have made on my blog, by having specific areas that I will share each day.  The frequency of my posting has increased and I have attempted to be more consistent in sharing part of my world with those that visit and also to stretch myself. For those who haven't yet noticed I have a new blog schedule:

Mondays - Material Mondays

Fabric and Crochet

Tuesdays - Tuesday Tutorials

How to....

Wednesdays - Memories of Home

Mixed Media houses

Thursdays - In the news

What's on?

Fridays - Gratitude's and Celebrations

What are you grateful for?

Saturday - Recycled Projects

Reuse, Recycle & Up-cycle

Sunday - Creating in Faith

Creating in Faith - Discussions and more

I am trying to work across the board with all of my social media, but as you probably understand - there is only so much time in a day, but with perseverance and passion a way will be made, and I hope you continue to join me as my work and practices evolve.

Competition!

I ran a competition last week on my Capturing Moments tutorial post, the prize is the mini journal below. 

The winner is Bloomers, and I am also giving a runners up prize of a mini journal and this will go to Ann K from Cairn Cottage.  Well done to both of you, hope you enjoy your mini journals!

Hot desk at the Coming Soon Club...

An organisation called  The Coming Soon Club has set up enterprise initiatives for local people who want to test out a business idea or arts or community project in a temporary space.  They not only provide the space but mentoring advice as well.  They also provide facilities hot desk and internet connection for those who normally work from home which is great if you want to dip your feet in every now and again into the office environment without the office politics.  I used them recently when my internet connection went down, it was great to be able to get on with some focused work without the distractions of home.  It is very relaxed space, they have some exhibitions on the way and they have a small cafe serving refreshments.

Creativity and Social Work

Tomorrow I am giving a talk to a group of social workers training for their AMPH qualification.  My talk focuses on being a carer and the impact of the role on my life, I will also be able to share some creative tools and reflections that I have used.  It is my third year of presenting this talk and it is great to be able to interact with the students and see how they begin to reflect on their own roles and the impact it may have on carers.


And finally...

Katherines Corner
Today is also Thursdays Favorite Things on Katherines Corner Take a stroll over there and visit some of the inspiring blogs listed in the links, you can leave a link to your post and show some support by visiting others who have listed theirs.  

Blessings to you and yours!

Tutorial Tuesday - Toilet Roll Journal

In today's Tutorial Tuesday I will show you how to make this journal made from toilet rolls and recycled card. With the drive to be more 'green' this is a great way to make use of something that you would normally throw away.

What you will need:

empty toilet rolls

recycled card

packaging card - a few millimetres thick

papers and art materials to decorate.....

Here's how you put them together:

Each empty toilet roll will form a pocket for your journal, select how many you require, this journal uses 10 rolls. The card will be used to connect each rolls together

You will need two pieces of slightly thicker card taken from packaging - these will form the front and back covers

Flatten the toilet rolls and cover with some scrap paper, I have used the pages of an old encyclopedia

Seal one of the ends of the toilet roll, as you cover it above, to form a pocket that can be used to hold your tags, or journal writing.

Cut the recycled cards into strips that will be stuck to the sides of the toilet roll pockets and connect them all.

Stick the pieces of card to as many toilet roll pockets you require..

Prepare the front covers and attach.  You can paint them or add decorative paper of choice

Add paint as required to each of the pages, and make tags from some of the left over paper and card

From this to that - it's cool how you can take an everyday object and transform it!

Add some encouraging words and text to the pages, leave space for you to write your thoughts 

Enjoy spending time in your journal!

There is still 9 hours left for you to enter last weeks competition to win a Capturing moments mini journal.  Click here to take you to the post to enter.

In the News - Zen Doodles, Published work, competitions and more

Hope you are having a lovely Thursday so far, here in the London, UK we are have a really mild day with some sunshine, which is great news for October!

Doodles, Tangles and more!

Do you doodle? have you heard of Zentangles?  Everyone at some point in their life has or will doodle on a scrap piece of paper an image that doesn't entirely make any sense, a random array of lines, shading, circles, squares, faces, more lines and patterns without much rhyme or reason.  You might just happen to be one of those people who dabble with doodling while they are in a meeting on their agenda, or while talking on the phone or pondering over the activities for the day.  It isn't a planned drawing but marks on the paper.  

A Zentangle is described as ‘a drawing using a series repetitive patterns, lines and shapes, and starts off its life with a series of pencil drawn 'strings', that create separate areas to work in on the paper. Zentangles and doodling seem to be opening the way to the developing of some structure around creating a piece of art and there are a range of books which show some amazing examples of various creations, some are very complex and detailed and others are less so but still effective.  At the end of the day the act of doodling or 'tangling' or what ever you would like to call it can be very relaxing.  If you want to see what some of the other benefits which for me go hand in hand with taking part in a creative activity - check out Zentangle 

I have been dabbling and more and more created faces with lots of doodling entwined and I shared some of these a while back on my mixed media art blog.

I find it an extremely great way to unwind and relax and use to doodle in meetings, when I am on the phone I like to be forming patterns on a piece of paper and you don’t require any technical or complicated materials. 

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to have one of my pieces featured in the book Zen Doodle: Tons of Tangles

This is a new book that came out in September that has been brought together by Tonia Jenny and Amy Jones and a collection of work submitted by 42 artists with me being one of them.  I answered the call earlier this year to submit an image along with the process photos.  My image was called Girl Tangle

Girl Tangle - Amanda Trought

Don’t ever limit yourself and be boxed into a narrow way of thinking.  Take time to explore and push the boundaries, it will help you grow

The book has over 100 examples of Zen Doodles with step by step instructions for creating your own, and some of the most complicated looking doodles are then broken down for you.  For those who are seeking inspiration this is probably a good idea for you as you can not only see how to create the images presented you can extend it and create entirely new image.  It is published by North Light books and it is split up into 4 chapters – Abstract Doodles, Shapes and Objects, Animals and Beasts, and Friendship and Love.  There is an amazing array of examples and things for you to try.  You can also sign up for their free newsletter at Create Mixed Media.

Tutorial Tuesday
In Tutorial Tuesday my post on how to make a mini Capturing Moments Journal I am also running a competition to win the following mini journal along with a set of 10 tags. 

Capturing Moments Mini Journal

There are 4 different ways to enter and increase your chances, leave a message on the post, you can follow me on twitter, tweet about it, and or like my page on Facebook. Hop over to the post and leave your comments, it really does want to find a loving home.

And finally...

Katherines Corner
Today is also Thursdays Favorite Things on Katherines Corner Take a stroll over there and visit some of the inspiring blogs listed in the links, you can leave a link to your post and show some support by visiting others who have listed theirs.  

Blessings to you and yours!

Tutorial Tuesdays - How to make a Capturing Moment Mini Journal? and Competition

Tutorial Tuesday - Capturing Moments Mini Journal

In today's Tutorial Tuesday I thought that would share with you how to make these simple journals - Capturing Moments.  I called them this because they capture moments of whatever you want to use them for.  I was inspired to make some more after two that I made from recycled materials were shown in a magazine called Craftseller.

Here's how you put them together:

Measure out card to suit the size you want

Recycled card measures 3x7inches 

 Choose paper that you want to use as the cover both sides and use either pva glue or double sided tape

Using a bone folder you are going to create a spine allow 3 inches on either side and one inch for the spine, this is where the signatures will be sitting

 The signatures measure 3 x 6 inches in length and you will need 11 of them 

Fold in half an see how they fit in the book

 Get your wool or string of choice and rap round the outside cover, tie it in a knot 

 begin to wrap the wool round each of the signatures and round the back

 Once you've wrapped it round each signature you cut off a length of the wool

 Use large needle and thread the remaining wool back and forward through the spine

 If you want you can thread beads on it at this point

 Once you have secured the wool all the way down tie off and before you cut it off you can decide to add a beads at this point.

I added a paper bead to my one.

Then you can add what ever decoration to the front of the mini journal and begin to have fun in it.

Competition

Win a Capturing Moments Mini Journal and tags selection - 

enter below for a chance to win.  Leave a blog comment and choose some of the additional ways to increase your chances - good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway